Barclays Center in Brooklyn shook with the roar of 17,700 basketball fans, almost all of them rooting for the New York Liberty. They have been waiting years for a team like this one, and on Thursday, with only five minutes left and the Liberty up by 15 points over the Minnesota Lynx in Game 1 of the W.N.B.A. finals, there was a sense that the team’s run of failures was going to be over.

There have been some brutal lows over the decades and tons of thrills, but never a championship, even after five trips to the finals. Patricia Fraser-Morales, a season ticket holder since 1999, has been there for most of them. As she joined the crowd chanting and waving their white Liberty towels, she thought things might be different this year.

“We’ve been waiting a long, long time,” Fraser-Morales said from her seat before Thursday’s tipoff. “I think this is finally it.”

But it is still the Liberty, and somehow Minnesota swiped Game 1 with a shocking overtime win in the best-of-five series. Deafening noise turned to a somber murmur as stunned fans filed out into the Brooklyn night, some wondering if their team would ever win a title.

Yet hope remains. The 2024 Liberty are stacked with talent and earned the best regular-season record in the league, 32-8. They work hard, have a championship coach, finals experience and the support of a devoted and uniquely New York fan base. There’s even an elephant mascot. Will it all be enough?