NEW YORK — Breanna Stewart’s hands slumped to her hips as a Las Vegas Aces’ dogpile broke out at midcourt at Barclays Center. For a split-second, she lingered in front of the New York Liberty bench, taking in the on-court celebration that the Liberty had entered Wednesday night seeking to avoid. The Las Vegas Aces won the 2023 WNBA championship with a 70-69 Game 4 victory, becoming the first repeat champions since 2002. They finished the series, and season, on the same court that four months earlier Stewart said the Liberty would protect.
The Liberty’s season ended abruptly. New York possessed the ball with 8.8 seconds to play trailing by a point. Coach Sandy Brondello said the plan was to “get the ball into Stewie’s hand.” Sometimes, perhaps often, that plan pans out as prescribed. Stewart was named league MVP for the second time after averaging 23 points per game in the regular season and setting franchise scoring records throughout her first season in New York. This time, however, was different. “It just didn’t work out,” Brondello said.
With just over four seconds on the clock, Stewart was double-teamed in the lane and passed the ball to Betnijah Laney, who swung it to Courtney Vandersloot in the left corner. Vandersloot said she was trying to get her…
