Photo: New York's finest Carmelo Anthony and Alicia Keys share warm embrace at Aces-Liberty WNBA semis Game 2

Modified Oct 02, 2024 05:18 GMT

New York natives Carmelo Anthony and Alicia Keys were at the Barclays Center on Tuesday for Game 2 of the Aces-Liberty series. The Knicks legend and the pop icon unsurprisingly rooted for the hometown team, which opened the best-of-five showdown with an 87-77 Game 1 win. “Melo” and Keys witnessed a thrilling rematch before the Liberty walked away with a hard-earned 88-84 victory.

During a lull in the action, Keys went to where Anthony sat beside his son, Kiyan Anthony. The two shared a brief hug before the singer also met with Liberty and Brooklyn Nets team governor Joe Tsai.

Carmelo Anthony and Alicia Keys sharing a hug during a timeout in Game 2 of the Liberty-Aces showdown [Photo: @WNBA/X]

Carmelo Anthony and Alicia Keys saw a hotly-contested game that went down the wire. They got a little bit of everything in the second Liberty-Aces playoff game. A’ja Wilson showed up big-time in the fourth quarter, but Sabrina Ionescu was just as impactful and clutch.

Breanna Stewart had a rough-shooting night, finishing with 15 points on 5-for-15 clip, including 0-for-5 from deep. Stewart’s all-around game, though, shone while hitting a couple of late-game shots. Liberty fans, including Anthony and Keys, were on their feet when “Stewie” sank the game-clinching free throws.

The home crowd got all the action on the court and celebrated with a win after the thrilling showdown. For good measure, fans also caught sight of two New York fan favorites in the exhilarating victory.

Alicia Keys visited the New York Liberty locker room

Alicia Keys wasn’t just content to sit along the sideline to cheer for the New York Liberty. After the game, she went to the locker room to congratulate the players and show them her support. The 16-time Grammy Award-winning artist had this to say to the players:

“How y’all feeling? Y’all good? I was right there. Just sending you all my love. … Thank you, ladies, you’re doing amazing. Just sending you my love. Thank you for that great energy out there. We feeling, we love you, just celebrating you.”

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The short meeting ended with all the players surrounding Alicia Keys while everyone sang a few lines from her “Empire State of Mind.” Keys was excited for the win, but she was happier to congratulate the team for a well-played game.

The New York Liberty will hope to complete the sweep when they face the two-time defending champs in Las Vegas on Friday.