Liberty Flushes Fever in Jonquel Jones' Return
BROOKLYN—With the Fever proving persistent, Dr. Jones' house call proved to be the perfect remedy for the New York Liberty.
Jonquel Jones returned in style as New York tipped off the second half of its first postseason championship defense on Tuesday, playing a major role in a 98-84 victory over the Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever. New York (16-6) extended the WNBA's longest active winning streak to four as it hit the final stages of an eight-game homestand and the post-All-Star stanzas of its schedule.
Jones, the reigning WNBA Finals MVP, was back on Brooklyn hardwood for the first time since June 19, when she was sidelined with an ankle injury in a loss to Phoenix. While Jones fell a rebound short of her usual double-double fare, she led the Brooklynites with 18 points, tipping things off with a corner three just 51 seconds in. Though she missed her next six after that, Jones was 4-of-6 in the second half, one of several to emerge with fantastic finishers.
Sabrina Ionescu, hitting just 1-of-9 in the first three, matched Jones with a 4-of-6 mark with two threes in the final period while Isabelle Harrison put up a season-best 13 points, hitting all but one of six tries from the field, as well as three singles at the foul line. Defensively, New York let up only one three-pointer in the fourth after Sophie Cunningham, Lexie Hull, and Kelsey Mitchell united for nine in the first three.
Having dropped a 21-point decision to the Jones-less Liberty in the last game before handling All-Star duties, Indiana (12-12) denied New York several early opportunities to run away with the game early.
The Liberty, for example, led 23-16 in the penultimate minute of the first before back-to-back triples from Cunningham and Hull shrank the gap to one before the period let out. New York then scored the first seven points of the second but Indiana went on a 24-12 run over the last 7:30 of the half, capping it off with three points of the traditional and old-fashioned variety through Mitchell and Aari McDonald respectively.
Indiana's lead maintained itself through the midway point of the third, but the Liberty took control thereafter. Jones' and-one successfully began to flip momentum before the Fever re-established a seven point lead, but New York's run of nine straight created a lasting lead.
Breanna Stewart, scorer of 17, was responsible for all but three of those tallies, notably tying the game on a fastbreak double off a long feed from Marine Johannes before getting the lead back with a drive at four seconds remaining. From there, the Liberty restored metropolitan sanity behind Ionescu's late breakout and Harrison stepping up after Jones picked up her fifth foul.
With the win, the Liberty secured a 3-1 advantage in this season's quartet against the Fever, who played the latter two without Clark due to a groin injury. Aliyah Boston at 15 points and 12 rebounds while Mitchell had 29 alongside Cunningham's five triples. If the season ended after Tuesday play, New York would face Indiana in the best-of-three first round playoff set.
In the meantime, though, the Liberty will close out this lengthy homestand with a back-to-back over the weekend, one that tips off on Friday against the aforementioned Phoenix Mercury (7:30 p.m. ET, Ion).
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.