Although the Las Vegas Aces won the WNBA Finals Wednesday night, Sabrina Ionescu's mid-game vomit moment stole the show.
Midway through the fourth quarter of Wednesday's WNBA Finals Game 4, Sabrina Ionescu — star point guard for the New York Liberty — sunk a huge three-pointer just before a timeout. Once she reached the Liberty bench, Ionescu celebrated her big shot by beckoning for a trash can and puking inside it.
Sabrina Ionescu took a moment to puke during the WNBA Finals pic.twitter.com/n48UiiHthT
— Sportsville (@Sportsville_) October 19, 2023
Luckily one Liberty assistant coach placed a towel in front of Ionescu's face, so that the scene didn't get too graphic. Once Ionescu was done, she proceeded to wipe her mouth off, high-five her teammates, and return to the court once the timeout ended as if it was just another water break. Talk about a rally.
As ESPN showed the vomit's video replay, sideline reporter Andraya Carter said, "You talk about nerves in a finals moment... [Ionescu] told me that she gets nervous before games, but she went right back out, wiped off her chin and kept on playing.'
Pregame nerves are common for many athletes — yet those nerves tend to disappear for most once the game begins. Then again, Sabrina Ionescu isn't like most athletes.
Nerves aside — and despite the Liberty falling short in the game — Ionescu's puke and rally deserves a ton of respect. She put up 13 points, three rebounds, and three assists during the game, did everything she could to secure a Liberty win and procure a winner-take-all Game 5, and handled puking on national television with more grace than one would imagine possible.
Now Ionescu and the Liberty's attention will turn toward 2024, where they will hope to stop the Las Vegas Aces from an WNBA Championship three-peat. Despite New York only being two wins away from a Championship of their own, clearly some adjustments need to be made in order for them to topple the Aces' budding dynasty.
As for Ionescu, she'll be spending some of this offseason to market her debut signature shoe line with Nike, which released on September 1st.
Wednesday's viral sideline moment might be better than any marketing Nike could have came up with. They say all press is good press, right? Even when the press is puke?
