WNBA Finals Game 1: Lynx vs. Liberty Preview

2024 will go down in history as the year of the electrifying WNBA Finals.

The only question is, who will write it? Will the Liberty claim their first-ever championship, or will the Lynx make history with a record-breaking fifth title?

Before the two teams clash in tonight’s Game 1 (8 ET, ESPN), let’s run through everything you need to know heading into the best-of-five championship in two minutes.

Flame Still Burning: The Liberty are back in the Finals for a second straight season after avenging their 2023 title loss to the defending champion Aces in the semifinals, which saw them oust Vegas 3-1Elusive Hardware: Despite reaching the Finals five times, New York — one of the league’s eight original franchises (est. 1997) — has never won the titleMinny Dynasty: The Lynx are back in the Finals for the first time since 2017, when they won their fourth title in the span of seven seasons (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)Legendary Lynx? A win would give Minnesota a record fifth WNBA championship, breaking a tie with the Storm and Comets for the most all-timeNY Firepower:

On its way to tallying a league-best 32-8 regular-season record, New York finished with the top-ranked offensive rating (107.0) and the third-best defensive rating (95.3)

New York’s Spark: Sabrina Ionescu (20.7 ppg) and Breanna Stewart (20.0 ppg) are the only duo this postseason to each average 20+ ppgLynx Leader: Minnesota finished second in defensive rating (94.8) in the regular season and is led by this season’s Defensive Player of the Year winner and MVP runner-up, Napheesa Collier, who leads all postseason players in scoring with 27.1 ppgPhee-ling It: In Tuesday’s win-or-go-home Game 5 against the Sun, Collier became the first player in W history to record three straight Playoff games with at least 25 points and 10 reboundsAnother Trophy On The Line:

The Lynx were the only team to win the season series against the Liberty (2-1) and also defeated New York on the road in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game