No. 8 Liberty Makes WNBA History, Sweeps No. 1 Lynx

The New York Liberty entered the 2026 WNBA Playoffs as the No. 8 seed.

Two games later, the league's top seed is going home.

New York completed one of the biggest upsets in WNBA postseason history Tuesday night, defeating the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx 87-71 to complete a stunning first-round sweep.

With the victory, the Liberty became the first No. 8 seed in WNBA history to eliminate a No. 1 seed.

But perhaps the most surprising part wasn't that New York pulled off the upset.

It was how convincingly the Liberty did it.

New York Never Looked Like an Eight Seed

Minnesota entered the postseason with the league's best record and home-court advantage.

None of it mattered.

The Liberty opened the series by walking into Minnesota and beating the Lynx 91-75. That immediately put the No. 1 seed on the brink of elimination and gave New York an opportunity to finish the series at home.

The Liberty didn't waste it.

New York jumped on Minnesota early in Game 2 and never trailed.

Jonquel Jones controlled the interior with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Breanna Stewart added 21 points of her own.

Sabrina Ionescu contributed 18 as New York's championship-tested core once again delivered when the stakes were highest.

By the final buzzer, the team that entered the postseason eighth had beaten the league's best regular-season team twice by double digits.

There was nothing fluky about it.

The Regular Season Didn't Matter Anymore

New York's path to the No. 8 seed wasn't what anyone expected.

The Liberty endured an inconsistent regular season filled with injuries and change. A team with championship expectations instead found itself entering the postseason at the bottom of the bracket.

That made drawing Minnesota in the opening round look like the worst possible scenario.

Instead, the playoffs gave New York a reset.

The Liberty still had players who knew what championship basketball required. Stewart, Jones and Ionescu were central pieces of the team that won the franchise's first WNBA championship in 2024.

Once the postseason began, that experience showed.

Minnesota may have owned the better seed and better regular-season record, but New York looked like the more prepared playoff team throughout the series.

Minnesota's Season Ends Abruptly

For the Lynx, the ending couldn't have been much more shocking.

Minnesota earned the No. 1 seed after finishing 33-11, positioning itself for what appeared to be a legitimate championship run.

Instead, that season lasted only two postseason games.

After losing Game 1 at home, Minnesota needed a response in Brooklyn to keep its season alive.

It never came.

The Lynx fell behind early in Game 2 and spent the rest of the night chasing New York. Minnesota never took the lead and shot just 38.2 percent from the field.

A team that spent the regular season establishing itself atop the league suddenly had no answer for the lowest-seeded team in the bracket.

Now the No. 1 seed is eliminated before the semifinals even begin.

From No. 8 Seed to Championship Threat

The Liberty aren't simply moving on.

They just changed the complexion of the WNBA Playoffs.

New York didn't sneak past Minnesota in a deciding Game 3. It didn't need a last-second shot or a fortunate bounce.

The Liberty won Game 1 by 16.

Then they won Game 2 by 16.

That's a 32-point advantage across two games against the league's No. 1 seed.

The bracket may have called New York an eight seed.

Its performance said something very different.

The Liberty now advance to the semifinals, where they'll face the winner of Atlanta and Washington.

And after what just happened to Minnesota, whoever gets New York next has been warned.

The lowest seed in the WNBA Playoffs just eliminated the highest.

History has been made.

Now the question changes.

How far can the No. 8 seed take this?