“It’s good to have that perspective of being married to another athlete. It keeps me levelheaded,” Sabrina Ionescu told Vanity Fair in July this year. Then, the New York Liberty was busy thrashing its rivals to eventually finish as the top seed. But after their horrendous 95-93 Game 1 OT loss against the Minnesota Lynx in the Finals on Thursday, the Liberty Guard was in dire need of reinforcement, having recorded one of her worst shooting nights this season.

Though Ionescu scored a decent 19 points, her accuracy was nightmarish. She shot 8-of-26 (30.8%) from the field in a night to forget for New York, who overall shot 37.8% from the field. The Oregon alumna dragged her feet out of the Barclays Center and back home. Fortunately, her married self had her strongest pillar of support waiting to pull her out of the negative mental space. Ahead of Game 2 on Sunday, Ionescu shared how her husband, Hroniss Grasu, an NFL Center who last played for the Las Vegas Raiders, became her unpaid therapist.

“My husband is really positive,” she told reporters during a practice session, humorously adding, “Sometimes, it’s annoying. But you know, he’s been able to help me a lot. Like, you got home, sit there, and you start thinking, and he’s able to… he’s like, ‘It’s just one game. You didn’t win or lose.’ So getting positive affirmation from the people around me helps.”

Grasu and Ionescu’s relationship has always been special. Interestingly, though they both attended Oregon and played for the Ducks, their times there didn’t overlap. But having shared the same ground and their Romanian descent, their bond kept blossoming. They got engaged in January 2023 and tied the knot in March this year.

While this might be one of the few instances where Ionescu shares details from her private life, it definitely wasn’t the first time Grasu, who has 6 more years of professional experience than her, helped her look at the sport from a different perspective. The Liberty Star’s leadership skills were very evident after the Lynx-given thrashing.

Sabrina Ionescu’s public pep-talk for the Liberty after disheartening Game 1 loss

The New York Liberty was comfortable sailing towards an easy inaugural Finals win in the first half. Despite the seemingly unassailable 18-point lead in the first half, however, and a 99.2% predicted win probability with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter, they yielded to the pressure. Sheryl Swoopes even called Sabrina Ionescu out for her second-place mentality during halftime.

But after the Minnesota Lynx scripted their historic comeback, Ionescu’s inner competitor wouldn’t allow her to leave the arena without commending the Liberty for their efforts. “We could have quit right then and there, and we didn’t,” Ionescu said post-game, referring to Courtney Williams’ four-point play in the 4th quarter, that helped the Lynx take the first lead of the game.

“We chipped away. We had the last shot, even in overtime, to be able to send it to double overtime and to be able to just see the resilience of our group, just continuing to believe is something that we’ve been able to do all year, and it’s going to pay off in the long run,” the N0.1 overall pick from 2020 optimistically concluded.

Unfortunately for New York, unless this positive talk translates into results, major changes await the organization. If they lose the 2024 WNBA final to Minnesota, this would become their 6th final appearance without a championship. All eyes will be on them for Game 2 on Sunday night. Can they level the series to clear out the smoke concealing their first championship trophy?