NEW YORK (AP) — Making the Commissioner's Cup championship game has been a prelude to bigger things for the New York Liberty the past two times they've done it.
New York has reached the WNBA Finals in each of those seasons, winning once and losing once. The Liberty players didn't want to think that far ahead after clinching their spot Sunday in the mid-season tournament title game. Still it's hard to ignore the success considering New York has won
seven straight games and finally had their entire roster healthy for the victory over Washington.
The Commissioner's Cup first started being played in 2021 and one or both teams have gone to play for the WNBA championship three times — in 2022-24. New York beat Las Vegas in 2023 before losing to Minnesota the next season in the Commissioner's Cup finale. The Liberty avenged that loss by beating the Lynx for their first WNBA championship later that season.
“It’s a pretty high number of teams that go to the Commissioner’s Cup championship that play in the (WNBA) finals,” Liberty center Jonquel Jones said.
New York is still waiting to see who and where it will play. Las Vegas has a one-game lead over Minnesota and can clinch the spot in the championship game with a win over Dallas on Monday night.
The Aces have a half-game lead over New York in the overall standings. The team with the better regular-season winning percentage through games Wednesday night will host the title game. New York won at Las Vegas in 2023.
ESPN will show a four-part series on the Toronto Tempo and how the first WNBA team outside of the United States was built from the ground up.
“With the incredible growth of the WNBA and women’s basketball, this is the perfect time to showcase the launch of Canada’s first WNBA franchise,” said Lindsay Rovegno, Vice President & Executive Producer, ESPN Originals. “Setting the Tempo presents a rare opportunity for fans to see what it truly takes to build a successful organization, shining a spotlight on the female executives whose decisions and vision are laying the foundation for the future.”
Las Vegas takes over the top spot after edging Minnesota 100-97 on Saturday night. The Aces were followed by the Lynx, New York, Atlanta and Dallas. Golden State, Indiana and Los Angeles were next. Expansion teams Portland and Toronto were ninth and 10th. Washington, Chicago and Phoenix followed the Tempo. Seattle and Connecticut rounded out the poll.
A'ja Wilson of Las Vegas was the AP player of the week. She averaged 30 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks to help the Aces win all three of their games last week. Other players receiving votes included Kelsey Plum of Los Angeles, Breanna Stewart of New York and Caitlin Clark of Indiana.
The Los Angeles Sparks and New York Liberty will play each other on Sunday for the official 30th anniversary rematch of the WNBA's first-ever game in 1997. Penny Toler scored the first points in league history, making a baseline jumper 59 seconds into the game.
Atlanta vs Indiana, Thursday and Saturday. The Dream and Fever play a home-and-home matchup this week with third-year stars Angel Reese and Clark facing off for the second and third time in a two week stretch. Indiana won the first matchup on June 4.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
