Sabrina Ionescu’s nose was scrunched, making room for her upturned lip. She squinted, mean-mugging, as she glided back down the Barclays Center court during a decisive Game 2 in the opening round, her ponytail swinging triumphantly behind her. The Brooklyn crowd hadn’t seen this version of Ionescu yet in the 2026 season: cocky, swaggering, in a flow state. She’d just drained a deep contested three-pointer, stretching the Liberty’s lead over the Lynx to 14 points in the dwindling seconds of the third quarter. There was a whole frame left to play, but Ionescu’s intrepid heave from beyond the arc might as well have been a dagger, sealing Minnesota’s fate.
New York became the first No. 8 seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in WNBA postseason history, and it did so in convincing, devastating fashion. As Ionescu quickly pointed out, the Liberty aren’t your average No. 8 seed. This is the much-heralded superteam after all. And while their capes may have some rips and tatters from four seasons of heroics in Gotham, the Big Three of Ionescu, Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart can still summon their superpowers.
