The long nightmare is finally over for New York’s WNBA fans. After a 28-year drought, the Liberty clinched their first championship, defeating the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in a decisive Game 5. Sure, this drought wasn’t as bad as the Knicks’ ongoing 50-year struggle, but at least the Knicks have two NBA titles to their name. The Liberty made it to the Finals five times but ended up bridesmaids each time—until last night.
Thanks to rookie sensations Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, this WNBA season started with unprecedented fanfare. Their hype rivaled the buzz around Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in 1979. But here’s the kicker: neither Clark nor Reese led their teams to the Finals. And without them, the ratings for these Finals tanked. Remember when Johnson carried the Lakers to a championship as a rookie in 1980? He kept the new fans he brought to the game engaged. That didn’t happen here.
Apropos of which, the quality of play in this final game did little to keep fans interested. Sabrina Ionescu, the Liberty’s shooting sensation, shot 1-for-19 from the field. One-for-friggin’-nineteen! It’s like tuning into Game 7 and watching Steph Curry shoot nothing but bricks from downtown. And Ionescu wasn’t the only one struggling. The entire overtime was a disaster. Both teams couldn’t buy a bucket to save their lives. Even Spike Lee, New York’s biggest sports fan, looked more confused than thrilled.
The Liberty may have won, but it wasn’t pretty. Sure, the refs made bad calls that hurt the Lynx, but blaming the refs is — and always has been — the refuge of sore losers. Worse, this final probably turned off fair-weather fans and made the WNBA look unworthy of being compared to the NBA.
