New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart kept cool in the face of pressure as she led the team to its first WNBA title with a thrilling 67-62 overtime win in the decisive fifth game of the WNBA Finals against the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday.
Stewart, who tallied 13 points in the game, drained a pair of free throws in the extra session to seal the victory and the title. She said she was determined to hit the shots, especially after she missed a potential game-winning free throw in Game 1, which the Lynx won in overtime.
“I was going through a similar situation in what happened in Game 1 and I missed and making sure that didn’t happen,” Stewart said while appearing Monday on “TODAY with Hoda & Jenna” with teammates Sabrina Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich, Ivana Dojkić, Kayla Thornton and Nyara Sabally.
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Stewart, a two-time WNBA MVP who was also twice named WNBA Finals MVP while leading the Seattle Storm to a pair of championships before joining the Liberty, said she tried to keep things simple in that moment.
“I was just doing my routine and thinking about making one. Make one and then you make the next one and knowing my teammates had my back the entire time,” she said.
Stewart, who signed with the Liberty as a free agent before the 2023 season, said leading the team to victory at home in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center is a dream come true.
“Just an incredible feeling. We finally did it. We worked so hard to be at this point and to celebrate in Brooklyn, in Barclays, it was insane,” she said.
The Liberty, who lost in the finals last season to the Las Vegas Aces, claimed New York’s first professional basketball title since the New York Nets, led by Julius Erving — better known as Dr. J — won the ABA title in 1976.
The Liberty has played in the WNBA Finals six times overall, including the league’s inaugural year in 1997, but this marks its first championship, capping off a WNBA season of unprecedented growth and popularity sparked in great part by the interest generated by Caitlin Clark. It’s a feat Ionescu doesn’t take for granted.
“To be able to see how much it meant to everyone, not just us and our team, but the entire city, everyone that came out (and) supported us, it meant so much to them and I think that’s why we were so excited to come back home and be able to play at home in front of our fans that have supported us all year long,” she said.
