After defeating the Las Vegas Aces in a best-of-five semifinals matchup, the New York Liberty are headed to the WNBA Finals where they will face the Minnesota Lynx.
The Lynx, who are the No. 2 seed in the WNBA standings behind the Liberty, beat the Connecticut Sun Tuesday night in a series-deciding Game 5. Given that the Liberty had clinched the No. 1 seed with the best record in the WNBA, they will receive home-court advantage once again for the finals. Here is a preview of what the schedule will look like for this matchup.
NY Liberty vs Minnesota Lynx finals schedule:
- Game 1: 8 pm ET Thursday, Oct. 10 at Barclays Center
- Game 2: 3 pm Sunday, Oct. 13 at Barclays Center
- Game 3: 8 pm Wednesday, Oct. 16 at Target Center
- Game 4 (if necessary): 8 pm Friday, Oct. 18 at Target Center
- Game 5 (if necessary): 8 pm Sunday, Oct. 20 at Barclays Center
The Liberty have been dominant so far in this postseason, only losing once in six games played. Guard Sabrina Ionescu has been leading New York in points and assists in the playoffs averaging 20.7 points and 5.2 helpers per game.
New York’s big 3 of Ionescu, forward Breanna Stewart, and center Jonquel Jones have been an integral part of the team’s success. Ionescu has had major moments thus far, propelling her team to the win, such as her career-high 36-point game against the Atlanta Dream in the first round and, most recently, her 22-point game that included five 3-pointers in the closeout game against Las Vegas.
Therefore, Ionescu is a key player to watch in the finals for New York. If she can continue to shoot well from the perimeter and facilitate the offense as she’s been doing, the Liberty will have more success in this series too.
A key player to watch out for on the Lynx is forward Napheesa Collier, who has amped up her game in the postseason, averaging 27.1 points. She is a highly impressive two-way player for the Lynx, as she finished second in MVP voting this season and won the 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Her ability to do it all between scoring, facilitating, rebounding, and defending well will be difficult to contain for the Liberty.
Outside of Collier, the Lynx are a team made up of significant role players who work extremely well with one another. Minnesota leads the WNBA in assists per game, averaging 23.0 during the regular season. Their 3-point percentage was also the highest in the league at 38.0% for the season. The Lynx have many options on offense between guards Kayla Mcbride and Courtney Williams, who’s been the second-leading scorer for Minnesota, averaging 13.7 points per game in the postseason.
The two teams have met four times during the regular season, with Minnesota claiming three wins out of four. Expect Stewart to have big performances against Minnesota, as she was the leading scorer for New York in three of those four matches. Ionescu had struggled tremendously in the regular season against Minnesota, but with her improved performance thus far in the postseason, it is anticipated that she will step up for her team and play better against them.
The most recent time that New York played against Minnesota, they gave up 14 3-pointers in that loss. It is essential that the Liberty, who have been ranked as the No.1 defense in the league, lock down the Lynx perimeter shooters to prevent that from happening once again.
This is going to be a nail-biting finals matchup for fans as we watch the top two teams in the league face off against each other. Both teams are versatile on the offensive end, but expect the defense to win this series as the No.1 and No.2 ranked defenses compete for a title.
