For the first time in WNBA history, a No. 8 seed beat the No. 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs. The New York Liberty proved that championship experience matters over the regular season in dominant fashion, sweeping favorites Minnesota Lynx. However, achieving this feat has not come without its hardships.
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Following the Liberty’s 87-71 victory over the Lynx, head coach Chris DeMarco was proud of the team for overcoming a slow start to the season mixed with injuries that halted their progress, thus only finishing eighth in the regular season standings.
“This was a tough year for us, with injuries, with other stuff going on. I feel like we’ve been trending in the right direction for a while now… and we knew we had to be at our best in September and October, and I think we are right now.” DeMarco said, via Liberty beat reporter Myles Ehrlich on X.
The Liberty were not at 100% in the regular season because, from time to time, important players were on the sidelines instead of the hardwood. Names like Sabrina Ionescu, who sat out the start of the regular season with a left foot injury suffered in preseason.
Then Satou Sabally also struggled with a head injury. After withdrawing from the 2026 FIBA World Cup roster, she was ruled out for the rest of the WNBA season in September. Even Jonquel Jones had her own ankle issues.
Moreover, since the Liberty comprise the most foreign players, they also had the most players going to the FIBA Women’s World Cup this month, which definitely added to the fatigue.
Regardless, as DeMarco said, the team had to be at their best starting September, and that was more or less the case. The Liberty head coach had the number of Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve this season, winning three games against them this month and four overall.
Game 2 at the Barclays Center followed a similar script to Game 1, but this time Breanna Stewart had more help from Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu. Stewart scored 21 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Jones recorded 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Ionescu added 18 points, four rebounds, and seven assists. The Big 3 combined for 60 of the Liberty’s 87 points, telling the rest of the WNBA that the Barclays Center is their fortress.
While it was impressive for an eighth-seeded team to beat the top-seeded team, the New York Liberty have no shortage of experience. The 2024 WNBA champions also beat the Lynx in the final to win it all, and their players are led by World Cup MVP Breanna Stewart.
Following the first game in the series, even WNBA legend Sue Bird noted the regular-season hierarchy won’t apply to the playoffs on her Bird’s Eye View podcast.
“What I think is unique about these playoffs, different from potentially any other playoff, like a group of eight or field of eight in the WNBA’s history, is it’s so much about matchups. It is not necessarily ‘the better team wins’; it’s so much about matchups.”
And this wasn’t the only reason the matchup was far from ideal for Minnesota. Despite their league-leading run, the Lynx had been unable to beat the Liberty in two out of their three regular-season clashes despite their roster being at full strength.
Now with the added momentum of sweeping the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the first round, the New York Liberty go on to the semifinals as one of the favorites to lift the WNBA championship.
As for floor general Breanna Stewart, she would hope to win the Commissioner’s Cup, World Cup, and the WNBA championship in the same season and make it one of the best years of an already illustrious career.