The New York Liberty went into Game 2 of their best-of-three WNBA opening round playoff series versus the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday night, at the Barclays Center, with a 1-0 lead after a 76-69 road win on Sunday. Game 3, if necessary, will be played in Phoenix tomorrow night (8 p.m.) and televised on ESPN2.
The winner of this series will go on to face the winner of the Minnesota Lynx-Golden State Valkyries matchup. They met Tuesday night in San Francisco, with the Lynx up 1-0 after taking Game 1 72-53. The No. 1 seed Lynx had the WNBA’s best regular season record at 34-10, and the No. 8 seed Valkyries, with a regular season mark of 23-21 became the first expansion team in the league’s history to make the playoffs in their inaugural campaign.
The Liberty, last year’s league champions, are the No. 5 seed after finishing the regular season 27-17. The No. 4 seed Mercury were also 27-17 but held the head-to-head tiebreaker by going 3-1 against Liberty. The Liberty’s prospects of making a deep playoff run hinges on the health of All-Star forward Breanna Stewart. She underwent an MRI on Monday after leaving Sunday’s game with a left knee injury. Stewart missed 13 regular-season games with a right knee bone bruise.
On Tuesday, Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said the MRI results were “relatively clean” and expanded that the team will “see how she feels tomorrow. At the AmNews press, a decision had not been announced regarding Stewart’s status for last night’s game. The team went 5-8 in Stewart’s 13 absences, underscoring her value. However, they have capable veterans with four other players who have extensive playoff and championship experience.
All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu, last year’s finals MVP, forward Jonquel Jones, 2019 finals champion and finals MVP Emma Meessemman, her 2019 finals teammate with the Washington Mystics, Natasha Cloud, and key reserve Kennedy Burke all can provide the needed production in Stewart’s absence. But it is a big ask versus a talented Mercury squad.
On the other hand, if Stewart can play and is close to full strength, the team’s outlook could dramatically change.