The New York Liberty entered Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Dream hoping to bounce back from its first loss of the season against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. Instead, the first three quarters looked as if the Liberty were going to lose their second straight, and their first at home this year.
Down by as many as 17 points, the Liberty came back and took its first lead of the second half after back-to-back buckets from Breanna Stewart with 1:20 left in the game. The Liberty held on for the rest of the way to come away an 86-81 win and to stay undefeated at home.
“I was really proud of the way that we fought,” guard Sabrina Ionescu said. “Obviously, that game could have easily gone the other direction, and us just kind of giving up and being frustrated. And I think you were able to see a team that stayed together, dug really deep, and then kind of just figured it out on the fly.”
The Liberty couldn’t knock down a three-pointer until 17 seconds remained in the first quarter when Ionescu’s 31-foot shot found the net to take a 24-20 lead into the second quarter. She finished the night 12-of-20 from the field and 4-of-8 from three to tally 34 points, making her the first WNBA player this season to record back-to-back 30-point games.
Jonquel Jones made her return after missing the last two games, but wasn’t in full form right away. All three of her shot attempts in the first 20 minutes missed the mark, but she found a rhythm in the second half, finishing the night with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Liberty looked prepared defensively to start the game, holding all Dream players under double digits in the first half, except for Te-Hina Paopao. Despite only scoring in the first half, the rookie’s career-high 16 points led the team.
A three from Paopao extended Atlanta’s lead to 43-35 with 1:54 left in the second quarter, but that’s when New York found a groove, going on a 5-0 run heading into the locker room.
The Liberty came out of halftime needing to protect the ball and create more offense. Instead, the opposite happened. The Dream ran away on a 21-7 run to take a 64-47 lead with 3:48 left in the third quarter.
New York didn’t roll over and started mounting a comeback, fueled by Ionescu, who scored nine points to go with an assist and a steal in the quarter.
“We didn’t play well, we didn’t have toughness, we didn’t have urgency,” head coach Sandy Brondello said. “And I think we found our identity. We found some energy.”
Turnovers plagued the Liberty (at first). They gave the ball up 13 times, and the Dream took advantage, scoring 15 points off the miscues. However, New York increased its defensive pressure and flipped the script. Atlanta also finished the night with 13 turnovers, but gave up 20 points off them.
The Liberty cut their deficit to just eight points, 68-60, making it all come down to the fourth quarter. New York couldn’t take a lead until the final minutes but battled through to clinch the win.
“For us, obviously it starts defensively,” Ionescu said. “When we’re able to get stops and steals and deflections, we’re able to run in transition on offense and get easy looks, whether it’s for layups or threes. And so obviously, I think our ability to just stick with it for 40 minutes helped us get this win.”
