The energy and intensity of both teams were heightened from the start. In the first game of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs, the No. 5 New York Liberty was ready to take the first step toward its goal of winning a second consecutive title against the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury.
However, the score was locked at the end of 40 minutes, and overtime was needed.
The game was a back-and-forth close battle for all of regulation, but overtime was all New York. The Liberty took an eight-point lead to start the extra period, and the Mercury couldn’t come back as the defending champions took the 76-69 victory.
The Liberty jumped out to a 15-6 lead at the 3:27 mark of the first quarter, but a win wasn’t going to come that easily, and the Mercury started their battle.
Everybody’s hands were active on defense, with 18 steals coming in the game, 12 of which Phoenix was responsible for. DeWanna Bonner stole the ball from Natasha Cloud – right after a steal from Cloud – and finished the effort with a bucket to cut her team’s deficit to 15-13 with 1:12 left in the opening frame.
The Liberty struggled with rebounding all season, but they knew this wasn’t the time to slack. They outrebounded the Mercury 14-9 to take a 17-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. New York outrebounded Phoenix 42-27 in regulation and 6-4 in overtime to gain extra chances.
The Liberty got all the starters involved in the scoring front. New York had just two bench points, which came in the first quarter, but it capitalized off moving the ball around. Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Cloud all reached double figures in the first half and Leonie Fiebich notched 10 points by the end of the night.
The second quarter felt like a completely different game. It looked as if the quarter was a test of offense, not defense. The focus seemed to be who can make the most baskets, rather than who can make the most stops. Both teams matched their offensive production of the entire first quarter in just five minutes of the second.
Phoenix took a 21-20 lead less than two minutes into the second period but New York was determined to take advantage of every opportunity and an offensive rebound from Fiebich extended the possession for an Ionescu triple.
The Liberty had a stretch of adding to the scoreboard from beyond the arc, but none of them were afraid to take their defender to the rim. However, they still couldn’t top the Mercury in the paint.
New York’s Jonquel Jones spent her time on defense guarding Alyssa Thomas, who was stationed behind the arc. Jones’ outside allowed Phoenix not to worry about her stopping anyone at the rim. However, when she was down low, getting past her was a challenge, and she finished the game with three blocks.
The Liberty nearly entered halftime with a four-point lead but Monique Akoa Makani knocked down a three-pointer to trail by just one at intermission.
Neither team’s intensity dipped at all to start the second half, but the focus shifted – this time to defense.
Phoenix couldn’t get a field goal to drop to start the second quarter, but still got on the board from the free-throw line. It missed its first seven shots from the floor, but added five points in the span from the charity stripe.
Thomas tried to direct traffic to make something happen, but the offense stalled, and the Liberty held firm.
The Mercury finally found the bottom of the net after New York’s Kennedy Burke mistakenly passed the ball to Sami Whitcomb in a rush. Bonner got the ball from Whitcomb and knocked down a triple at the 2:44 mark to cut their deficit to 53-51.
That was all that was needed to spark Phoenix’s momentum.
New York was expecting Thomas to stay at the top of the arc to call a play like she’d been doing for most of the game. Thomas took notice of this expectation and took an open lane straight to the basket to tie the score at 53 with 63 seconds left in the quarter. The Mercury continued on their scoring path and finished the quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 57-55 lead.
The Liberty made it difficult for themselves by being reckless with the ball. They committed 21 turnovers, which Phoenix used to score 15 points.
Cloud took the 63-61 lead for the Liberty after driving into the paint on back-to-back possessions with 4:16 left in regulation. Phoenix’s Kahleah Copper tried to do the same, but instead dribbled the ball off her knee to send it out of bounds. Both teams were desperate to break away in the final minutes, but it led to small, simple errors that kept the game locked in a one-possession battle.
The score was knotted at 65 with 17.6 seconds left in regulation. Thomas ran down the clock before taking Stewart to the basket. She got Stewart on her left and went to the other side to put up a shot out of Stewart’s reach. However, she missed.
New York scrambled to grab the rebound and got possession with just 0.9 seconds on the clock. Cloud inbounded it to Ionescu, who immediately shot the ball, but it was just nearly off, and five minutes were added to the clock.
Cloud scored the first points with a three less than a minute into the extra period. The Liberty wanted to extend their lead, but took the time to set up the offense, which led to a Stewart layup. Stewart was wincing while driving, though, and after she landed from her layup, she went all the way to the ground.
She was holding her left knee and in clear pain, leaving questions for the rest of playoffs. She missed 13 games with a bone bruise, however that was her right knee. She stayed in the game until the next dead ball, but missed her free throw attempt.
The Mercury looked frazzled and seemed to be attempting to match the Liberty’s offensive production rather than setting up plays. Thomas made the effort to change this and scored a put-back tip shot with less than two minutes to play.
Phoenix scored another basket, but couldn’t create momentum, and the clock expired with New York leading 76-69.
The teams will be back in action at Barclays Center on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
