Liberty vs. Aces: Ionescu and Stewart Deliver New York's Second Commissioner's Cup Championship, 93-85

With 37 seconds left on Tuesday night, Jackie Young had a contested layup that could have made it a three-point game and given Barclays Center a collective heart flutter. It didn't fall. At the other end, with 16.8 seconds on the clock, Sabrina Ionescu let one fly from 33 feet off a Breanna Stewart pass. That one fell.

New York's 93-85 win over the Las Vegas Aces clinched the Commissioner's Cup Championship, and the Liberty are the first team to win it twice. Stewart took game MVP, the crowd chanted Ionescu's name during the trophy presentation, and Young spent the whole second half trying to carry a team missing A'ja Wilson across the finish line by herself. She came close enough to make it interesting, which is more than anyone should have asked.

Fast Start, Soggy Third, Loud Finish

New York came out looking ready to make this a coronation. An 8-0 run turned a 2-2 game into 10-2 before the first three minutes were up, and Las Vegas had a scarier problem than the scoreboard: Chelsea Gray caught something to the nose about 90 seconds in and left for the locker room under a towel. She was back a few minutes later, which is more than most of us would manage.

It was 27-21 after one and 51-37 at the half, with Ionescu already at 17. No team had ever scored more in the first half of a Commissioner's Cup title game, per the AP.

The Liberty stretched it to 58-43 in the third, and that's when Young, who had six points at the break, decided she'd seen enough. She scored 10 in the quarter's final 6 1/2 minutes, her three-point play with 24 seconds on the clock left New York up only 65-62, and the Aces took the period 25-14. Early in the fourth they led 71-69. That two-point edge would be their biggest of the night, and it had about the lifespan of a Brooklyn parking spot.

Pauline Astier ended it with a 3 at the 7:08 mark, the start of a 12-0 burst that left the Aces scoreless until Chennedy Carter's two free throws at 3:58. By then it was 81-71, and Ionescu's 26-footer off an Astier feed pushed it to 84-73.

Las Vegas still wouldn't leave. Young hit a step-back 3, Carter scored through contact and converted the free throw, and Young's 24-footer at 2:26 made it 86-82. Stewart answered with a layup, Ionescu added a 5-footer, and Young's three free throws at 1:21 got it to 90-85 before that last miss and that last dagger.

Two Stars and a Scene-Stealer

Ionescu finished with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists on 9-of-19 shooting, 5-of-13 from deep. It was her top scoring night of the season, two days after a scoreless first half and a nine-point game at Golden State. She's also been working back from a back issue and, before that, an ankle injury that cost her the start of the year. "I always continued to have that belief in myself since I know the work I put in," she said. "(An) injury or two isn't going to diminish who I am."

Stewart was the adult in the room: 25 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals, two blocks and 7-of-9 at the line. This was her fourth time playing for this trophy, after wins with Seattle in 2021 and New York in 2023 and a loss to Minnesota in 2024. "To win our second one, it's special to do it in Barclays with our fans," she said. The scene-stealer was Astier, who scored 15 on 5-of-8 shooting with five rebounds, four assists and no missed free throws.

For Las Vegas, Young's 31 points came on 12-of-21 shooting with seven assists, 25 of the points after halftime. With Wilson, the four-time MVP, out after tweaking her right ankle Sunday in Chicago, only Carter (18 off the bench) kept pace. Gray went 3-of-12 and Jewell Loyd 2-of-9. "Thought she played phenomenal," coach Becky Hammon said of Young. "That shot wasn't what won or lost the game. She's a perfectionist, demands a lot out of herself. Needs to give herself a little more grace." Young's own review was shorter: "Do what I can to help our team win. Unfortunately we fell short tonight."

Three Minutes in the Fourth

Everything after 71-69 was a footnote to that 12-0 run, and the run itself explains how New York won this. Jonquel Jones made one field goal all night and still scored nine, because she went 7-of-8 at the line, including the two free throws that finished the burst. The Liberty kept manufacturing points on possessions where the shot wasn't there. Without Wilson, the Aces had nobody to do the same thing at the other end, so every comeback had to be built the hard way, one Young jumper at a time.

The Receipts

• 24-of-29 vs. 11-of-14: New York made 13 more free throws in a game decided by eight.
• 42-30: The Liberty's rebounding edge, built on 32 defensive boards.
• 5-0: Blocks. Las Vegas never got one.
• 19-8: Points off turnovers, favoring the Aces, who lost anyway.
• 95 percent: The share of the game New York spent in front.

A Trophy, Not a Standings Bump

The Cup final doesn't count in the regular-season standings, so New York stays 12-8 and Las Vegas stays 14-5. What the Liberty get is a second title in this event to go with 2023, when they also beat the Aces, that time in Las Vegas. They also get a lift after dropping back-to-back regular-season games at Seattle and Golden State. A week earlier they won 87-76 in Las Vegas in a game that did count, so the Aces have now seen plenty of them. Both clubs go back to the regular schedule Friday, with New York hosting Minnesota and Las Vegas hosting Chicago.

A Brooklyn Joint

Spike Lee was in the building, along with Aces minority owner Tom Brady, and both got a show. Asked about her nose afterward, Gray deadpanned that it was "attached," which pretty well sums up the Aces' night: banged up, shorthanded and still standing when the horn sounded. New York just happened to have the better closer. Lee has filmed plenty of Brooklyn endings over the years. This one came from 33 feet.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press.