Breanna Stewart asked for this, all of this.
The coat of the Liberty superstar among the stars. The responsibility of winning the first title for an original WNBA franchise, bringing a professional basketball championship to New York for the first time since Clyde, Dollar Bill, the Pearl and all the others.
The fault when she misses the shot, as she did twice, during a stunning collapse in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. Worship when she sticks it.
And more: the charter flights, the overflow crowds, the national broadcast window, the eyes of a sport on it.
Stewart was a fixture in Liberty’s 80-66 victory in Game 2 on Sunday. She had 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists, a game-high seven steals in the Finals and left a fierce impression that she wasn’t going to let go. his team loses.
“I couldn’t wait to come back and change the narrative,” Stewart said.
Stewart had missed a free throw at the end of regulation in the opener and was unable to convert a potential game-tying driving layup on the final possession of overtime.
The chance to bring a trophy to Brooklyn, with a Liberty team that transformed into an instant contender the moment Stewart agreed to sign as a free agent before the 2023 season, seemed to slip away for a second Finals consecutive.
“Just don’t let history repeat itself and know that, you know, the first game happened,” Stewart said of his mindset. “But now how can we control Game 2?
The Liberty controlled Game 2 from the point, building a lead of 17. But the ghosts of Game 1 were outside, the creepy skeletons hanging around the yard with 18,046 living souls inside nervously saying “Ooooh!”
When the Lynx cut the Liberty lead to four late in the third quarter, Stewart made two free throws, blocked a shot at the other end, then came back and canned a jumper to bring it within eight.
When the Lynx got closer with less than five minutes remaining – the moment the first game went wrong – Stewart had three interceptions over the next three minutes. It’s my ball, she seemed to say.
“When you have your best player, your leader, who plays as hard as she does night in and night out and impacts the game in different ways, not just scoring and rebounding,” the Liberty guard said Courney Vandersloot, “she’s a great motivator for everyone, and she sets the standard for us.
And how fitting that Stewart’s final hoop of the afternoon, a dagger with 57 seconds on the clock, handed over his own mistake.
“Making or missing a shot or a free throw…we do this long enough, these things happen,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “She is resilient. She performed exactly as we thought she would.
We liked to say about Carmelo Anthony back then, like we say about Jalen Brunson today: When the Knicks were down, they chose New York.
All of this is true for Stewart – and more: she chose to be in the spotlight in New York, she took advantage of the discount in free agency, she helped rejuvenate a historic franchise that should be a flagship of her league.
Indeed, the Liberty reported a record attendance of 18,040 on Sunday, including Geno Auriemma, the coach with whom Stewart won four national titles at UConn, on the field (“I texted him and told him “You know what, it’s about time you came,” Stewart said).
And now she has the Liberty two wins away from a decisive crown as they head to Minnesota for Game 3 on Wednesday.
We couldn’t ask for more.
