Aces motivated to ruin Libertys ring night after playoff heartbreak

Each of the past two seasons, the Aces opened at home with a pregame championship celebration. On Saturday, though, they’ll experience what it’s like to be on the opposing end of a banner-and-ring ceremony. For Aces coach Becky Hammon, Saturday’s celebration of the Liberty will bring “mixed emotions.” Hammon spent the first eight years of her playing career with the Liberty and went to three WNBA Finals with the team, but never won. Last season, the Liberty captured their first championship and eliminated the Aces in the WNBA semifinals in the process. “I have a lot of respect for this organization, a lot of respect for Joe and Clara [Tsai], the Liberty just in general.They gave me my first chance,” Hammon said Friday after practice.

“So I keep my personal opinions out of it.We’re about winning the game.

And I thought last year, I thought they were the best team.The best team gets rings.” Saturday won’t be Chelsea Gray’s first time trying to play spoiler to a team’s ring night. The Aces’ veteran guard opened the 2018 season at Minnesota. Gray, then with the Sparks, helped Los Angeles put a damper on the Lynx’s championship ring night by handing the defending champions a season-opening loss. “It’s kind of a more incentive that the away team always tries to ruin the ring night,” Gray said Friday after practice.

“That’s always the key to everything.That’s kind of the mantra of the game.” Leonie Fiebich joined the Liberty for her first practice of the season on Friday. Whether she’ll play in the season opener remains unclear. Fiebich was listed as “questionable” on the team’s availability report Friday evening, and coach Sandy Brondello said the German wing would be a “game-time decision.” “We’ll see how she responds tomorrow,” Brondello said.

“But I’m hopeful.It’d be nice to have her.” If Fiebich is unavailable, Kennedy Burke may be promoted to the starting lineup. Breanna Stewart...