Breanna Stewart wants Liberty to end basketball championship drought in New York
The Liberty's Breanna Stewart shoots during the first half in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals against the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday at Barclays Center. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
You have to be a certain kind of athlete to pick New York.
Jalen Brunson. Aaron Rodgers. Carmelo Anthony. Breanna Stewart. Even Kevin Durant.
Despite the varying degrees of success that each has had here, all at one point were secure enough in their abilities and hungry enough in their appetites to want to take their game to the biggest stage in sports.
The odds of succeeding here are tall. In fact, Stewart stands two wins away from becoming the first of those above listed superstars to win it all in New York. For her to do so, she is going to have to keep performing the way she did Sunday in the Liberty’s 80-66 win over Minnesota in Game 2 of the best-of-five WNBA Finals.
After missing two big shots down the stretch of the Liberty’s collapse in Game 1 of the series, Stewart played Game 2 like someone who knew her legacy was on the line. Not only did she lead the Liberty with 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists and a WNBA Finals-record seven steals, but she played a starring role in slowing down Minnesota star Napheesa Collier.
Collier, the MVP runner-up and Defensive Player of the Year, hit the winning shot for Minnesota in Game 1 of the series but was held to 16 points in Game 2. She took only 12 shots and turned the ball over seven times, including on a steal by Stewart at a crucial juncture in the fourth quarter.
“The moment Game 1 ended Thursday, I was looking forward to Sunday,” said Stewart, who missed a free throw at the end of regulation and a potential tying layup at the end of overtime in the first game. “I can’t strive to be the best, to be great, but then be afraid to fail. This is what happens when you put yourself in high-stress, important situations.”
And that’s exactly what Stewart did two seasons ago when the two-time MVP signed with the Liberty after helping the Seattle Storm win two titles.
Her signing, helped by the addition of former MVP Jonquel Jones and the maturation of Sabrina Ionescu, made the Liberty an instant contender. It also gave the player everyone just calls Stewie one of the tallest of assignments.
No New York-area basketball team has won a major professional sports championship since the New York Nets won an ABA title in 1976. Basketball may have been invented in Springfield, Massachusetts, but basketball is the ultimate city sport, and New York has long considered itself to be the game’s Mecca.
The metropolitan area has had three pro basketball teams since the Liberty’s inaugural season in 1997, and it’s almost unfathomable that none of them has had a championship parade. The Liberty have come close five times but are 0-5 in the Finals, including last year’s 3-1 loss to Las Vegas.
“It would be nice to be the first [in New York] to do it, wouldn’t it? Go down in the history books,” said Liberty coach Sandy Brondello, who won a WNBA title in 2014 with Phoenix.
No one would like that more than the Liberty’s fans. A record 18,046 turned out to watch Game 2, which likely will easily top any crowd the rebuilding-again Nets will draw to Barclays Center this season.
After losing home-court advantage in Game 1, the Liberty now have three chances to win two games. The Lynx, a former women’s basketball dynasty that won four WNBA championships from 2011-17, have a rabid fan base. Minnesota beat the Liberty in their only game at Target Center this year and the Lynx finished the regular season tied with the Liberty for the best home record (16-4).
Stewart knows it’s going to be a crazy scene in Minnesota, but she also knows what is at stake.
“We have the opportunity to do something that’s never been done before,” she said. “We are playing for those who have been here before and haven’t gotten over that hurdle.”
No one wants to push the team over the hurdle more than Stewart. Like other superstars who have come to New York before, it’s the reason she’s here.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.