NEW YORK (AP) — Making the Commissioner’s Cup championship game has been a prelude to bigger things for the New York Liberty the past two times they’ve done it.New York has reached the WNBA Finals in each of those seasons, winning once and losing once. The Liberty players didn’t want to think that far ahead after clinching their spot Sunday in the mid-season tournament title game. Still it’s hard to ignore the success considering New York has won seven straight games and finally had their entire roster healthy for the victory over Washington.The Commissioner’s Cup first started being played in 2021 and one or both teams have gone to play for the WNBA championship three times — in 2022-24. New York beat Las Vegas in 2023 before losing to Minnesota the next season in the Commissioner’s Cup finale. The Liberty avenged that loss by beating the Lynx for their first WNBA championship later that season.
“It’s a pretty high number of teams that go to the Commissioner’s Cup championship that play in the (WNBA) finals,” Liberty center Jonquel Jones said.New York is still waiting to see who and where it will play. Las Vegas has a one-game lead over Minnesota and can clinch the spot in the championship game with a win over Dallas on Monday night.The Aces have a half-game lead over New York in the overall standings. The team with the better regular-season winning percentage through games Wednesday night will host the title game. New York won at Las Vegas in 2023.
