The Liberty have life.
They have their stars to thank.
Bounce-back performances by Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty to an 80-66 win over the Minnesota Lynx in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, evening the best-of-five series at 1-1 after losing an all-time stunner in Game 1.
Their efforts, along with a postseason-best performance by Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, helped the Liberty hold off the Lynx’s latest furious comeback bid.
Stewart led the Liberty with 21 points to go with eight rebounds, five assists and a Finals-record seven steals on Sunday afternoon at Barclays Center.
Ionescu set the tone by scoring 12 of her 15 points in the first quarter, then delivered a clutch assist in crunch time.
And Laney-Hamilton added 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting, despite dealing with a nagging knee injury.
“Not letting history kind of repeat itself,” Stewart said afterward of her late-game motivation.
With memories of the Lynx’s 18-point comeback in Game 1 still fresh, Ionescu gave a record capacity crowd some early relief by scoring on the Liberty’s first two possessions.
Ionescu turned a Jonquel Jones steal into a transition lay-up, then drained a 3-pointer on an assist from Stewart.
The sharp-shooting Ionescu added another 3-pointer about two minutes later — again from a Stewart assist — and celebrated with a Michael Jordan-esque shoulder shrug as she jogged up the court.
Ionescu started the game 4-for-5 from the field and finished 5-for-9. It was an efficient effort by Ionescu, who went just 8-for-26 in Thursday’s Game 1 loss after shooting 31.6% in last year’s Finals loss to the Las Vegas Aces.
“That’s really what my goal was: Just take what the defense gives me and not forcing anything, but understanding I’m going to be able to drive and kick,” Ionescu said. “Multiple players hit really big shots. But obviously I think coming out like that was great for us to get going.”
Stewart, meanwhile, scored seven points and dished out all five of her assists in the first quarter, after which the Liberty led, 31-21.
The fast start was notable for Stewart, who came up short in Game 1 by missing a would-be-game-winning free throw with less than a second remaining in regulation and failed to finish a would-be-game-tying lay-up as time expired in overtime.
“The moment the game ended Thursday night, I was looking forward to Sunday, to be able to change things, to change the narrative a little bit, and know that I’m going to come out and be the same that I was and be, obviously, better,” Stewart said.
“Throughout this entire process, my team has my back every step of the way, and I was just excited to have another opportunity to go to battle with them.”
Stewart was one of several Liberty players who expressed confidence in the team’s ability to bounce back after losing, 95-93, in Game 1, despite leading by 18 points in the first half, 15 points in the fourth quarter and three points with under 10 seconds left in regulation.
On Sunday, the Liberty led by 17 in the first half, but again, the Lynx closed the gap in the second half.
Back-to-back baskets by Courtney Williams — whose four-point play in the waning seconds of Game 1’s fourth quarter proved pivotal — cut Minnesota’s deficit to 53-47 three minutes into the third quarter.
About three minutes later, back-to-back buckets by Lynx star Napheesa Collier — who delivered the game-winner on Thursday — made it a 55-51 game.
But Collier, the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and the MVP runner-up, got into foul trouble, picking up her fourth late in the third quarter, which sent her to the bench.
Stewart scored four points in the final 1:24 of the third quarter without Collier on the floor, including a long jumper that put the Liberty up, 61-53.
The Lynx refused to go away in the fourth quarter, twice cutting the deficit to two points, but Laney-Hamilton drilled a corner 3-pointer off of a no-look assist from a driving Ionescu with 3:21 left in the game.
That proved to be the dagger, kicking off a 12-0 run for the Liberty to end the game.
Before Sunday, Laney-Hamilton had not scored more than 10 points in a game this postseason. Laney-Hamilton underwent surgery in July to clean up two loose bodies in her right knee, and before Game 2, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello acknowledged the knee was still affecting the versatile guard.
Laney-Hamilton stepped up in another game in which the Lynx made life difficult for Jones. Jones finished with 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting and led the game with nine rebounds, but the Lynx continued to limit the 6-6 standout’s touches by crowding her with forward Alanna Smith and others.
The Lynx limited Jones to five, three and seven shot attempts during their three wins against the Liberty this year coming into the Finals.
“We always want to try to get the ball to JJ,” Brondello said. “They bring a lot of congestion, and we probably would have liked to put it in cleaner in some areas, but she demands so much attention down there. I thought the best thing was obviously just getting on the boards. I think she was fantastic for us.”
Jones led both teams in Game 1 with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting and 10 rebounds, though the Liberty went away from the All-Star center for long stretches in that game, allowing Minnesota to come roaring back.
But the Lynx couldn’t complete Sunday’s comeback bid, and now the series heads to Minnesota, where Game 3 is set to take place Wednesday night.
