Best Sloot Forward: Sky's Scoring Outburst Dooms Liberty in Game 2
In Game 1 of the New York Liberty's postseason showdown against the Chicago Sky, someone with the initials MJ changed the course of the contest. In Game 2, however, the Windy City hosts took things personally.
The Sky denied the Liberty advancement in the WNBA playoffs, as the defending champions thoroughly dominated Saturday afternoon's affair at Wintrust Arena. A dominant first quarter, where their lead reached as high as 21, set the pace for a diverse scoring effort, as five Chicagoans reached double-figures in a 100-62 victory. Chicago, seeded second in the WNBA's eight-team playoff bracket, set a new record for the largest margin of victory in WNBA playoff history, breaking the record they set in Game 3 of last year's championship round (36).
Defending WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper led the way with 20 points and Courtney Vandersloot helped with 16 of her own. Candace Parker had her second consecutive double-double with matching 12-point/rebound efforts. Azura Stevens (14) and Rebekah Gardner (11) united for 25 off the bench.
Han Xu and Michaela Onyenwere was the only Liberty representative to reach double-figures with 10 each in relief. The best-of-three series will now be decided at Barclays Centers on Tuesday night with the winner facing the victory of the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings' series. Tip-off time and television placement are dependent upon the result of tonight's Game 2 showdown between Phoenix and top-ranked Las Vegas (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
Chicago made it clear from the get-go that Saturday's showdown would be different. Copper's clutch effort came after she had to reportedly leave a Friday practice early and the Sky forced eight Liberty turnovers while hauling down seven offensive rebounds in the opening frame alone. They were only to put up eight of each in the entirety of Game 1, which saw the seventh-seeded Liberty pull off an upset via a 13-0 run to close to game.
