Breanna Stewart, Liberty got the last laugh in win against Aces

After the New York Liberty’s defeat of the Las Vegas Aces in Game 4 on Sunday, Breanna Stewart sat at the podium and reflected on the Liberty’s journey to get back to the WNBA Finals.

Last October, it was Stewart and her teammates who were eliminated at the hands of the Aces in a heartbreaking Finals loss that came at home, at the buzzer. Courtney Vandersloot missed an attempt at a game-winner — and the Aces subsequently became back-to-back champions.

The Aces had fun with the win, too — making headlines for some jabs taken at the Liberty’s expense at the series’ conclusion. Comments made by Aces head coach Becky Hammon and All-Star guard Kelsey Plum became particularly discussed.

It wasn’t public knowledge at the time, but behind the scenes, Stewart was going through a lot in her personal life. Her father-in-law, Josep Xargay, lost his nearly year-long battle with cancer, while her wife, Marta, was pregnant with their son Theo. Stewart in turn had one of the worst series of her WNBA career, capping things off with a poor shooting in Game 4 in which she went 3/17 from the field.

At the championship parade last fall, Becky Hammon referenced Stewart’s poor shooting performance in the deciding game.

“3/17, let’s talk about it,” Hammon said at the time. The comments weren’t particularly cutting — and could have been interpreted as the Aces coach heaping praise on her team’s defensive effort — but they made the rounds at the time and routinely surfaced over the past year.

One year later, the tables turned, and it was the Liberty who celebrated a decisive victory on the road. Stewart said the win was for her wife and her father — who passed away a year ago on Saturday — while also acknowledging that some of the Aces’ comments after the championship remained front-of-mind.

“No matter what, it’s a really tough time,” Stewart said. “And just the way the series went last year, kinda going through all of that and making sure this year is different. Marta and I talk about doing everything her dad would want us to do.”

“And you know, I have receipts on the things that were said — the entire team does. My mentality today was to go in and get this win for my wife and her dad.”

Hammon’s remarks at the parade weren’t the only comments the Aces made last season. The most notorious line was Kelsey Plum’s, who took an apparent shot at the Liberty’s chemistry after the series ended.

“We also knew that, as much as they’re a team, they’re not a team, if that makes sense,” Plums said last October. “They’re really good individual players, but they don’t care about each other. And you can tell in those moments. They revert back to individual basketball.”

Liberty center Jonquel Jones took issue with that statement.

“She’s not in our locker room,” Jones said last October. “She doesn’t know what goes on in our locker rooms and our huddles. I think it’s easy to kick people when they’re down and you’re up.

“Honestly, to me, it felt kind of classless. You already won a championship, you get to celebrate with your teammates, you get to talk about things that your team did to be successful, and you choose to essentially just s--- on somebody else and their team and what they’ve built all year.”

New York players didn’t reference any specific remarks after the Game 4 defeat. But, Becky Hammon acknowledged that they Aces had talked trash — and that the Liberty would get the last laugh.

“We talked a lot of smack last year,” she said. “I’m sure they heard it. And they got to smack us this year.”

Hammon was asked if she wanted to address anything specific, but declined, instead explaining how none of what was said was personal.

“Nah. I mean, we talk our crap, and they heard it, and they get to talk their crap,” she said. “That’s the game, it’s not personal. I can talk crap all I want, but at the end of the day, I have mad respect.”

Hammon made the respect clear postgame, too, praising the Liberty’s dynamic duo of Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu. Stewart finished the game with 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 assists, while Ionescu logged 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Hammon had previously stated Ionescu was a no-brainer pick for First Team All-WNBA.

“I think Stewie is phenomenal. Phenomenal,” Hammon said. “And Sab, like I told y’all — I don’t know who’s voting for second, third [team], when that stuff comes out, but if you’re watching and paying attention, she’s the key.”

“Stewie is going to go down as one of the greatest of all time, and Sab will too.”

The Liberty made sure to repeatedly note that the job was not finished — a Finals series awaits them, against either the Connecticut Sun or Minnesota Lynx.

But, the victory over the Aces was a critical stepping stone to getting over the hump in hopes of securing the franchise’s first WNBA title.