Liberty eliminate Sun, to face Aces in superteam showdown

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — It’ll be the WNBA Finals matchup anticipated since February: The so-called “superteam” New York Liberty and defending champion Las Vegas Aces will duke it out for the 2023 WNBA championship, with the former clinching their spot in the Finals on Sunday with a 87-84 win over the Connecticut Sun in Game 4 of their semifinal series.

“I think it’s good. That’s the narrative everyone wanted at the start,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “I didn’t particularly like the superteam thing … [But] it’s going to be a great series and it’s a promotion for the WNBA, isn’t it? It’s New York, we haven’t done it for so long, but we’re playing the champions from last year. I think it’s going to be a really competitive series and hopefully more and more people turn their eyes into the game and we can continue to grow it.”

Game 1 of the Finals, a best-of-five series for which No. 1 seed Las Vegas holds home-court advantage, tips Oct. 8 at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.

But for the Liberty, Sunday was less about what’s to come and more about celebrating what they’d accomplished. After five consecutive losing seasons (2018-22), they have positioned themselves three wins away from securing the organization’s first WNBA title. Only the Minnesota Lynx in 2011 had more consecutive losing seasons (2005-10) before making a Finals appearance.

New York — the only original WNBA franchise to have not won a championship — made clear its title aspirations after majorly reconfiguring its roster in the offseason. The Liberty traded for 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones in January before signing two-time MVP Breanna Stewart and one of the best point guards in league history, Courtney Vandersloot, in free agency. Those players were brought in to surround 2020 No. 1 overall pick Sabrina Ionescu and 2021 All-Star Betnijah Laney.

The Liberty finished second in the regular-season standings behind Las Vegas, compiling a franchise-record .800 winning percentage, before beating Washington in the first round to advance to their first semifinal series since 2015.

“The fact that the Liberty haven’t been to a final since 2002 is wild, and to be able to have that and know that we have the entire city behind us is something that’s really, really special,” Stewart said.

The MVPs stepped up huge for the Liberty down the stretch Sunday as the Sun rallied from down eight going into the fourth quarter to take a late lead, with Jones and Stewart combining for 20 of the Liberty’s 21 fourth-quarter points.

Jones scored 20 of her 25 points and collected 8 of her 15 rebounds after halftime and came up with several win-sealing plays down the stretch. In the final minute, Jones corralled two key rebounds and stole the ball off a Sun inbounds play with the Liberty up three, which led to her sinking…