On Aug. 19, the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx met for the 13th time in just over a year. Between seven regular-season meetings and their Finals matchup from a season ago, everyone anticipated fireworks again.
Fireworks they got, as both teams clawed, scratched, and went to war for every single point. In the end, Minnesota kept it extremely close, but a 31-foot arrow from Sabrina Ionescu put the game to bed, as the Liberty won 85-75. It was another box office, edge-of-your-seat contest between the two current standards of the WNBA.
This rivalry has everything: It’s between two teams with a deep history, features a list of superstar names, and supplies the fans with A+ quality basketball on every occasion. In a time where not just the WNBA, but basketball in general, hungers for high-spirited rivalries, the Liberty and Lynx are a hardwood food bank.
Why Now?
The Liberty and Lynx started from completely different places and have gone in completely different directions. On one hand, there’s the Liberty — the very first team to enter the WNBA and win a WNBA game back in 1997. They were successful out of the gate, making the first WNBA Finals and four in the first five years of the W. However, the Liberty ran into a powerhouse every time; whether it was the Comets or the Sparks, they couldn’t claim the trophy for themselves.
For a bit, they swapped in and out of playoff disappointment and the WNBA basement. They finally returned to the league’s elite in 2023 and got their hands on the big prize the next year.
The Lynx, on the other hand? They arrived in 1999 in the basement, and didn’t win a playoff series for their first 12 years of existence. Then, in 2010, the great Cheryl Reeve came along and changed everything. The issues New York found in winning a title did not befall Minnesota. Reeve and company had one rocky year, but in 2011, they took off and have rarely looked back.
Seven years, six Finals appearances, and four titles later, the Lynx had architected one of the greatest dynasties ever. Minnesota didn’t miss the playoffs from 2011 to 2022.
Two years later, in 2024, they were back in the big game, just losing out to……hey, look at that!
See, all of that backstory for both teams was important because it points out something big: these teams have really never both been good at the same time. The Liberty’s early league success coincided with some of the worst Lynx years. When the Lynx became the standard, the Liberty were mostly watching from home. The two never shared conferences when that was how the playoffs were seeded, and never ran into one another when the W did away with it. The two forces never had much to take from one another because they always fought different fights.
That is, until last year.
Rivalry Takeoff
Last year, it finally happened. The Liberty and Lynx fought for the same territory, with the same ambitions and the personnel to achieve them. To say it delivered would be an understatement.
In their first meeting of the year, the Lynx held firm defensively, winning 84-67. Then, the two sides played their first classic in the Commissioner’s Cup title game. The Lynx won a 94-89 thriller spearheaded by Bridget Carleton‘s 23-point coming-out party. The Liberty, led by a Jonquel Jones double-double, finally got one over on Minnesota in the next matchup. However, in their final matchup of the regular season, the Lynx won yet again.
The two ended up as the league’s No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, and both bested their first and second round and matchups to meet in the WNBA Finals for all the marbles. What ensued after was a series of basketball games so cinematic that it would make for a fantastic movie.
The Greatest Finals
Game 1: The Liberty are in cruise control, up 15 with five minutes to go. The Lynx’s last-ditch comeback effort erases it all. Courtney Williams hits the biggest shot of her career to give Minnesota the lead late in regulation. Naphessa Collier hits a bigger one to give the Lynx a huge 95-93 OT win.
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Game 2: The Liberty get in cruise control — again — and don’t give it away this time. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton leads New York to an 80-66 win, and the series is tied 1-1.
Game 3: The Lynx get far out front early, but Breanna Stewart, declaring that “we are not going to lose this f—ing game”, goes nuclear for 30 to erase their work. Ionescu hits the Liberty rendition of “The Shot”, and the Liberty secure a 80-77 thrilling win.
They only need one more win to secure title #1.
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Game 4: To the surprise of no one, the game is tightly contested again. This game’s hero is Bridget Carleton, who hits two free throws at the end to give the Lynx an 82-80 win. A winner-take-all Game 5 is needed to decide this incredible series.
Game 5: This slugfest requires overtime to decide it — of course it does. Unsung hero Nyara Sabally scores 13 points off the bench, and that, paired with Jonquel Jones’ 17 points, is enough to see the Liberty home. They win the game 67-62, and the series 3-2. Jonquel Jones is crowned Finals MVP.
The Liberty finally climbed the mountain top, and the Lynx felt as if something was stolen from them. That series, the electricity, the legendary moments — that is what makes a rivalry special.
Present Day And What The Future Holds
Thankfully for basketball fans, the rivalry did not stop after the Finals. New York and Minnesota have already completed their season series, and they showcased even more brilliant basketball. Minnesota won the season series 3-1, but every game went down to the wire — the largest margin of victory was an 11-point Minnesota win.
All parties have really embraced this rivalry, on and off the court.
The Lynx took the Finals loss to heart. Head Coach Cheryl Reeve felt as if they were robbed of a title in several ways; she didn’t shy away from that in her Game 5 presser. Several players echoed her sentiment. Courtney Williams called New York a “punk ass team” outright on a StudBudz livestream, then doubled down on that sentiment.
After New York won the final matchup of the season series, Natasha Cloud clapped back at her. The animosity between these two is very, very real.
Now combine that animosity with superstar players on both sides like Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Sabrina Ionescu, and several others. Then throw in two brilliant, championship-winning coaches and two fanbases that go to war for their squads, giving them two of the best home-court advantages in the league.
That is the Lynx-Liberty rivalry. A rivalry that is here to stay for years and will only get better as it grows.
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