New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu adopted the mentality of the late Kobe Bryant this season when it comes to playing in the WNBA Finals.
She stressed to her teammates that while clinching a finals berth is a great achievement, the team is “not done yet” until it wins the title. Ionescu was mic’d up during game 4 of the WNBA semifinals, in which the Liberty defended the back-to-back champion Aces 76-62.
The two-time All-Star led the team in a rally during the post-game huddle, where she passionately repeated, “Hey, we’re not done yet.” The Liberty guard’s speech energized the team, which put its hands together before joining in on a “1-2-3” chant before breaking the huddle.
During her post-game interview, Ionescu reinforced the team’s focus on winning the championship. “We haven’t done anything yet,” she told reporters after the game.
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“I think we all understand that. We want to come out and continue to be the best team like we have been all year and we’re three wins away. We gotta come out and we gotta punch, because nothing has been given to us yet.”
“We just continued to chip away. Basketball is a game of runs, and we knew they were going to go on their run,” she continued. “We continue to just stay together, and that paid off in the end.”
Ionescu led all scorers in the closeout game with 22 points and barely any rest after playing 26 minutes. She shot an efficient 5-of-8 from the 3-point line and added seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Sabrina Ionescu scored 20+ points in three of the four games (
Getty)
While Sabrina was the offensive frontrunner, New York had four starters score in double digits. Breanna Stewart added 19 points, Jonquel Jones poured in 14, and rookie Leonie Fiebich contributed 11 despite early foul trouble. Dominating the boards 48-27, the Liberty built as large as an 18-point lead with less than five minutes in regulation.
Ionescu appeared to be the key to success in the series, scoring at least 20 points in each of the team’s three victories. The Liberty lost Game 3 of the series when the guard shot the ball poorly and scored just four points in the 95-81 loss.
New York’s victory also served as revenge against the team that defeated them in the finals last season. Aces coach Becky Hammon took a shot at Stewart following the victory, prompting the Liberty to troll Las Vegas online after the win.
Stewart also noted how she kept receipts of Hammon’s words, using them as motivation in the closeout game. The Liberty will face the winner of the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx on the other end of the playoff bracket.
Both teams are tied with two wins in the five-game series that will be decided on Oct. 8 for Game 5.
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