With 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists, New York Liberty point guard Sabrina Ionescu was the dominant figure in her team’s 88–84 win over the two-time defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night at the Barclays Center in Game 2 of their best-of-five semifinals series. The Liberty will try to earn back-to-back trips to the WNBA Finals for the first time in 24 years when they face the Aces in Game 3 tomorrow night in Las Vegas. In the other semifinals, the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx are tied at 1-1 with Game 3 tomorrow evening at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
“We did what we were supposed to do, which was protect home court and win two at home,” said Ionescu. “But we didn’t come to just win two games at home and then be satisfied. … We made plays when we needed to. We made big plays. We made big shots after big shots, and we continued to believe in one another, continued to stick together and grinded out a really good win.” The WNBA’s No. 1 overall seed Liberty, who were 32-8 during the regular season, trailed the Aces by 27-22 after the first quarter but controlled the second and outscored the Aces 24-13 to take a 46-40 lead into halftime. They were up 69-62 after three quarters and held off the persistent Aces for the win.
If the Aces are to comeback and defeat the Liberty in this series, it would be a historic feat as no team has ever overcome a 2-0 hole to win a best-of-five postseason series in the league’s history.
“It’s a series for a reason, there’s no championship won off two wins,” maintained Aces forward Alysha Clark. “I’ve had a lot of playoff experience where I’ve been up 2-0, down 2-0. The series is not over.” The Liberty defeated the Aces 87–77 in Game 1 on Sunday in Brooklyn, which was the most-viewed WNBA semifinal game in 22 years, with 929,000 fans tuning in to ABC. It shows that the league can draw large audiences even without Caitlin Clark, who has increased the WNBA’s popularity substantially. In game 1, Breanna Stewart led all scorers with 34 points. Jonquel Jones had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Ionescu contributed 21 points and five assists. Postseason honors continue to be announced. Connecticut Sun guard-forward DiJonai Carrington was named 2024 Kia WNBA Most Improved Player. Unfortunately, the honor came at the same time as threats of violence against Carrington following an on-court collision with Caitlin Clark when the Sun faced the Indiana Fever during the first round of the playoffs. Veteran players say they have never before experienced this level of racist commentary, and everyone including Clark has called for it to stop.
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier was named 2024 Kia Defensive Player of the Year. Collier headlines the All Defensive First Team, which includes Stewart. Jones was named to the All Defensive Second Team. Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve was named both WNBA Coach of the Year and WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year. She is the first person to win the Coach honor four times.