MINNEAPOLIS — After shootaround Wednesday morning, Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu went again to the spot the place she made the largest shot of her profession.
Ionescu discovered it on the courtroom after which seemed on the basket, which stood 28 ft from the place she was.
“I was just so far,” she instructed The Publish. “I don’t know why I shot that far.”
That shot — the game-winner that Ionescu drilled to say Recreation 3 of the 2024 WNBA Finals in Minnesota — goes down as one of many biggest baskets in Liberty historical past.
It’s maybe second to solely Teresa Weatherspoon’s 50-foot Hail Mary heave on the buzzer that saved New York from a sweep within the 1999 WNBA Finals.
“It was an epic shot and a shot that we’ve seen Sabrina do, but not in a game,” Brondello stated earlier than the Liberty’s 100-93 loss to the Lynx wherein Ionescu scored 31 factors.
It was laborious within the speedy aftermath of that recreation to know the gravity of the shot that put the Liberty up 2-1 within the best-of-five collection.
Even Ionescu didn’t absolutely comprehend at the moment “how important that shot was.”
However that shot might have saved the collection for the Liberty.
“When you look back on it, without that play, they may not be champions,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve stated. “It was that big.”
Wednesday was the Liberty’s first journey again to Goal Heart since Recreation 3 and 4 of the Finals, and Ionescu allowed herself a short second to relish in that reminiscence. She additionally replicated her most iconic shot to complete off her morning shootaround.
“I’ve watched it so many times,” she stated. “But yeah, on to the next one.”
This grueling stretch of the Liberty’s season, the place the group is enjoying six video games in 10 days, caught as much as Natasha Cloud.
Cloud began to fall in poor health earlier than the Liberty’s recreation in opposition to the Wings Monday.
She felt worse Tuesday as she handled chilly sweats, fever, chills and head congestion.
Cloud was downgraded to questionable Wednesday morning. She stayed in mattress as a substitute of going to shootaround, however Cloud knew she was going to play no matter how she felt.
“It was never not an option for me to play today, especially with this game and being down numbers,” stated Cloud, who had 12 factors, seven assists, 4 rebounds and two steals in 32 minutes. “This was a good reset day for us. I know we didn’t come out with a W in the win column, but behind the scenes, down three starters, without Emma, I’ll take losing by eight to a team that I feel like gave their everything tonight.”
With the Liberty-Lynx recreation airing on ESPN, dozens of followers held up “Pay the Players” indicators to point out their solidarity with the Girls’s Nationwide Basketball Gamers’ Affiliation as negotiations for a brand new collective bargaining settlement proceed.
“[The fans] want us to be compensated for it and us as players, we’re gonna continue to fight to get our fair share of the pie,” Isabelle Harrison stated. “And that’s a conversation that lasts even after All-Star [weekend].”
