That the Liberty were here, in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Thursday night at Barclays Center, would have come as little surprise to those who set out months ago to forecast a landmark 2024 season.
It’s the identity of their opponent that provided the upset.
A popular preseason Finals pick were the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, who wobbled all summer and in the (semi)final reckoning were eliminated by the Liberty in the previous round.
Or the Connecticut Sun, a perennial deep-playoff entry, seemed plausible. Ditto the Seattle Storm or Phoenix Mercury, if everything broke right with their big-name offseason additions.
Nope, nope and nope.
Instead, it’s the Minnesota Lynx, who finished 19-21 a year ago and — much to the told-ya-so delight of head coach Cheryl Reeve — were pegged ninth in ESPN’s preseason rankings (The Post had them sixth, for the record), who came to Brooklyn three wins away from a title.
If the Liberty are the superteam, the Lynx are the everyteam.
Their renaissance begins with homegrown Napheesa Collier ascending from an All-Star into a consensus top-three player in the world. Collier, in her sixth pro season, averaged 20.4 points with a career-high 9.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks and finished second in MVP voting.
Collier was surrounded by complementary pieces in a new-look starting five: holdover sharpshooters Kayla McBride and Bridget Carleton, plus mid-level free agents Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith (both signed away from Chicago).
Reeve said she recognized all the way back on the second day of training camp that something special was brewing with her team.
“They were there for each other to cover, and the joy that they did it with — hadn’t experienced that in a couple of years,” Reeve said. “At the time, I just walked out of there. I didn’t tell anybody. It was just kind of like, ‘OK, this is really good.’ ”
The Lynx notched a statement win over the Liberty in their fourth game on May 25 and scarcely looked back. They were the only team to beat the Liberty twice (three times in all). They finished in second place with a 30-10 record, including a 13-2 mark after the Olympics break.
Their hallmark became their defense, which finished second in the league with a 94.8 rating.
“They just trust it, and they rotate so well,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said before Game 1. “They’re on a string.”
The Lynx were the preeminent WNBA dynasty of the 2010s, winning four championships with the likes of Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Bronson and Sylvia Fowles.
Now, with Collier fronting a new nucleus and Reeve in sight of an unprecedented fifth ring, they’re back in the league’s inner circle.
“It wouldn’t mean as much to me as it would in terms of how I feel about them,” Reeve said. “I really, really am excited for this group to prove all the prognosticators wrong once again.”
