“I think rivalries are great. Yes, do we have a rivalry? They play it down, but of course we have a rivalry. And it’s great for the league; I don’t know why they play it down. We don’t like each other, that’s just how it is.”
On Tuesday night, Sandy Brondello’s team had their final chance of the season to defeat their newest rival, the Minnesota Lynx. With Napheesa Collier available for only the first matchup and Breanna Stewart missing all four, the rivalry wasn’t at full strength in the 2025 regular
season, but there was no room to debate Brondello: This is a rivalry, and it’s becoming a great one.
“We’re gonna win that game,” said Leonie Fiebich at Monday’s practice. “Like, yes or yes. There’s no other option. We’re gonna leave it all out on the floor and, I mean, we’re gonna give it all we have.”
The Liberty did bring a different attitude early, with the full, desperate energy of the best home crowd in the league behind them. Jonquel Jones once again played like a Finals MVP against Minnesota, heavily involved in the offense early…
New York jumped out to a 19-7 lead. By the end of the quarter, it was 24-20. Liberty fans melted in their seats, knowing that their hope against hope for a nice, easy blowout was not meant to be.
But they never relinquished control of the lead. The Lynx kept clawing at their heels, but thanks to an 11-2 run to end the half, New York took an 11-point lead into halftime, not outplaying their guests but out-shooting them. Minnesota finished just 6-of-22 from three while the Liberty went 40.6%, but their defense was not exactly pristine, despite the low score…
That same old story. Minnesota just kept hanging around, hanging around, hanging around, frighteningly reminiscent of Game 1 of last year’s Finals. And there was Courtney Williams, her pink hair shaping but not covering bloodthirsty eyes, missing more than she made on Tuesday night but believing — as everybody in Barclays did — that the next one was going in.
Pregame, Cheryl Reeve reminded media that Courtney will always be Courtney, and talk a bunch of talk. Then she added, “Game Five for a lot of reasons, and for her in particular, wasn’t her best game, and she has carried that with her, and I think that’s what’s coming out of her.”
Perhaps at the expense of some open teammates, Williams was determined to carry Minnesota to a win, and as the score remained close even in the fourth quarter, the Liberty seemed ready to help her…
But these were blips for the Liberty, not harbingers of a collapse. Leonie Fiebich and Natasha Cloud award-winning defensive pressure on the perimeter, Fiebich initially guarding Williams and Tash defending Kayla McBride, an adjustment from prior matchups.
“We made [Williams] work for it at both ends of the floor. So that’s the versatility we had, Leo is a great defender. I know she’s been a little disappointed with what she’s been doing lately, but she’s just a winner, and she’s so competitive.But her size really does matter. And I thought Tash on McBride was good match up for us.”
Williams shot 7-of-19, McBride just 2-of-9. Minnesota found other ways to score, including their bench trio of DijJonai Carrington, Natisha Hiedeman, and Maria Kliundikova all reaching double digits. Cheryl Reeve mixed and matched down the stretch, while the only Liberty sub who saw crunch-time minutes was Kennedy Burke, who scored eight points.
That was all they needed. The Liberty expressed great desire to close games by doing a better job attacking the matchups they wanted, in the spots they wanted them. On Tuesday, they lived it out, posting up Fiebich on smaller guards or coming out of timeouts with undeniable intention…
It was sweaty until the bitter end, but there was no stomach-sinking moment. Only a euphoric one, courtesy of who else but Sabrina Ionescu?
Up by four with less than a minute left, Ionescu recovered an offensive rebound after Natasha Cloud barely avoided traveling, then dribbled it near half court to give everybody a breath. But with the shot-clock only reset to 14, she had to find something. That ‘something’ was a leaning 35-footer over a reckless closeout from Kliundikova, spinning through a dead silent building that erupted — louder than however it may sound from clips on social media — when it fell through the net. Ballgame…
Only Sabrina. She wasn’t sure where this shot ranked on her list of favorites, but made sure to note: “Not as high as the last one against them.”
Just as Sabrina was characteristically smug, Leonie Fiebich could only be pragmatic, declining to point to one standout moment from the night: “I didn’t think there was a key moment. I just like when we all box out.”
And Natasha Cloud, who later revealed Ionescu was feeling ill enough at halftime to throw up, brought the fire that only she can. The veteran point guard, in her 11th WNBA season but her first in New York, spoke as if she’s lived her whole life wearing sea foam, as if she went through the war of last year’s WNBA Finals. In her mind, she probably has.
“I know Minny loves to talk about us a lot. We live rent-free, but this is another game of just really feeling good about ourselves … From offense to defense tonight was Liberty basketball, and that’s what I’m most happy about. I don’t give a f*** about all that off-the-court s***, like you can keep talking, whatever. But we’re really focused on these last ten, now nine games to feel good about ourselves. Because we know what we have in the locker room.”
Message sent. The Liberty and the Lynx are our very best, and from the bucket-getting to the tactical adjustments to the talking, it’s must-watch every time they meet up. Thank goodness New York finally won one of these things.
Final Score: New York Liberty 85, Minnesota Lynx 75
Next Up
It’s the lowly Chicago Sky, with Angel Reese having returned to the lineup on Tuesday. But, trailing the Atlanta Dream by one loss for the #2 seed, every game is must-win for the Liberty. It’ll probably be one or two games too early for Breanna Stewart to return as well, but you never know.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
