Liberty set sights on avenging bitter WNBA Finals loss to Aces

The Liberty don’t need to watch tape of last year’s WNBA Finals loss to Las Vegas, or their three-game regular-season sweep of the Aces.

They don’t need film.

They have feelings.

The pain of that championship loss is a sting that has motivated them to the league’s best record this season and into a semifinal rematch.

“No [we haven’t watched]. The feelings, yes, but the tape, no,” Breanna Stewart said. “Not being satisfied, we still have that chip on our shoulder. And we know how important home-court advantage is these first games.”

The Liberty can still remember their gut-wrenching loss to Las Vegas.

They watched the Aces celebrate the title right by the Liberty logo in Barclays Center.

Now they will host Game 1 Sunday against the same foe they’ve become so painfully familiar with, the two supposed superteams of the WNBA.

“Throw [the film] it out. I’m not even watching it,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “It doesn’t mean anything to me. This is this year. We’re a different team. We’ve learned from our things, but we know it’s going to be a tough series. The semifinals of the WNBA.

“No, I don’t need to go back to it. I know. I remember it. We remember it. That’s the motivation. That’s the past; we can’t control it. But what we can do is control the present. I’m a stay-in-the-moment kind of gal. Remember, motivate us. But knowing ‘OK, we know what we need to do.’ We’re more experienced now. We handle our adversity. And we’re going to have to.”

The Liberty were a league-best 32-8 this season and swept the Dream in the first round.

They also swept the fourth-seeded Aces in three regular-season games.

But the defending champs have righted the ship after a slow 6-6 start.

Behind MVP A’ja Wilson — who played alongside Stewart and guard Sabrina Ionescu on Team USA’s gold medal squad in Paris — Las Vegas has won nine of 10.

The Liberty will be facing a team rounding into form.

But they say they’re a team with more poise than the one that lost last year.

“Yeah, honestly, throughout the entire postseason, it was the moments and the feelings — the runs, the highs and the lows, and moments where we could’ve stayed connected a little bit more,” Stewart said. “We had an entire year to work on that, to focus on it.

“No matter what, we stay together. We know the schemes, we know what we’re trying to do, and we don’t get knocked off course.”

Stewart said she feels better than she did during last year’s playoffs, when she was the regular-season MVP but saw Wilson dominate to claim Finals MVP.

The Liberty have a withering transition game, but the Aces don’t turn the ball over or give up fast-break buckets.

And Las Vegas has a number of isolation threats.

But the Liberty’s, er, ace in the hole is their depth.

With Jonquel Jones a former MVP and Ionescu breaking out of her recent funk — 36 points and nine assists in Tuesday’s clincher over Atlanta, after mustering just 21 points on 9-for-35 shooting in the prior three games — they can win without Stewart dominating.

The Aces likely can’t say the same of Wilson, especially if Ionescu outplays Jackie Young.

“For us it’s more just understanding how much we’ve improved from last year to this year and ways that we can continue to use our depth, and all of our weapons,” Ionescu said.

“It’s just understanding this is another team that’s in our way of what it is we’re wanting to accomplish. Whether it was Vegas or Seattle, I don’t think the fire and the desire to win varies. It’s just understanding this is a team that’s in front of us in order for us to achieve our goals. What happened last year is in the past; it’s last year. But understanding that we’ve learned a lot from that and just wanting to come out and be our best. … We can use a lot of those experiences to help us.”