Kelsey Plum Denise Truscello/Getty Photos for Caesars Leisure
It took a yr, however the New York Liberty lastly received the final snort on Kelsey Plum and the Las Vegas Aces.
After the Aces defeated the Liberty within the 2023 WNBA Finals final October, Plum, 30, courted controversy together with her postgame feedback concerning the New York squad.
“I feel we knew we hadn’t performed our greatest basketball,” Plum stated. “We additionally knew that, as a lot as they’re a workforce, they’re not a workforce, if that is smart. They’re actually good particular person gamers, however they don’t care about one another. And you may inform in these moments. They revert again to particular person basketball.”
Plum’s dig didn’t sit nicely with Liberty star Jonquel Jones, whose response to Plum has resurfaced within the wake of the Liberty eliminating the Aces from the 2024 WNBA playoffs on Sunday, October 6, ending their quest for a 3rd consecutive league title.
Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and extra basketball stars proved that scoring on the court docket isn’t the one factor they’re good at. The athletes confirmed Us their trendy aspect on the WNBA Draft. Earlier than WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert introduced their new house groups, the 2024 class rocked the purple carpet on the Brooklyn Academy […]
“She’s not in our locker room,” Jones, 30, stated final yr. “She doesn’t know what goes on in our locker rooms and our huddles. I feel it’s simple to kick folks once they’re down and also you’re up.”
Jones added, “Actually, to me, it felt form of classless. You already gained a championship, you get to have fun together with your teammates, you get to speak about issues that your workforce did to achieve success, and also you select to basically simply s— on any person else and their workforce and what they’ve constructed all yr. I don’t care something for it, to be trustworthy.”
Sunday’s win was additionally a cathartic, well-earned second for the Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, who devoted the sport to the late father of her spouse, Marta Xargay Casademont.
“My father-in-law handed away final yr, yesterday,” Stewart, 30, informed reporters on Sunday. “It doesn’t matter what, it’s a very robust time. Simply the way in which that the sequence went final yr, form of going by way of all of that, and ensuring that this yr’s completely different.”
She added, “Marta and I discuss doing every little thing that her dad would need us to do. We proceed to try this.”
Sports activities phenomenon Breanna Stewart met her spouse, Marta Xargay, whereas doing the factor she loves greatest: taking part in basketball. Stewart, a New York native, was in Russia taking part in for the workforce Dynamo Kursk when she met Xargay, who was born in Spain. Each of them joined the squad for the 2018-19 season, however they didn’t instantly […]
Stewart additionally made a thinly veiled reference to Aces head coach Becky Hammon, who ridiculed Stewart’s poor capturing efficiency within the 2023 Finals regardless of having simply misplaced her father-in-law.
“I’ve receipts on the issues that have been stated,” Stewart stated. “The whole workforce does. My mentality as we speak was to actually go in and get this win for my spouse and her dad.”
The Liberty will face both the Minnesota Lynx or Connecticut Solar when the 2024 WNBA Finals tip off on Thursday, October 10. The decisive Sport 5 between the Lynx and Solar is Tuesday, October 8 in Minneapolis.