WNBA Finals Game 1 Preview: Minnesota Lynx vs. New York Liberty

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History will be written in the 2024 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