Aces motivated to ‘ruin' Liberty's ring night after playoff heartbreak
Each of the past two seasons, the Aces opened at home with a pregame championship celebration.
On Saturday, though, they'll experience what it's like to be on the opposing end of a banner-and-ring ceremony.
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For Aces coach Becky Hammon, Saturday's celebration of the Liberty will bring 'mixed emotions.'
Hammon spent the first eight years of her playing career with the Liberty and went to three WNBA Finals with the team, but never won.
Last season, the Liberty captured their first championship and eliminated the Aces in the WNBA semifinals in the process.
'I have a lot of respect for this organization, a lot of respect for Joe and Clara [Tsai], the Liberty just in general. They gave me my first chance,' Hammon said Friday after practice. 'So I keep my personal opinions out of it. We're about winning the game. And I thought last year, I thought they were the best team. The best team gets rings.'
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4 Becky Hammon coaches during the Aces' playoff game against the Liberty on Oct. 1.
Michelle Farsi for the NY Post
Saturday won't be Chelsea Gray's first time trying to play spoiler to a team's ring night.
The Aces' veteran guard opened the 2018 season at Minnesota.
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Gray, then with the Sparks, helped Los Angeles put a damper on the Lynx's championship ring night by handing the defending champions a season-opening loss.
4 Chelsea Gray tries to drive with the ball during the Aces' playoff game against the Liberty on Oct. 1.
Michelle Farsi for the NY Post
4 Sabrina Ionescu reacts after the Liberty won the championship on Oct. 20.
Michelle Farsi for the NY Post
'It's kind of a more incentive that the away team always tries to ruin the ring night,' Gray said Friday after practice. 'That's always the key to everything. That's kind of the mantra of the game.'
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Leonie Fiebich joined the Liberty for her first practice of the season on Friday.
Whether she'll play in the season opener remains unclear.
Fiebich was listed as 'questionable' on the team's availability report Friday evening, and coach Sandy Brondello said the German wing would be a 'game-time decision.'
4 Leonie Fiebich is pictured during the Liberty's game against the Aces on Sept. 29.
Michelle Farsi for the NY Post
'We'll see how she responds tomorrow,' Brondello said. 'But I'm hopeful. It'd be nice to have her.'
If Fiebich is unavailable, Kennedy Burke may be promoted to the starting lineup.
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Breanna Stewart, who will add a third WNBA championship ring to her collection Saturday, said she recently brought her award collection to New York from Seattle.
Stewart hasn't established a dedicated spot for her rings, medals and trophies yet. But she has made it clear to her young daughter that her rings aren't toys.
'I don't want those things to hit the ground and then crack or something,' Stewart said. 'That's a conversation that I don't want to have with her.'
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