Sabrina Ionescu Sends Strong Response After New York Liberty Make History originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The New York Liberty are looking to become just the second team in the last 20 years to win back-to-back WNBA championships. So far, they seem to be on track to do just that.
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On Thursday, they defeated the Washington Mystics 86-78 in their second game of Commissioner’s Cup play. While Sabrina Ionescu struggled mightily by missing 14 of her 17 shot attempts, Breanna Stewart scored 26 points and made 10 of her 13 free throw attempts while adding 11 rebounds.
New York is now 8-0, tying it with the Minnesota Lynx for the league’s best record and giving it its best start ever. Ionescu reminded everyone after Thursday’s contest that being undefeated at this point is merely a stepping stone to what the team hopes will be bigger and better things.
“Obviously 8-0 is great, but that’s not what our goal is and so we’re going to take every single game one by one and continue to just try to be better,” she said.
On the season, Ionescu is averaging 17.3 points and 5.0 assists a game. She has been named to the All-Star team in each of the last three seasons, and many expect she will get another nod this year.
New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu drives past Connecticut Sun center Tina Charles.John Jones-Imagn Images
As a team, the Liberty lead everyone in scoring with 91.1 points a game, a 47.8% field-goal accuracy, a 38.2% accuracy from 3-point range and an offensive rating of 112.0. They also have the league’s best defensive rating at 88.6.
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There is a long way to go, needless to say, and there could be pitfalls ahead for them. The Indiana Fever, who are 3-4 and are currently short-handed due to injury, are lurking, and the Minnesota Lynx, who took New York to the brink in the 2024 WNBA Finals, won’t be easy to overcome.
But for Ionescu and crew, so far, so good.
Related: Big Caitlin Clark Update Revealed Amid Absence From Fever
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
