LAS VEGAS — The New York Liberty have been waiting nearly 12 months for this. From the moment Courtney Vandersloot’s jumper misfired in the waning seconds of Game 4 of the 2023 Finals, the Liberty were chasing revenge, a chance to redeem themselves after an opportunity lost and to even the score against the Las Vegas Aces.

“Remember how it feels,” coach Sandy Brondello said earlier in the series. “It’s in the past. but we don’t forget how we felt in that moment. So if you need motivation, remember how you felt after game 4.”

The opportunity for redemption presented itself a round earlier than expected, leaving New York still short of the ultimate prize. But after spending the last few weeks saying they hadn’t accomplished anything, the Liberty did achieve one goal Sunday — they dethroned the two-time defending champs.

This was personal for New York, who referenced the trash talk from the Aces after winning their 2023 title. The Liberty won’t consider this season a success until winning three more games – they can’t, considering they already advanced to the finals a year ago – but the emotions poured through nonetheless.

“I have receipts on the things that were said, the entire team does,” Breanna Stewart said.

After struggling in the elimination loss this time last year, Stewart led the way in the encore with 19 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. In a tense, arhythmic Game 4 Sunday, New York kept the Aces at bay the entire afternoon before pulling away with a 16-2 run in the fourth quarter to prevail 76-62 and take the semifinal series. The Liberty advance to the WNBA Finals for the sixth time in franchise history, while the Aces fall short of a title for the first time since Becky Hammon took over as coach.

New York entered Michelob ULTRA Arena and took this game from the home team. Following a Jackie Young 3-pointer to open the proceedings, the Liberty reeled off a 10-0 run and never trailed again. The Aces pulled within one on a couple of instances but could never get over the hump. New York’s veterans always found a way to end the rally, whether it was Jonquel Jones sinking a 3-pointer, Vandersloot driving her way to the basket or Stewart hitting an impossible runner with her never-ending arms.

Sloot’s got the moves! 🏃‍♀️ Big bucket as she powers her way to the rim.

NYL leads by 8 in the 4Q.

📺 Liberty-Aces on ABC | #WNBAPlayoffs presented by @Google pic.twitter.com/2D3KiCOavp

— WNBA (@WNBA) October 6, 2024

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The Liberty’s length spooked Las Vegas all night, as the Aces even saw shadows on open shots. Young wouldn’t hit another basket the rest of the night — her lone potential make coming on a halfcourt heave after the third-quarter buzzer — and Las Vegas shot 21 of 64 from the field, including 7 of 30 on 3s. Three of those came in the final 3:20 when the Aces were already trailing by 14 and out of time to complete the comeback. At that point, the home fans were exiting the building with the New York faithful behind their bench exhorting their return to the finals.

Before the series started, Las Vegas conceded that the Liberty had been the best team all year, and Hammon reiterated that after the game.

“Their group earned it, they earned it all year,” Hammon said. “(That) team was put together to take us out, and they did.”

Required reading

(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

It may only be a preseason game, but LeBron James is never going to forget the first time he shared the same court with his son, Bronny James, as Los Angeles Lakers teammates on Sunday night. 

LeBron and Bronny became the first father-son duo to play in any NBA game together, as they took the court in the first half against the Phoenix Suns. They played around four minutes together in the second quarter. 

LeBron, who was an efficient 8-of-12 from the field, including 2-of-3 made from three-point land, for 19 points discussed what it was like to have his son by his side on the hardwood for the first time in a game.

“It’s pretty cool for the both of us, and especially for our family,” LeBron said. “It’s definitely a moment that I will never forget.”

LeBron has been wanting to play with Bronny since his son was just a high school prospect who hadn’t committed to playing at USC yet. And everyone knew that meant LeBron would have to play well past 20 years in the NBA to do so based on the current steps prospects must take before being eligible for the NBA Draft. 

Ahead of Year 22 in the association, LeBron remains in top-notch shape and he’s seeing this milestone checked off. 

LAKERS’ LEBRON JAMES SAYS HE EXPERIENCED ‘PURE JOY’ IN PRACTICES WITH SON BRONNY AS TRAINING CAMP TIPS OFF

“For a father, it means everything,” he said. “For someone who didn’t have that growing up, to be able to have that influence on your kids and have that influence on your son, be able to have moments with your son – and the ultimate, to be able to work with your son – that’s one of the greatest things that a father could ever hope for or wish for.”

It was a pedestrian night for Bronny, who saw his first game action as an NBA player. He had just one shot, a missed three-pointer, with two defensive rebounds over his 13:25 minutes on the floor. He also had two turnovers.

It also happened to be his 20th birthday on Sunday, which only adds to the milestone. 

