Game One of the 2024 Women’s National Basketball Association Finals began exactly the way the Liberty wanted. In front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 at Barclays Center, they wasted little time asserting their superiority over the visiting Lynx. They needed a mere eight minutes from opening tip to put up a double-digit lead, one that reached as high as 18 midway through the second quarter. And though the underdogs threatened to come close, they preserved their advantage well enough to have a 99.2% probability of winning with five minutes left in the set-to.
Unfortunately, the Liberty’s worst fears came true from then on. For some reason, the aggressiveness that had hitherto marked their cause abandoned them in the crunch. Such clunkers as shot-clock violations, poor offensive sets, hurried shots, and blown coverages underscored their questionable decision making as the final buzzer drew close. And so pronounced was their lack of organization that they all but folded in the face of the Lynx’s determination. They tried, but, bottom line, their efforts could best be described as snatching defeat from the throes of victory.
Given the devastating outcome, head coach Sandy Brondello was right to assert the importance of the Liberty moving on. For one thing, a single contest does not a series make. The championship is still up for grabs, and for all their missteps in the Finals opener, they remain the favorites to go all the way. On paper, they’re too big, too skilled, and too talented to be deemed underdogs in a best-of-five affair; all they have to do is prove true to potential. And, again, forgetting their sins of the past is critical.
Whether the Liberty can stop getting in their own heads is a big question mark, of course. For the second straight Finals contest, they failed to execute properly for stretches at a time — and especially with the outcome on the line. It’s as if they’re bogged down by bitter memories precisely when they need to focus on the task at hand. Today, they cannot but be completely immersed in their quest to be better than the sum of their parts. In short, they need to be the Lynx. Else, they will find Game Two going the way of the last, and they may as well bid goodbye to their hopes of earning their first title in the league since they helped set it up in 1996.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.