After season of adversity, can Liberty put together another title run?

The New York Liberty walked disconnected the tribunal astatine Barclays Center with different lopsided victory. Their 19-point triumph made them the ninth squad successful WNBA past to commencement a play 9-0 and extended New York's champion commencement successful franchise history.

It was June 10, and it was looking similar the defending WNBA champion Liberty mightiness beryllium amended than past year, erstwhile they broke done to triumph the franchise's archetypal title.

But 3 months later, New York has to deed the roadworthy for the archetypal circular of the WNBA playoffs. Only the apical 4 seeds get home-court vantage successful the best-of-three opening series, and the Liberty finished fifth. New York, which went 8-7 to adjacent the regular season, trails the Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces successful the betting odds astatine ESPN BET to triumph the 2025 championship.

Repeating is ever tough: After the Houston Comets won the archetypal 4 league titles, lone the 2001-2002 Los Angeles Sparks and the 2022-2023 Las Vegas Aces person won back-to-back WNBA crowns.

Still, dropping retired of the top-four seeds and finishing 27-17 is acold from what the Liberty were expecting. What went incorrect during the regular season, and person they fixed it successful clip for the playoffs?

"It's been up and down, players successful and out, roster changes," Liberty guardant Breanna Stewart said. "All the things you could ideate person happened to this team. But we don't privation our tally to beryllium easy, we conscionable privation it to beryllium really, truly worthy it.

"So, I deliberation we're embracing the hard and showing up each time acceptable for immoderate situation we're going to have, and whoever we're going to person with us."

Injuries person been a storyline for each WNBA squad this season. But for the Liberty, 3 cardinal starters suffered injuries -- station players Stewart (knee) and Jonquel Jones (ankle) and defender Sabrina Ionescu (neck, toe) -- opening successful June and continuing done September.

Jones and Stewart each missed 13 games, and Ionescu sat retired six. They are the team's stars, the halfway of what makes everything enactment astatine the highest level. Stewart (18.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG) and Jones (13.6 PPG, 8.1 RPG) are past MVPs; Ionescu (18.2 PPG, 5.7 APG, 4.9 RPG) has been named to the all-WNBA 2nd squad 3 times.

In the games the trio started this season, the Liberty were 12-2, including Thursday's 91-86 triumph astatine Chicago successful their regular-season finale. When each 3 were connected the court, the Liberty were astatine their best. But that happened importantly little this play than last.

In 2024, Stewart, Jones and Ionescu played 805 minutes unneurotic and had a plus-12 nett standing per 100 possessions. This season, their nett standing was higher, astatine plus-21, but they person played lone 234 minutes together.

With immoderate 2 of them connected the court, New York's nett standing this twelvemonth was plus-6. With lone one, the Liberty were outscored by 13 points successful 464 minutes. Last year, they played 235 minutes with lone 1 of the stars connected the court, yet were inactive plus-18 successful those minutes.

The Liberty's extent this twelvemonth besides has been affected by assorted factors: different injuries, players missing portion of the play for EuroBasket competition, and the lack of players who didn't instrumentality from past year.

Guard/forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and constituent defender Courtney Vandersloot, for exam...