New York Liberty already have a secret weapon ready for the postseason

The New York Liberty won their first WNBA title in franchise history in 2024.

They won in five games, defeating the Minnesota Lynx. The Lynx had won the regular season series 2-1 and had also defeated the Liberty in the 2024 WNBA Commissioner's Cup.

The title was decided in a winner-take-all Game 5. Now, the Liberty are mounting what looks like a very promising title defense. New York is 16-6 and on a four-game winning streak, which puts them at the No. 2 seed (behind the Lynx) if their season were to end today.  

There’s one stat that puts them in a great position to make it back to the WNBA Finals – and again win it all.

Clutch Play

Stats often paint a good picture of how a team is doing overall. One stat that truly puts New York ahead of their competition is net rating. 

Net rating is the difference between the offensive rating and the defensive rating, showing how much more (or less) a team can score compared to their opponents. A positive net rating means a team outscoring its opponents, while a negative net rating indicates being outscored.

For context, offensive rating measures a team's points scored per 100 possessions, and defensive rating measures a team's points allowed per 100 possessions. 

It’s not surprising that the Liberty have a good net rating –  they do lead the league in scoring with 87.4 PPG. Their net rating regularly is 10.1, good for second-best behind the Lynx (13.1).

But when you toggle to clutch stats, the Liberty are outdoing everyone with a net rating of 35.6. The next best team is the Phoenix Mercury with 31.9 and the Lynx with 12.4. They are the only three teams in the league with a double-digit clutch net rating. 

Only five total teams have a positive net clutch rating – all other teams are negative. 

In the WNBA, "clutch" stats typically refer to a team's performance in the final five minutes of a game when the score is within five points.  

That’s a pretty important stat for the Liberty to be leading, especially because of how close the 2024 WNBA Finals were. The Liberty won Game 1 by five points, but lost Game 2 by two points. They won Game 3 by three points, Game 4 was a Liberty blowout, and then they won Game 5 – and ultimately the title – by two points in overtime. 

The Liberty also have the winning percentage this season in the clutch at .800.

Though anything can happen in the playoffs, the Lynx currently hold the No. 1 spot in the league with a 21-4 record and appear to be setting themselves up for another Finals collision with the Liberty. 

Offensive Juggernauts

And why do the Liberty have such a great offense? They have two of the top-10 scorers in the league in Breanna Stewart (5th – 19.6 PPG) and Sabrina Ionescu (8th – 18.4 PPG). 

The Liberty are leading the league in 3-point percentage as well (36.0), thanks to not just their stars like Ionescu and Stewart, but their supporting cast of players like ​​Leonie Fiebich and Kennedy Burke, who sit at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the league in three-point percentage. 

The Liberty have made 19 3-pointers twice in a game this season, leading the WNBA.

Natasha Cloud also helps round out the offense with her 6.9 assists per game average — third in the league.