Ionescu and Liberty want to return to the final – and more

NEW YORK – Sabrina Ionescu received the ball on the left wing from teammate Breanna Stewart and lofted the shot. The 3-pointer went in to put the New York Liberty ahead by 11 over the Las Vegas Aces early in the fourth quarter in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals. As Ionescu ran back on defense, she pointed to New York icon Spike Lee. Wearing a signed Ionescu jersey, Lee shot up from his spot on the sidelines and pointed back in their direction.

Ionescu wasn't finished yet.

Less than 90 seconds later, she received the ball from Leonie Fiebich well beyond the top of the arc, and after three-time MVP A'ja Wilson finished her off, she hit a 30-footer to send the 14,000 spectators packing Barclays Center an upset and a forced timeout in Las Vegas.

Shortly after New York's 87-77 win on Sunday, in which Ionescu scored 21 points and had five assists, ESPN's Holly Rowe interviewed Ionescu and Stewart at half court and asked Ionescu how it feels when she gets hot and she becomes an “orchestra leader”. of Barclays believers. The crowd roared before Rowe could even finish the question, while Stewart mimicked the movements of a conductor.

“That’s what it sounds like,” Ionescu said, holding her hands in the air before applauding the fans.

The Liberty are now just two wins away from avenging last year's WNBA Finals loss to the Aces and returning to the championship series. Of a chance to break the franchise's postseason curse and win its first title. Of Ionescu's chance to secure the one thing that has eluded her in her storied young career.

Ionescu, the team's longest-tenured player, lives up to the potential New York saw when it selected her No. 1 pick four years ago. She is the pulse of the Liberty, its offensive engine, “really kind of the engine for this team,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said Saturday. “Sabrina is the head of the snake.”

THE SCENE AND Sunday's performance at Barclays was a far cry from what Ionescu experienced early in her career.

After being drafted first overall in 2020, Ionescu was sidelined three games into the season with a serious ankle injury and the Liberty suffered a 2-20 record, marking some of the franchise's darkest days. Even when Ionescu returned in 2021, she wasn't at 100 percent. New York posted losing records over the next two seasons and reached the playoffs, but failed to advance past the first round.

Ionescu began to find her footing in 2022 when she earned her first All-WNBA and All-Star honors. As the Liberty went from fringe to superteam in 2023, Ionescu established herself as a premier 3-point shooter, evidenced by her record-setting performance in the WNBA 3-point contest and her 44.8% shooting from deep on the season , the third best, was highlighted in the league.

Ionescu's 18.2 points per game in 2024 is a career high, but her development into a more well-rounded player has made her season special. She has taken on more playmaking duties, particularly with Courtney Vandersloot and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton in and out of the lineup, and has shown more commitment on defense. But Ionescu really shined inside the arc, where things are going downhill more than ever, and implemented a floater. Their 36-point outburst in New York's decisive first-round win over the Atlanta Dream was a case in point, as 21 of their points came from 2-pointers or the free throw line.

Ionescu's full recovery from her ankle injury allowed her to build strength, work on a quicker first step and regain her confidence during the offseason.

“I relied on my shot a lot because it went in last year, so I just stuck with it, but I think I'll continue to be able to go deep and find ways to attack angles, mine Using my body, using my length. “It was huge to create scoring opportunities,” Ionescu said on Sunday. “I put in a lot of work in the offseason to get back there. Obviously I did a lot of that in college, and then the injury knocked me out a little bit in terms of my confidence, in terms of being able to take hits and take off on one leg and land on one leg in the paint . It's nice to see the work I've done come to life now, especially in the playoffs.

On a team with two MVPs in Stewart and Jonquel Jones, as well as one of the best passers in league history in Vandersloot, Ionescu's breakout year helped make the Liberty an even more potent offensive group. She was one of two players in the league (Caitlin Clark is the other) to average at least 16 points and 6 assists on the year. Over time, she has cemented her status as a top player in the WNBA by finishing sixth in MVP voting.

“It was incredible to see her make a big leap this year,” Vandersloot said. “There were many games where she single-handedly won the game for us late on and was impressive.”

Hammon added: “She is what drives them forward – with her pace, her ability to read, her ability to put defenses in different dilemmas and her willingness to make the right play. Her presence and how she led this team to the top this year.” League record.

NOT THE LIBERTY Ionescu added that the loss to the Aces in the 2023 WNBA Finals left a “scar” on them, as Vandersloot said, and that they have “unfinished business” in 2024.

But the motivation for Ionescu is complex.

Vandersloot and Stewart, two of the team's prized free agency acquisitions in 2023, have titles from previous WNBA stops, and Stewart won four straight in college. But Ionescu never had a chance to compete for a championship during her season at Oregon.

After leading the Ducks to their first Final Four appearance in 2019, Ionescu was eligible to move to the WNBA following her junior season, but returned to play alongside Satou Sabally and Ruthy Hebard. Your Ducks had just won a Pac-12 Tournament and were ranked No. 2 in the country when the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m still not completely over it,” Ionescu told ESPN in June. “Knowing that I came back for that reason – to try to win a national championship – we were so close and I think we were the best team. We played really well, really committed to each other and knew what our goal was. Being.” robbed of the chance to at least win? It's just sad.

“Every time I hear players talk about college and winning a national championship and what that means — especially because that’s never happened at Oregon — that’s one of the things I can’t say. Hopefully I just can't claim it now in New York I feel like if we could win a championship here it would be like giving the college me that wasn't able to go out and compete for the championship , to give back a part of something.”

As the college game's triple-double leader, Ionescu “has a case for being one of the greatest college players in history,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves told ESPN last October.

But Ionescu needed time to recover from her injury, and her first few years in the WNBA were filled with frustration and disappointment. The team could have given up on its supposed franchise player because he wasn't producing, she told ESPN in a May 2023 interview, but the Liberty had “that unwavering level of support for me and stayed by my side through this difficult time.” “

“It would be more of a thank you if we could win this year,” Ionescu said at the time. “It would just be for all the people who stayed by my side on this journey and believed in me.”

A championship proved elusive last season. But 2024 could bring a different result for the Liberty, thanks in no small part to Ionescu.

“She has the right attitude. You can compete with all the talent, but if you don’t have the right attitude, you don’t know how to win,” said Liberty coach Sandy Brondello. “She sets high standards for herself. She's played in big games before, so we'll lean on that experience.”

ESPN's Michael Voepel and Katie Barnes contributed to this report.