WNBA Playoffs 2024: Liberty and Aces meet in the semifinals

It was inevitable, wasn’t it?

The New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces will meet again in the WNBA playoffs, only this time in the semifinals, 11 months after the Aces defeated the Liberty in the WNBA finals.

No. 1 seed New York hosts No. 4 seed and two-time defending champion Las Vegas in a best-of-five series that begins Sunday. Both teams advanced after sweeping their first-round opponents on Tuesday.

The Aces struggled enough in parts of the regular season to finish fourth, but it’s a blockbuster series featuring two former MVPs: A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas and Breanna Stewart of New York.

The Aces hit rock bottom after a 90-82 loss to New York on June 15 in Las Vegas, at which point they were 6-6. Wilson promised in the postgame press conference that things would get better. Although there were still some ups and downs, the Aces seemed to be their usual selves in recent weeks. They finished the regular season with nine wins in their final 10 games and then swept the fifth-seeded Seattle Storm 2-0 in the first round.

New York has the league’s best regular season record (32-8) and defeated the No. 8 Atlanta Dream 2-0. The Liberty also won the regular season series against the Aces 3-0.

Wilson and Stewart were teammates and the best players on the U.S. team that won its seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games. Stewart, 30, and Wilson, 28, have a combined five MVP awards and two WNBA titles each.

Stewart won her championships with Seattle in 2018 and 2020 and came to New York as a free agent last season. The motto for 2023 was that Las Vegas and New York were “superteams,” and they lived up to that claim with a final game that the Aces won 3-1.

Now we’ll see who makes it to the 2024 finals. ESPN takes a look at the upcoming high-profile series.

Can the Aces reverse the Liberty’s dominance in their regular season games?

Birds: Yes, because the Aces are now playing more like the Aces that won the last two titles, rather than the team that lost 13 games in the regular season. As Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said just before the first round when asked how she would take her team’s temperature, “I think the temperature is rising.”

Hammon pointed out that the Aces’ 93-90 loss to the Dallas Wings on August 27 was particularly annoying; Las Vegas allowed 32 points in the fourth quarter.

“I just freaked out,” Hammon said of her attacks on her team’s defense after the loss.

The Aces responded and that marked a turning point. Since then, they have lost only once: 75-71 on Sept. 8 in New York, when Wilson missed the game with an ankle injury.

The Aces can look at their losses to the Liberty this way: Point guard Chelsea Gray was out for the first game (she returned on June 19) and Wilson missed the third. In the Aces’ 79-67 loss to the Liberty on August 17, guard Jackie Young played but was a shadow of her former self, battling an illness and hitting 1 of 8 field goals for 4 points.

None of this is to diminish the Liberty’s victories or excuse Las Vegas, but the Aces are a better, more complete team now than they were before any of these games.

Both teams have produced several players in the first round. What is the key matchup in this series?

Cream: In a series full of stars and exciting one-on-one battles, the battle between Young and Sabrina Ionescu could be the one that most influences the outcome. It’s notable, however, that Young didn’t perform to her level in any of the three regular season games against New York. Against the Liberty, she averaged 8.7 points on 32.3% shooting (on the season, she averaged 15.8 points per game and 43% shooting). Even though the Aces are now complete and their Big Four are all active and healthy, it’s important that Young performs better against New York.

And not just on offense. Young will likely face Ionescu on defense in the semifinals as well. Given Ionescu’s great performance in the series-deciding game against Atlanta – 36 points and 9 assists – the Aces will need Young’s best defensive effort as well.

Ionescu had been struggling until Tuesday. In the three previous games, including the playoff opener, she made 9 of 35 shots and scored a total of 21 points. But on Tuesday, she changed her pace.

Young was solid at the end of the regular season as Las Vegas battled to a third-place finish. But she was quiet on Tuesday — 3 of 10 shooting for 9 points, though she also contributed 9 rebounds and 5 assists — as Wilson (24 points, 13 rebounds), Kelsey Plum (29 points, 11 of 15 shooting) and Gray (12 points, 9 assists) had strong nights. To beat the 2024 version of the Liberty, Las Vegas will need to score on all four.

What can we expect from another showdown between Wilson and Stewart?

Birds: Last season, Stewart won a hard-fought three-way race for MVP honors, with Wilson finishing third. But Wilson was the dominant winner of the WNBA Finals MVP award, averaging 23.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in the Aces’ nine playoff games.

Stewart wasn’t quite herself in last season’s playoffs. In the Liberty’s 10 playoff games, she still averaged 18.4 points and 10.2 rebounds, but her shooting percentage was just 35.8% from the field and 19.6% from behind the three-point line.

Hammon said Tuesday after the Aces’ Game 2 win over Seattle that she believes the Liberty have played with an advantage all season after a disappointing Finals loss last year. For Stewart, this postseason might feel especially great because let’s face it, she left Seattle to win a championship in her home state. That’s something she wants badly.

That’s the same reason Wilson’s fire has been burning all season, because she wanted to prove beyond a doubt that she is the MVP. So we have two superstars who are very motivated. And it’s not like there aren’t a lot of important moving parts around them (most notably another former MVP, Liberty forward Jonquel Jones).

But it seems that a lot in this series still depends on who between Wilson and Stewart can get their way the most.