Becky Hammon made it clear after Las Vegas’ Game 1 loss that Tuesday’s game would be do-or-die. Technically, the Aces wouldn’t be eliminated with a second defeat, but in the history of the WNBA playoffs, teams are 0-18 when trailing 0-2 in a best-of-five series.
Of course, Las Vegas hasn’t lost a series of any kind since Hammon took over as head coach for the 2022 season, so one streak or another will break in the coming days as New York held homecourt advantage and took a 2-0 lead with a 88-84 win. Sabrina Ionescu led the way with 24 points for the Liberty, and Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot also finished in double figures.
As was the case in Game 1 when New York made 16 layups, the Liberty once again had a huge (literally) advantage inside, winning the points in the paint battle 44-24. There were nine lead changes in the first half, but New York ended the second quarter on a 9-0 run and didn’t trail the rest of the way; the Liberty are now 27-0 this season when leading at halftime.
The series now moves to Las Vegas, where the Aces were dominant a year ago but lost twice to the Liberty in 2024. New York is just one win away from its sixth trip to the WNBA Finals in franchise history.
Sabrina Ionescu is The Closer
After scoring eight points in the fourth quarter of Game 1, Ionescu one-upped herself with 11 Tuesday to go along with two assists and zero turnovers. Although she couldn’t find her rhythm from beyond the arc, the Liberty guard was confident getting to the basket. She finished a variety of runners and leaners and expertly operated the pick-and-roll to draw two defenders and hit her open teammates.
“Sabrina was massive down the stretch there,” coach Sandy Brondello said.
Nothing animates the New York faithful quite like an Ionescu bucket, and she understood her power as she put her team on her back in crunch time. When Las Vegas cut the deficit to one, she found Stewart for a lay-up to go back up three, then found her way to the rim on the ensuing possession. And when Alysha Clark tied the game, there was Ionescu once more coming off a Jones screen and hitting a tough one-hander from the elbow.
SABRINA IONESCU PUTS NEW YORK AHEAD 🗽
NYL claims the 2-point lead late in the 4Q
LVA-NYL Game 2 on ESPN2 | #WNBAPlayoffs presented by @Google pic.twitter.com/HPmho3uvBX
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 2, 2024
Both Jones and Stewart averaged more fourth-quarter points than Ionescu during the regular season, but during the playoffs, this has been her time. The Liberty needed every one of those baskets to hold off the Aces.
The Liberty have the better bench in this series
Much was made of New York’s starting lineup change, replacing Courtney Vandersloot with Leonie Fiebich to give the Liberty a rangy, switchy starting five that has smothered the Aces with their length. But their bench has also outplayed the Las Vegas reserves through two games.
Vandersloot provided a burst of speed in her minutes, pushing the ball in transition and applying rim pressure to get the Aces in rotation. Her cuts off of the traps on Sabrina Ionescu helped create passing outlets for the New York point guard. Kayla Thornton also gave good minutes off the bench. Thornton was primarily guarded by Kelsey Plum and used her height advantage to repeatedly score easily on duck-ins. The veteran forward also ably defended her position, at one point hyping the Barclays Center crowd by drawing a travel on Plum and flexing in celebration. Thornton finished as a game-high plus-13 in her 16 minutes, helping to keep Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Fiebich fresh for the closing stretch.
On the other side, only Tiffany Hayes was able to provide a positive impact for Las Vegas. Sydney Colson was too turnover-prone and Kiah Stokes couldn’t provide an offensive lift before having to leave the game early with a potential concussion. Meanwhile, though Hammon said pregame “I think we’ll see her” with regards to Megan Gustafson, the backup big remained glued to the bench for the second consecutive contest.
New York is doing just enough on A’ja Wilson
The three-time MVP finished with a box-score line that would be good enough for just about anyone else in the league with 24 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. However, the Liberty have to be pleased that Wilson has been held below her regular-season averages of 27 points and 12 rebounds.
New York was able to contain Wilson to four shot attempts in the first half — her lowest total for any half this season — and the Aces superstar wasn’t as aggressive as she needed to be. Although she had four assists making the right read out of doubles, she was a little too deferential on the perimeter. She passed up an open 3-pointer on one possession that resulted in a shot-clock violation and often looked to reverse the ball at the top of the key instead of attacking the defense.
In the second half, Wilson got hers, but the Liberty was mostly able to defend her without sending help. The other Aces totaled 26 points on 7 of 23 shooting after the break, not enough to complete their second-half comeback. New York was disciplined even when Wilson had opportunities to attack in space so that her teammates couldn’t get loose.
(Photo: David L. Nemec / Getty Images)
