2024 is the year to be a New York Liberty fan. On Sunday, Sabrina Ionescu & Co. avenged their 2023 WNBA finals loss to 2x defending champs, Las Vegas Aces, with an emphatic 76-62 victory to seal the semi-final series in Game 4. They silenced the Michelob Ultra Arena, and how. But while they were busy writing their redemption arc, their home court at the Barclays Center was undergoing a major transformation. Cue Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t stop the feeling!’.

The “Prince of Pop” most recently brought his Forget Tomorrow World Tour to New York. After wrapping up the Montreal leg of the tour in the Bell Centre on 4th October, it was time to light up the Barclays Center on the 7th. While Sabrina Ionescu’s game-high 22 points propelled the Liberty into the finals, Timberlake was busy overseeing the set-up at Barclays.

To honor the Liberty’s second straight finals appearance, the 10-time Grammy winner shared a beautiful message. “Sabrina and all of the Liberty, thank you for loaning your home to us this evening,” he said in a video posted by the Liberty on X. “We’ll keep it warm. Let’s go. Liberty! Let’s go, let’s go,” he whispered, throwing a right and left hook in the air to hype 2024’s first finalists up.

This isn’t Timberlake’s first brush with the basketball world. He is an avid hooper and idolized Michael Jordan growing up. Being a Memphis native, the NSYNC-fame singer also holds a minority stake in the NBA’s Grizzlies. He also performed at Boston’s TD Arena in June this year as a part of his world tour, where the Celtics won the NBA championship.

Once Timberlake’s job is done at the Barclays Center, the arena will again shift to its basketball form for the Liberty’s first two WNBA finals games. Here’s a look at their rollercoaster journey in testing times.

Sabrina Ionescu and the Liberty are “not done yet”

The New York Liberty is the WNBA’s most successful failure. They have qualified to the playoffs 19 out of 28 times, including 6 finals appearances. But they could never cross the final hurdle. In 2024, their comeback has been glorious, ending the regular season as the top seed. 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu have been the standout performers in this effort.

In this fairytale run, their regular season attendance shot up 64% over 2023 to 12,729. “This was a brick-by-brick rebuild,” said Liberty CEO, Keia Clarke, via Reuters. After their Game 4 win against the Aces, the team was in high spirits. “It means everything,” Ionescu told a reporter post-game. “Obviously, we still gotta continue to grind away and get some wins, but gonna enjoy the moment and obviously, just be very thankful for the way we grinded out this win,” she added. Her final statement was as powerful as their performance: “We’re not done yet.”

The Liberty now awaits the result of the Sun v/s Lynx series to do their homework for the finals. The Lynx is also on a dream run after topping the western conference. They also boast of championship-winning experience in 2017 while the Sun, like the Liberty, has none. But if the Sun upset the Lynx at Target Center in Game 5 on Tuesday night, the world will witness the crowning of a new WNBA champion this year.