Stephen A. Smith Ecstatic Over Liberty Ending New York’s Basketball Title Drought: How Important is This Championship

The New York Liberty’s Game 5 win over the Minnesota Lynx captured the franchise’s first-ever WNBA championship. More importantly, the Liberty’s 2024 championship etches their name among New York sports legends. Since 2010, out of the four major sports leagues—NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB—New York sports teams have only won a single title, which was at the hands of the Giants in 2011. The Liberty’s championship has fans across the city ecstatic, including ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith.

Smith took to ‘First Take’ to showcase his overflowing joy and excitement following the Liberty’s championship. He went on to spew an endless stream of praise for the beloved WNBA team. He said,

“It ain’t even purgatory, it’s an abyss, that New York has been contaminated by. That they haven’t been able to lift themselves out of. And now the Liberty has risen from the ashes, and they finally captured a championship for the City of New York.”

The award-winning sports media figure is recognized as one of the biggest New York sports fans in the public eye. He stood with the Liberty every step of the way, even demanding that the team end the city’s championship drought.

New York’s support gave the team the push that it needed to propel it to the title. Throughout the 2024 WNBA regular season, the Liberty were undoubtedly the best team. They finished with a 32-8 record, en route to the #1 seed in the league.

However, in their path were the defending back-to-back champions, the Las Vegas Aces, led by 2024 WNBA MVP, A’ja Wilson. New York didn’t falter and convincingly stamped their ticket to the Finals in four games.

In their Finals series against the Lynx, the home-court advantage arguably was the deciding factor. The series was excruciatingly close, with every game bar Game 2 being decided by 5 points or less.

This series featured theatrical endings in nearly every game. In Game 1, Lynx guard Courtney Williams converted a clutch four-point play opportunity to tie the game in the closing seconds. Minnesota went on to win the game in overtime.

She wasn’t the only player in the series to rise to the occasion in the clutch. Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu turned the series in the favor of New York with a deep game-winning three on the road in Game 3.

The series lived up to every expectation. Both teams left everything on the floor but the the Liberty were the ones that had enough to prevail in the end.

The history of New York basketball

New York is one of the biggest hubs for basketball in the world. It’s the home of a handful of the league’s best players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Carmelo Anthony, Bernard King, and many more. However, their stellar talent hasn’t been able to result in success in the city’s teams in the NBA and WNBA.

Before the Liberty’s 2024 championship, the last title from a basketball team came in 1976 from the Brooklyn Nets back when they were known as the New Jersey Nets of the ABA. To put it in context, that is a 48-year drought.

Their inner-city rival, the Knicks, hasn’t won a title since 1973. However, the franchises have put themselves in positions to potentially win a championship multiple times.

Following the Knicks’ two titles in the 1970s, the franchise made two more appearances in the 1990s. Their first came the immediate season after Michael Jordan’s first retirement from basketball in the 1993-94 season. They fell short against the Houston Rockets in seven hard-fought games.

Unexpectedly, in the 1998-99 season, the Knicks became the first eighth seed to make it to the NBA Finals. They finished the regular season with only a 27-23 record because of a lockout forcing the season to start in the middle of February. New York’s magic didn’t last long after, as they were quickly defeated in five games at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs.

The Liberty’s road to the 2024 WNBA Finals marked their second-consecutive trip and sixth appearance in franchise history. They made the Finals in three of their first four seasons in the WNBA but fell to the Houston Comets in each series.

Behind the stellar play of their big three consisting of Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and 2024 Finals MVP, Jonquel Jones, the Liberty achieved redemption from their 2023 Finals loss.

The Liberty’s title run brought out the true passion within New York sports fans.

Fans were seen on the streets of New York celebrating the end of the city’s 48-year championship drought.

https://twitter.com/squintsNY/status/1848235894559351059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Liberty were able to do the seemingly impossible. They’ve rewarded fans for their endless passion and support for their team. However, the Knicks have the potential to do the same following their active summer to elevate to championship contention.