NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The New York Liberty are back in the Finals, looking for the first championship in franchise history. They'll have to beat the Minnesota Lynx to do it.
The Liberty for the second straight year after knocking off the two-time defending Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. They've made the championship round five times and lost each one.
The Lynx made it this far for the first time since 2017 when they won the last of their four championships during a seven-year span. Minnesota needed five games to advance to the Finals, in the decisive game.
Game 1 of the best-of-5 Finals is Thursday night, giving the Lynx little time to recover and prepare for the Liberty.
鈥淭alk about the schedule, who cares. Nobody鈥檚 going to feel bad for us,鈥� Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. 鈥淕ot to go hooping right away and we鈥檒l do that.鈥�
These two teams faced off for a title already this year when Minnesota back in June.
New York is hungry for a championship after last season. The Liberty went to the finals in three of the league鈥檚 first four years and lost each time to the Houston Comets. Then they lost two years later to the Los Angeles Sparks.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 done anything yet,鈥� said Breanna Stewart, who had 19 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in the clinching win over Las Vegas. 鈥淭his was a tough series, an emotional series, for a number of different reasons (there鈥檚) just the feeling of not satisfied.鈥�
The Liberty have been playing with a scar all season and used that to lead them to the best record in the league which secured home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
鈥淲e went to the Finals last year,鈥� Stewart said, 鈥渁nd we didn鈥檛 do nothing.鈥�
The Lynx won't be scared of New York, having won two of the three regular season meetings and the Commissioner's Cup championship.
鈥淚 think the regular season doesn鈥檛 mean anything, they are an amazing team,鈥� Minnesota star Napheesa Collier said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a great series, great basketball. Two teams with great players competing.鈥�
Collier was the league鈥檚 Defensive Player of the Year award and was runner-up for the WNBA MVP.
With three more wins, Minnesota will be the first WNBA team to win five championships, breaking a tie with the Houston Comets and the Seattle Storm.
The first two games will be in New York with Minnesota hosting the next two. The series schedule caused a conflict at Target Center for Game 4 on Oct. 18, when the Minnesota Timberwolves were scheduled to host the Denver Nuggets in an NBA exhibition game. The Timberwolves, who share the arena and the practice facility across the street with the Lynx, announced Wednesday they moved their game against the Nuggets up one day to Oct. 17.
___
AP WNBA:
Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
