The New York Liberty swept the Atlanta Dream out of their first-round WNBA playoff series, winning 91-82 on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu led the way with a career-high 36 points to go with assists, and five 3-pointers. Center Jonquel Jones, who had a double-double, posted 20 points and 13 rebounds, and was another huge factor in this victory.
“Just going out there and just understanding that if they give me the jump shot, I can make the jump shot, if they give me the drive, I can drive,” Jones said. “Trusting in my teammates will find me.”
Atlanta came out strong to start the game, taking an 11-3 lead three minutes into the first quarter. Guard Allisha Gray, who had struggled in the first game of the series, was hitting shots early on and provided the emphasis the Dream needed from their offense. She ended the game with 26 points, including five 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough to outscore the forceful offense of the NY Liberty.
In this first half, the Liberty were struggling in many aspects which led to them being down at the break 48-43. Their 3-point shooting was severely low at just 23.5%, having only made four 3’s out of 17 attempts. Their rim protection was not as present, either, given that they gave up 24 points in the paint in that first half.
While still trailing in the third quarter, Ionescu had an electrifying 3-point play where she drove toward the basket and drew enough contact to get the foul. This play tied the game at 55 apiece and gave New York the momentum it needed to turn the game around.
Jones provided a spark in the third as well, scoring seven of her 20 points during that frame. With multiple strong moves to the basket, she gave the Liberty a small edge heading into the fourth with a 65-64 lead.
Ionescu took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of her 36 points. She had back-to-back 3’s that kept Liberty in front and thrilled the Barclays Center crowd.
“There was a point where we kept getting stops and weren’t scoring,” Ionescu said. “We were taking some tough shots, and that was kinda the point where I was like, I gotta get into the paint and see if I can draw some fouls, kinda collapse the defense and get us easier looks.”
New York continued to feed off of its roaring crowd as the Liberty started to pull away from the Dream with the help of rookie Leonie Fiebich. She added six consecutive points in that fourth quarter to give the Liberty an 11-point advantage with three-and-a-half minutes to go.
Ionescu sealed the game for New York, scoring two more points at the free-throw line with just 16 seconds left in regulation.
“Spike Lee gave me a high-five as I was going to take the ball out of bounds, and I felt like New York was just injected into my veins,” Ionescu joked after the game.
Now that the Liberty have won the first round of the WNBA playoffs, they will move on to the semifinals, where they will face the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. This will be a rematch from last year’s 2023 WNBA Finals when the Aces defeated the Liberty 3-1. This will be a best-of-five series, and due to New York’s home-court advantage, the first two games will be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
