After a crushing 95–93 overtime loss to the Minnesota Lynx in Game 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals last Thursday at the Barclays Center, the New York Liberty brought the heat in Game 2 on Sunday Brooklyn, coming away with a decisive 80–66 victory to even the best-of-five series at 1–1. In Game 3 last night in Minnesota, the Liberty were looking to get back at the Lynx for stealing Game 1, or more aptly, at themselves for blowing an 18-point lead.
Game 2 saw 18,046 pack the Brooklyn arena—the largest crowd to ever attend a Liberty game at the Barclays. Forward Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with a game-high 21 points and forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton had a season-high-tying 20 points in the crucial win.
“We encouraged her to shoot the threes—she’s a great three-point shooter and she was stroking it yesterday in practice,” said Liberty coach Sandy Brondello of Laney-Hamilton after the win. The veteran from Rutgers, who began her WNBA career in 2015 with the Chicago Sky, shot four-for-six from behind the three-point line.
“She’s digging deep and that’s what we needed,” added Brondello. “We knew we needed a bounce-back and it was a big bounce-back game.”
Stewart, who has two WNBA championships, two Finals MVPs, and two league MVPs as a member of the Seattle Storm, enhanced her scoring with eight rebounds and seven steals. She said the Liberty placed an emphasis on defense in Game 2.
“The thought process was we were trying to be up a little bit more, not letting them get to the three-point line to set up their offense—making them move a little bit quicker than they want to,” Stewart said.
Liberty milestones reached in Game 2 included a Finals franchise-tying 10 assists in a single quarter, doing it in the first quarter. Stewart, who reached 119, passed Tari Phillips for third on the Liberty’s all-time postseason field goals made list. Sabrina Ionescu had 15 points and two three-pointers, extending her streak to 81 games in which she has made at least one three-pointer.
“My goal was take what the defense gives me, not forcing anything but understanding I’m going to be able to drive and kick,” said Ionescu. “I don’t always need to be looking to score every single time I have the ball; just continuing to make the right reads and understanding what it is that provides our best offense as a team.”
Before Game 1 of the Finals, the WNBA announced that its Board of Governors had approved a best-of-seven format for the Finals, effective next season. The regular season will increase to 44 games per team with the expansion Golden State Valkyries beginning play as the league’s 13th franchise.
Game 4 will be in Minnesota tomorrow (8:00 p.m.), with Game 5, if necessary, at the Barclays on Sunday (8:00 p.m.).