Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart Guide Liberty to Dreamy Comeback
BROOKLYN—A nightmarish third for the New York Liberty became a metropolitan dream come true.
Though they won't head back to the championship finale, New York ended its Commissioner's Cup slate on a high note, defeating the Atlanta Dream by an 86-81 final on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
Sabrina Ionescu put up 34 points in the win, becoming the second New Yorker to earn back-to-back 30-point games. The other, Breanna Stewart, was right behind her with 23 as the Liberty (10-1) overcame a 17-point deficit to earn the win.
Both New York and Atlanta each had plenty to prove entering Tuesday night's game: the defending champion Liberty, fresh off their first loss of the season over the weekend, had a chance to put its title guard to the test against the surging Dream, which has risen to third place behind recent finalists New York and Minnesota on the early WNBA leaderboard. New York also welcomed back Jonquel Jones from a two-game
Atlanta cashed in on early momentum, jumping out to a first half lead behind a surprising surge from Te-Hina Paopao: the second-round rookie tied her infantile career-best with 16 points in the first half alone, carrying the load with Rhyne Howard denied a field goal over the first 20. Once Howard and Jordina Canada found a bit of a groove, the Dream boosted its lead to 17, as the Liberty were only able to counter with a strong output from Ionescu, who carried a bulk of the New York box score with 20 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
Following a Naz Hillmon drive that created the largest advantage, New York called timeout with 3:58 to go in the third period, down 64-47. The Liberty would end the period on a 13-4 run that narrowed the gap to eight, all but two of the tallies earned through the arms of Ionescu and Stewart. A defensive crackdown was headlined by Nyara Sabally, still stationed in the starting lineup in a larger setup next to Jones, and Marine Johannes, who tied her career-best with six rebounds.
The Liberty had the lead shrunk to one before the midway mark of the final frame and neither team led by more than five from there on out. It originally tied the game on Natasha Cloud's successful and-one before Jones' three kept things equalized after Allisha Gray sunk one on the other end.
A Jones rebound helped the Liberty create a slim yet permanent lead when Jones' 10th rebound got to a driving Stewart for the 81-79 advantage. Howard would miss a three-point stepback with six seconds left before Ionescu went to the line for her last tallies and creation of the final margin. Over the final 14 minutes, New York outscored Atlanta 39-17.
Depth stars ruled the day on each side: Johannes was a game-best plus-23 in just under 20 minutes of action while Jaylyn Sherrod likewise provided a boost off the bench for New York. Paopao wound up leading the Dream (8-4) in scoring on a night where Howard was 3-of-14 from the field, though the latter packed her box score with nine assists and three blocks and steals each.
Tuesday's win thus allowed the Liberty to play spoiler in the most thrilling way possible.
New York denied Atlanta a chance to play for in-season glory, as the Dream's loss opened an opportunity for the Indiana Fever to the Eastern Conference's spot in the Commissioner's Cup final. Indiana took the necessary tiebreaker from the Liberty with a win over New York on Saturday and will face the defending in-season champion Minnesota on July 1.
The Liberty face the Dream again on June 29 in Atlanta. In the meantime, it'll complete a mini-homestand on Thursday night when the Phoenix Mercury visit Barclays Center (7 p.m. ET, WNYW).
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.