Barker: Liberty’s Ionescu adds to lore of New York basketball

MINNEAPOLIS — Sue Wicks was perched on the edge of her sofa seat in Mastic Beach Wednesday night, madly texting with fellow Liberty alums as the final seconds of Game 3 of the WNBA Finals ticked off the clock.

The Liberty legend said she knew that Sabrina Ionescu was going to attempt the winning shot the second she got the ball back in her hands with the game tied at 77. Still, Wicks could not have predicted the magnitude of the moment that they were all about to witness.

Ionescu, after baiting Minnesota defender Kayla McBride at the Lynx logo, made a few stationary dribbles, took a quick step forward and then landed a shot that ranks right up there with the biggest in New York basketball history.

“What a moment. She is forged in steel,” Wicks told Newsday. “My phone just exploded with heart and fire emojis.”

The shot, which was measured just over 28 feet, fell through the net with one second left, giving the Liberty an 80-77 win and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. It also put the Liberty, who have been to the finals five previous times, on the precipice of winning the first title in franchise history.

Ionescu’s basket, according to the WNBA, was the second-longest go-ahead shot in the final 10 seconds of a WNBA Finals. The longest, of course, was Teresa Weatherspoon’s halfcourt winner 25 years ago in Game 2 of the 1999 series against Houston. Though the Liberty would lose the best-of-three series, the basket was so iconic that it is simply now referred to as “The Shot.”

“Spoon’s shot was the defining shot of the personality of that team,” said Wicks, who was on that 1999 team. “This shot is the defining moment of this team . . . It’s cold- blooded.”

Ionescu, who had struggled offensively until late in the game, called it the biggest shot of her career. But it’s actually much more than that.

Not only does the shot rank up there with Weatherspoon’s three, it deserves to be mentioned up there with Allan Houston’s series-winning shot against the Miami Heat in the first round of the 1999 NBA playoffs and Larry Johnson’s four-point play that gave the Knicks a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers that same year.

Ionescu said at the team’s media availability on Thursday that the comparisons have been pretty heady.

“It’s amazing to be considered in that category on that side of history,” Ionescu said. “It’s always amazing that when you are in the moment you don’t really think about what has happened in the past and what a shot like this to go up 2-1 could mean for the future of this organization and our success.”

The shot couldn’t have come at a better time for Ionescu, who earlier in the day was left off the All-WNBA first team despite having arguably her best season as a professional. The Liberty made Ionescu the No. 1 overall pick in 2020. After a slow start hampered by injuries and the pandemic, she has blossomed into the type of superstar that you want taking the last shot in the most important of games.

“Watching Sabrina, my heart was just filled with pride,” Wicks said. “I’ve watched her grow as a champion. We’ve watched her go through fire, stumble and fall and get back up. She’s gone through it all. That moment was just an incredible one to watch.”

Incredible? Yes. But Ionescu wants it to be even more than that.

“The shot doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win [the series],” she said. “The goal is to make that shot worth it.”

The shots by Houston, Johnson and Weatherspoon in 1999, although all classic, didn’t ultimately result in a championship season.

The Liberty still have a chance to become the first New York basketball team to win a title since the Nets won an ABA title in 1976. A win at the Target Center Friday would do it. If that fails, a winner-take-all Game 5 would take place Sunday night at Barclays Center, but the Liberty aren’t thinking about that.

Either way, Wicks and the Liberty alumni will be watching and cheering. Said Wicks: “Our hearts are filled with pride.”