Shattering Records: Liberty wins the 2024 WNBA Season
Once again, New York is a city of champions. While a lot may have thought that it’d be the Knicks to deliver a title after 50 years because of the offseason moves, the Yankees due to their dominant path from the AL East to the World Series, or even the Rangers after winning the President’s Trophy, the Liberty were the ones who broke the 11-year title drought for the city.
So, how’d they win the WNBA Finals despite the Courtney Williams and Napheesa Collier-led Minnesota Lynx always keeping the game close? Let’s crunch the numbers.
Bahamian Beast
One cannot begin to start talking about this WNBA Finals clash between the Liberty and Lynx without Jonquel Jones. The 2021 Most Valuable Player proved that she can shine amid all of this talent in Coach Sandy Brondello’s roster. The 6-foot-6 superstar beat out both Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu for the Finals MVP award because of how consistent her performances in these five games were. She averaged 17.6 points on a highly efficient 56.1% field goal percentage while also grabbing 7.8 rebounds and dishing out 2.2 assists.
A big reason why Coach Brondello’s offense opened up was because Jones dominated inside early throughout these games. This made it easier for Stewart to find her spots or even make drive-and-kicks to Ionescu more viable down the line. Having a three-pointer in her arsenal gave their staff a versatile option to play five-out at times too — the Lynx feared her outside shot after she went 4-of-5 from that range in Game 4.
After a long journey of having an uncertain spot with the Los Angeles Sparks, many postseason disappointments with the Connecticut Sun, and seeing her numbers dip with the Liberty, all Jones could say was: “You all know my story. You all know how many times I’ve been denied, but it was delayed, that’s all it was. I’m so happy to do it here.”
Stars burn out eventually
The Liberty can boast the fact that they have more depth than the Lynx. This wealth of talent in the roster meant that they had a lot of capable playmakers and defenders. Napheesa Collier, Courtney Williams, and Kayla McBride are great, but just the three of them taking the offensive load is a curse more than a blessing. Their offense became predictable and closing out on them in the dying seconds of each possession was just a no-brainer.
McBride (21 points) and Collier (22 points) were the only ones to hit double-digit numbers, and their shotmaking was often forced in Game 5. Since the Lynx relied on their shooting, Coach Brondello’s directive was simply to get a hand on them whenever they pulled up. The result? Collier and Williams did not hit a single three-pointer. McBride sank one shot from far out, but the five other attempts she launched were just smothered or forced.
New York, on the other hand, had four players notch 13 points or more. Despite shooting a very horrid 8.7% from three because Ionescu could not buy a bucket, six of their players had enough gravity to make the Lynx defense collapse. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, Leonie Fiebich, and Nyara Sabally all take a lot of pressure off their stars. The Liberty just had to wait for Collier, Williams, and McBride to start taking questionable shots for their depth to kick in.
From the top-down
The Liberty always come up short since the inception of the WNBA. This banner for the women’s basketball team of the city had been flirting with its fans since their 1997 WNBA Finals loss to the Houston Comets. The franchise reached the penultimate series of the league three more times in 1999, 2000, and 2002 but just could not close out their opponents.
The common denominator among all those years of heartbreaks was a very hesitant and often cheap ownership group. There is no greater testament to how James Dolan disregarded this team more than their move from Madison Square Garden to Radio City Music Hall in 2004 because of the Republican National Convention. Yes, a professional basketball team played home games at a theatre and someone even fell off the stage at one point.
When Clara Wu and Joe Tsai bought the Liberty and moved them to Barclays Center, there was a different sensation in the air. They invested in new facilities and much like the Brooklyn Nets, acquired more star power for the team — Sabrina Ionescu was drafted, Breanna Stewart reached a new deal, a trade for Jonquel Jones was made, and Courtney Vandersloot along with Betnijah Laney-Hamilton were signed in free agency.
The Las Vegas Aces did the same thing, and they won two titles off it. Investing and not being stingy to one’s basketball team really goes a long way.
By the Numbers: 2024 WNBA Season
11
Alyssa Thomas’ ascent into superstardom only sped up during the Connecticut Sun’s 28-12 regular season run. A certain rookie from the Midwest may have recorded two triple-doubles, but she just could not allow anyone to take her record. She lashed back by having three triple-doubles to lead the league, and added to a historic career total record of 11, which is still the most in WNBA history.
13.1
An injury to derail a historic season leaves a lot of what-ifs. But, there is a lot of confidence from the Chicago Sky faithful that Angel Reese could rise up after her season-ending wrist surgery. Nonetheless, she averaged 13.1 rebounds and grabbed a total of 446 rebounds. Her 15 straight double-doubles and 26 total helped shatter the single-season records of legends Candace Parker, Tina Charles, and Sylvia Fowles.
769
Caitlin Clark claimed the single-season points total for a rookie as she scored 769 total points. Under the Indiana Fever system, the incoming legend also recorded 337 assists, which is the most for any player in league history. Her greatness from the perimeter also got the rookie record for three-pointers made because she knocked down 122 of those shots from far out. A well-deserved Rookie of the Year honor and All-WNBA First Team nod for who could be the greatest player when it’s all said and done.
1,021
Dominant is the only word that describes A’ja Wilson’s third MVP year. She followed the likes of Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson by breaking records. The Las Vegas Aces superstar made WNBA history by recording the highest scoring average of 26.9 points, totaling the most points by bagging 1,021 of them and grabbing the most rebounds that clocked in at 451.
7,696
Despite getting swept by the eventual 2024 WNBA Champions, Tina Charles takes home a big consolation prize. She became the new all-time career leader in total rebounds while amassing 4,014 rebounds throughout her career. The Atlanta Dream veteran also secured the record for most double-doubles in league history as she now has 194 games with 10+ points and 10+ rebounds. Her biggest accomplishment? Charles recorded her 7,696th point which got her the second spot on the WNBA all-time scoring list over Tina Thompson.
136,290,000
The WNBA was watched by fans across all platforms for a grand total of 136.29 million hours. There were 54 million unique viewers throughout the season. This was a 170% uptick from last season’s viewership and featured the seven most-watched games since the inception of the league.
Tickets for games were also hard to find in the 28th season of the WNBA. The league sold out 154 games and had its highest total attendance in the past 22 years which was at 22,353,73 fans. It comes as no one’s surprise that the Fever had the most fan attendance in league history. Their total home attendance saw them host 340,715 fans and helped them attain a growth of 319% from the last season.
