Co-owner Joe Tsai says Liberty best team in playoffs before semifinal clash vs. Dream begins
The afternoon following the eighth-seeded Liberty’s historic sweep of the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx, Liberty co-owner Joe Tsai took to social media with a brazen declaration.“Seeding doesn’t matter,” Tsai posted to X Wednesday.“We’re the best team in the playoffs.” Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Madeline Kenney about all things Liberty and WNBA.
In front of their home crowd, the Liberty made history on the Barclays Center court, becoming the only No.8 seed to topple the No.
1 team and proving naysayers wrong.The Liberty walked into this series against the Lynx as underdogs and went on to eliminate the league’s best team this season in two games.The Libs, led by their big three, looked for two games like the team projected in the preseason to seriously contend for the WNBA title.The Liberty believed they could survive whatever the playoffs threw at them.Then, they proved it during a best-of-three series.“We’re all learning and growing together,” Rebecca Allen said after the Liberty’s series-clinching win.Now, they get ready for a best-of-five WNBA semifinal against the fourth-seeded Atlanta Dream, who ousted the No.
5 Washington Mystics in two games.The Liberty appear to be a team finally starting to understand who it is after grinding through an uninspiring regular season.They put together two inspiring performances that led to a stunning first-round upset.Very few picked the Liberty to actually do it — not that the team gave weight to what those outside the locker room were saying.“I don’t really care personally because I know how good of a team we are, where we can be, where we can go,” Leonie Fiebich said.
“We have a goal and it’s pretty clear that we’re all locked in and we’re ready to go.”The Liberty’s statistical profile didn’t pop off the page in the regular season.They finished sixth in offensive rating, seventh in defensive rating and seventh in ...