NBA fans are intrigued to see when it will be official that the father-son duo becomes the first-ever pair to play in a regular season game. It was reported earlier this year after the Lakers drafted Bronny in the second round that he would be up with Los Angeles to get the milestone out of the way before being sent down to the G-League South Bay Lakers for more development. 

LeBron James and Bronny James of the Los Angeles Lakers during the Phoenix Suns game on Oct. 6, 2024, at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs. (Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)

In the meantime, Bronny is still trying to develop a work relationship with his father. 

“I’m always thinking about, ‘That’s my dad!’ because that’s literally my dad,” he said. “But when I’m playing, he’s just my teammate. That’s all.” 

New head coach JJ Redick is also navigating this pairing as he gets his bearings in his first-time role. 

“I’m thrilled that I get to be a part of this, I really am,” Redick said. “It’s cool as a basketball fan. I think it speaks to LeBron’s longevity, but also his competitive stamina that he’s able to still be doing this in Year 22. It speaks to the work that Bronny has put in to get to this point, and really just the fatherly care, and certainly the motherly care from Savannah as well. Bronny, he’s such a great kid and a pleasure to be around.”

Redick added that their connection on the floor won’t be “gimmicky,” as he wants to get them in as the game flows naturally. 

Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James steps onto the court with forward LeBron James during the preseason game Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/William Liang)

While it hasn’t been done in the NBA, father-son duos have been together on the same playing field in other professional sports, including MLB with Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. playing together on the Seattle Mariners.

It’s history in the making, and though LeBron is definitely still in this game to win championships, he knows how special this moment is for him not only as a player, but as a father, too. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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BERKELEY, Calif. — Speckled throughout the mass of overjoyed fans scrunched together at the epicenter of the Cal Berkeley campus Saturday morning were the ambassadors who played specific parts in making this once inconceivable scene materialize.

They raised their phones high, capturing a 360-degree view of the madness of ESPN’s “College GameDay,” and hit record. They embraced the emotion of the moment as the sun began to peek over the Berkeley hills.

Without them, Nick Saban isn’t tearing off his crimson tie at the behest of the fans who couldn’t bear seeing even a tinge of something close to Stanford Cardinal red in front of the sea of exultant California blue and gold. Without them, program legend Marshawn Lynch isn’t flown in to be the celebrity guest picker, taking his rightful place in a golf cart and later placing Kirk Herbstreit in a very friendly headlock.

And without them, the seats inside California Memorial Stadium aren’t packed more than 12 hours later to digest an agonizing last-minute 39-38 loss to No. 8 Miami.

Behold, the ballooning cultural clout of the Calgorithm, a guerilla-like social media movement that leans into sarcasm, stereotypes and self-awareness through photoshopped and AI-generated memes that embrace the absurdity of perception.

On Saturday, as GameDay’s Pat McAfee constantly roused the crowd, it was clear the Calgorithm had achieved its objective: to prove that Cal, associated with one of the most liberal communities in America, does, in fact, have a beloved fan base happily obsessed with Golden Bears football.

Punch in the hashtag online, and you’ll be awash in memes of grizzly bears wearing masks and stepping off an airplane called “Stop Climate Change Airlines” in Florida prior to Cal’s game earlier this season at Florida State. Or grizzly bears welcoming Miami Hurricanes on the tarmac with a “Critical Race Theory” book in hand.

“There’s a certain joy and a certain absurdity,” said Nam Le, who graduated from Cal in 2012. “It’s a fun story from a fan base that is traditionally ignored.”

At this point there are too many memes to count — and new attempts at their own brand of self-deprecation nearly every minute.

From within, they’ve cultivated a very obscure sports moment that has resonated not only within the online reaches of the Cal fan base, but among college football followers of other teams nationwide. A routine response from a random follower after diving deep into the Calgorithm is that “Cal is now my second favorite team,” members of the Calgorithm say.

When it pertains to actual membership, some are known publicly, some aren’t. Some are transparent about their real lives on social media, some aren’t.

Known commodities include a teacher, data analyst, political coordinator and someone who hawks hot dogs at minor-league baseball games. The others exist in the realm of anonymity and are referred to as “the burners.” They are known by random social media handles for their participation in the online discourse that has brought a disarming nature to platforms often inundated with volatility.

They’ve made themselves seen online but also within the walls of the Cal football facility. Some members of Cal’s football support staff have a group text thread carved out specifically for new memes to share.

“The burners are hilarious, man,” said Marshall Cherrington, Cal’s director of player personnel. “We all love them inside this building.”

