Basketball superfan Spike Lee attends the Liberty playoff game wearing a Sabrina Ionescu jersey

NEW YORK (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu's relationship with Spike Lee dates back to when she was drafted by the New York Liberty.

The basketball superfan was one of the first people to welcome them to New York when the Liberty took them No. 1 in 2020.

“He was the first one to call me and share the excitement of New York becoming No. 1,” Ionescu said after scoring 21 points an 87-77 win over Las Vegas on Sunday. “Every time I saw him we had a quick chat and I said he had to come to a game. Seeing him cheering loudly for us here, tweeting at the referees over there and talking to the players.”

Lee has been a fixture at New York Knicks games over the years, regularly talking trash at opposing players, including the famous Reggie Miller. He sat courtside at Barclays Center wearing an Ionescu jersey.

This time the Aces guard Kelsey Plum was the object from his good-natured trash talk.

“I can’t say exactly what was said, but I told him to speak up,” Plum said with a smile after the game. “But it was all nice and fun and really cool that he's here, even the last lap was really cool. I know he’s a big sports fan.”

That was that second straight Liberty playoff game Lee is present. He also played in the decisive opening-round win over Atlanta. In the first game, he gave Ionescu a high-five in the third quarter, which she said felt like “New York was injected into my veins.”

Lee was part of the sellout crowd of 14,015 that also included Liberty fan Jason Sudeikis and Tracy Morgan.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball