Liberty rout Aces to put exclamation point on WNBA championship celebration

A flicker of seafoam-green lights washed over the Barclays Center crowd Saturday afternoon as the Liberty gathered over at their bench well before tip-off.

The final coronation of the 2024 WNBA champions was set to begin.

Team owner Clara Wu Tsai was already wearing a diamond-studded championship ring the size of a silver dollar when she took the microphone at center court.

When she and her husband, Joe, bought the Liberty in 2019, she envisioned living a moment like this.

“This was our first championship,” Tsai told the crowd, “but it will not be our last.”

Saturday was the first step toward doing just that.

The Las Vegas Aces — who had to hear the cheers from the ring ceremony from the visitors’ locker room — were looking to play spoiler to New York’s celebratory day.

Instead, the Liberty — 24 hours after the Knicks clinched their first Eastern Conference Finals berth in 25 years — sent the resounding message that New York basketball is back with a 92-78 win.

Saturday’s season opener was a dog fight.

The Liberty held a comfortable 14-point lead at halftime but saw it dissolve to two by the fourth quarter.

But every time the Aces battled their way back into the game, the Liberty found a way to respond.

Whether that be the sequence when Natasha Cloud fed Jonquel Jones for a layup late in the third quarter.

Or when Cloud ran the length of the floor after tumbling out of bounds with Jewell Loyd only to finish with a layup through contact and make it a three-point play.

The Aces’ last bit of hope was swatted away when Jones blocked A’ja Wilson late in the fourth quarter.

Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 25 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Cloud, in her official Liberty debut, had 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds.

And Jones added 17 points and six assists.

It was a strong start for the Liberty, who are on the road for the next two games.

They play at Chicago on Thursday and at Indiana next Saturday.