The New York Liberty were hurting without center Jonquel Jones and forward Leonie Fiebich as the Atlanta Dream ran away with the game down low, scoring 62 points in the paint in a 90-81 win on Sunday.
The Liberty overcame a 17-point deficit against the Dream on June 17, and looked to repeat history. New York went down by as many as 20 points in the game, but couldn’t come out on top this time around.
After starting the season 9-0, New York (11-5) has now won just two of its last seven games
The Liberty struggled to create anything on offense right off the bat, with just three players scoring in the first quarter. Breanna Stewart and Natasha Cloud both recorded nine points, and Rebekah Gardner added one.
The Dream, on the other hand, was easily getting buckets. They held a 22-19 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter, but scored seven consecutive points to go into halftime up 29-19.
New York’s offensive woes carried over to the second quarter as Stewart and Cloud only added two points each in the frame.
Atlanta opened the second quarter with a five-point run, and while Cloud slashed their momentum with a layup, they got it right back. The Dream embarked on a 7-0 run to push their lead to 20 at 41-21 with five minutes remaining before halftime.
The Liberty got a little bit of much-needed production from their bench, but the seven reserve points weren’t enough to combat the Dream. Atlanta took advantage of the absence of New York’s bigs and slow defensive switches and effectively moved the ball to score 40 of their 47 first-half points in the paint.
Atlanta’s Brionna Jones built upon her team’s 47-34 lead to start the second half with back-to-back layups. Jones finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. Cloud responded with five consecutive points, but the Liberty were still unable to build momentum.
New York finally started to find a glimmer of hope in the closing minutes of the third quarter, but the Dream firmly held on to their double-digit lead. The closest they got in the frame was 63-53 after a Stewart layup.
Stewart scored seven points in the quarter, with three of them coming from the free throw line, something the Liberty won in the game. Both teams made 12 free throws in the game but Atlanta attempted seven more and shot just 55% from the charity stripe.
Stewart led her team with 21 points and added nine rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. Cloud contributed 20 points, her first 20-point outing since the season opener on May 17, four rebounds, and six assists.
Jordin Canada knocked down a triple to start the final quarter and followed it up with a steal and an assist to push the lead to 68-53. Sabrina Ionescu hit a three, and Cloud made a layup, looking to spark momentum in the final four minutes of the game, but Allisha Gray responded to both makes with a three.
Marine Johannes made a triple to bring the Liberty within double figures with 65 seconds left, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