Linebacker Cade Uluave specifically thanked “the burners” during a news conference appearance last week for helping bring more attention to the program and game against the Hurricanes. Special teams coordinator Vic So’oto shared on X that defensive lineman Xavier Carlton and linebacker Ryan McCullough were “keeping the pocket hot like Cal burners” followed by some flame emojis.

The reach the Calgorithm has achieved over the course of the season is apropos for the school and its locale. At a university in a city long known for its involvement in social movements dating back to the 1960s, this movement just played out on social media.

And the people, the fans, took matters into their own hands. GameDay producer Matthew Garrett said prior to making the call to Cal last week to gauge interest in hosting, he was flooded with questions by fans of what they could do to get the show to Berkeley for the first time. Prior to Saturday, Cal was one of six Power 4 schools to have never hosted.

When it got its chance, of course it was in typical cognizant Calgorithm fun. Signs held high compared Cal’s list of Nobel laureates produced at Berkeley compared with Miami. (The score is currently 61-4.) One read: “I thought this was a protest!”

The Calgorithm really seemed to take off after Cal upset Auburn 21-14 on Sept. 7 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The meme by Don Grizzel, Ph.D (@golDonBear on X) featured cutouts of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, whose parents met in Berkeley in the early 1960s, Oski, Cal’s bear mascot, quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a rainbow, and an obtusely stretched out photo of President Joe Biden and the caption read: “You Just Lost to the Woke Agenda.” The post has received 5 million impressions.

https://t.co/hskIyGbkH2 pic.twitter.com/cPIfI1FXRW

— Don Grizzell, Ph.D. (@golDonbear) September 7, 2024

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The scope of the Calgorithm is immeasurable, members say, due to always churning conference realignment in college football. As the previously constituted Pac-12 imploded, Cal, alongside its rival Stanford, was forced to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, a league on the opposite coast but a home in a power conference. With that, came an opportunity for Cal fans to introduce themselves to a portion of the country that may have only known of Berkeley through various long-perpetuated stereotypes.

“They already believe these stereotypes about us,” said burner Callie, also known as @WokeMobFootball. “Why don’t we just turn it up to 12 and just absolutely make fun of it for how absurd they sound when it’s thrown back at them?”

Mike Davie says Cal fans have come armed for any sort of perception lobbed their way by fans online. But they say they always try to do it with a smile knowing that college football is what they all love and that it doesn’t need to be another well poisoned online.

“Yeah, we tell them the ‘DEI’ defense is here killing it,” Davie said. “And when people say, ‘Don’t make fun of Cal fans. They police pronouns.’ And we were like, ‘Here comes the pronoun punt team!’ And it makes them laugh.”

The Calgorithm is also perpetually one step ahead. They’ve also helped raise funds for Cal’s NIL collective, Cal Legends. People donating are leaving comments thanking the Calgorithm for activating attention.

“That’s the kind of person Cal produces into the real world, people who want to help do things in smart, simple and efficient ways,” Cherrington said. “And we want to always have our doors open to them. This is the people’s program.”

Four hours before kickoff against Miami, a small parking lot on the southeast side of campus hosted a Calgorithm tailgate. Exhausted already from a day that began before sun-up, they shared highlights and beers. They were still amped that Lynch drove the golf cart. Together, they watched Vanderbilt upset No. 1 Alabama.

They introduced themselves to one another as their online handles. Some burners geeked out over meeting others. One burner thanked Callie for remixing Chappell Roan’s “Hot to Go!” hit song for Cal running back Jaydn Ott. “Ott to Go” was played at GameDay, which Callie could not get over, and probably never will.

O-T-T-T-O-G-O
We’ve got Jaydn Ott to go!#Calgorithm #FightForCalGameday #H1M #WhyNotCal pic.twitter.com/8D68f8pnjH

— The Liberal Calgorithm (@wokemobfootball) September 28, 2024

Fellow Cal fans crowded around an exhausted Avinash Kunnath, a Cal grad and one of the godfathers of popular fan blog site, Write for California. Kunnath wore a Calgorithm meme T-shirt, jean jacket and a fuzzy bear hat. Saturday doesn’t happen without him, and basically everyone else in that tailgate lot, they said.

The group passed around shots of Malört, a tradition at the burner tailgate that dates back to the 2021 season. It was an ode to a past too often filled with disappointment, one which made a vengeful reappearance Saturday night. But it was also a salute to a future so swiftly reshaped by the community of devotees who took matters into their own hands and made the joke at their own expense before anyone else could.

“I like to tell people that we almost died as a program,” Le said. “We can’t really afford to be realistic about it anymore. This program deserves to and can only survive with a love and an ambition and a spirit that’s larger.”

(Top image: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; Bob Kupbens / Icon Sportswire)