Liberty-Aces WNBA Finals to showcase chess match between Sandy Brondello, Becky Hammon

The Liberty and Las Vegas Aces are really familiar with each other after having five total matchups in 2023 — including the Libs Commissioner’s Cup win in August. 

The familiarity established during the regular season and Cup game, which ended with the Liberty winning three of five, sets up a WNBA Finals that’ll epitomize the chess match that goes on game-to-game between the Liberty’s Sandy Brondello and Las Vegas’ Becky Hammon in a championship series.

And what does Brondello think will be the difference that could lead to the Libs’ first title in franchise history?

“Staying true to our identity,” the Liberty head coach said at the Barclays Center practice court on Wednesday. “I think that’s important. We obviously have respect for our opponent and they’re the champions from last year but we need to go in and stamp how we want to play at both ends of the floor and have confidence.”

The identity that got the Liberty to its first Finals berth since 2002 consists of uber-physical play in the paint — on offense and defense — to go along with elite, timely shot-making in the second half of games.

It was on display in the first-round Game 2 win against the Mystics, when star center Jonquel Jones recovered an intended miss free throw to set up her own made attempts to send the game into overtime.

The Libs showcased it again in the second round by getting three wins against a tough Connecticut Sun team that were fueled by third-quarter runs in each victory. The Game 4 series-clinching win featured a 7-0 run to kick-off the third quarter en route to a 87-84 victory at Mohegan Sun Arena.

“We’re a tough team, we’re resilient and we’ve been battle-tested throughout the playoffs,” Jonquel Jones said.

The Liberty showcased these winning qualities in the regular-season wins against the Aces as well.

Jones’ physicality, with added pressure from teammates down low, kept superstar A’ja Wilson to a combined 18 points on 4-for-24 shooting from the field in the Libs’s first two blowouts wins against the Aces this year — the regular season game on Aug. 6 and Cup game on Aug. 15.

In those games, Brondello took advantage of the Aces who were without future Hall of Famer Candace Parker due to a foot injury. One less playmaker and shot-maker in the starting lineup prompted Brondello to get her five defenders on the floor to hone in on just the other four stars — Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum and Wilson.

The adjustment stagnated the Aces’ offense and often left less threatening scorers — forward Alysha Clark and center Kiah Stokes — with opportunities that weren’t converted. The duo combined to shoot 3-for-14 and score just seven total points in 79 minutes of action during the two losses.

The adjustment worked and Brondello won that chess match. But, Hammon quickly rebounded with a 88-75 victory two days after the Cup loss in a game. The offense looked fluid again. Gray recorded a triple double — 22 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds — and Wilson bounced back with a 21-point, eight-rebound performance.

The Liberty got the last laugh by winning the final matchup, 94-85, at Barclays Center on Aug. 28.

Those kind of swings from game-to-game are to be expected in the Finals before a winning team hoists hardware.

The Aces may come equipped to deal with Jones’ aggressiveness down low. Las Vegas swept a Dallas team that had an abundance of bigs without an issue. The Wings don’t have a center up to Jones’ caliber — a former MVP that is averaging 17 points and 13 boards while shooting 53% in the postseason — but successfully neutralizing one of the Wings’ strengths in a playoff series is a feather in Hammon’s cap.

The chess match that lasted five games in the regular season will extend into the Finals. The Liberty acknowledged that the long series, as Breanna Stewart described it Wednesday, will bring different challenges from a team that has improved since its last meeting.

“They’re playing really well. They’re confident, they’re comfortable with one another,” Stewart said. “Everything that you saw in the regular season has only gotten better. And that’s what you expect as a team that’s in the Finals.”

The 2023 MVP also made one thing very clear: “From where we were, to where we started, to now, we got better too.”