Ionescu propels Liberty to semifinals

Ties team mark with 36 points as N.Y. sweeps Atlanta

September 25, 2024 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu was admittedly "injected" by the Barclays Center crowd during Tuesday's franchise record-tying 36-point performance. AP Photo by Adam Hunger

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Sabrina Ionescu made sure the New York Liberty didn’t have to leave Downtown Brooklyn.

At least not until the third game of the upcoming WNBA semifinals in Las Vegas.

The All-Star guard matched Cappie Pondexter’s postseason franchise record with 36 points Tuesday as New York completed a two-game sweep of the overmatched Atlanta Dream via a 91-82 victory in front of 11,003 ecstatic fans at Barclays Center.

“I guess I should have had one more (point),” Ionescu jabbed after helping the Liberty avoid a potential do-or-die Game 3 in Atlanta.

“The ultimate goal is what it is,” she added. “But, you know, it’s every single game is a championship game to get to that final goal. And obviously our goal is to not lose at home.”

The Liberty haven’t lost at Barclays in the playoffs since last October, when Las Vegas capped its back-to-back WNBA championships with a one-point, Game 4 win on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

Ionescu and her teammates reconvened in 2024 just to get the bad taste of that experience out of their collective mouths.

Now, they’ll get the chance to begin doing so right here in Brooklyn, where Game 1 is slated to tip-off Sunday.

“We want to be going into the next round playing well and I think this game has prepared us for the next round,” said Liberty coach Sandy Brondello.

It didn’t quite look like a sweep in the early going here Tuesday before Ionescu made it so.

After scoring seven of her 17 points during what proved to be a decisive first-quarter run in Game 1, she was nothing short of spectacular throughout the finale.

The Olympic gold medalist and two-time Eastern Conference Player of the Month drained 12-of-23 shots, including five 3-pointers.

Ionescu also sank all seven of her free throws, handed out a team-high nine assists and picked up three steals while playing all but one of the 40 minutes the Liberty (2-0) needed to send Atlanta (0-2) home for good.

While Ionescu helped New York pull in front to stay early Sunday in the opener, she and her teammates had to overcome an 11-point, first-half deficit to put the resilient Dream away in Game 2.

The Liberty won all three quarters after losing the first, 28-19, but didn’t pull ahead to stay until Ionescu knocked down back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to give New York a 73-69 edge with 6:31 to play.

She made a six-foot floater to stretch the lead to 11 points with 2 1/2 minutes remaining and hit four straight free throws down the stretch to close out the best-of-3, first-round series.

“So this was really important for us to come out, take these two and have a couple days off and kind of rest, recharge and get ready for whatever it is we’re going to play,” Ionescu noted.

Allisha Gray scored 26 points, 14 of which came in the first 10 minutes, and Rhyne Howard added 19 for Atlanta (0-2), which beat the Liberty here last Thursday night in the regular-season finale to grab the No. 8 seed.

But the Dream were ultimately unable to deal with the top-seeded team in the best women’s basketball league in the world after the first quarter.

“I don’t think it was anything they did different,” Howard said. “We fought pretty hard, laid it out there. Coach (Tanisha Wright) told us to not go home with any regrets and we did that.”

Jonquel Jones had 20 points and 13 rebounds and fellow All-Star Breanna Stewart added 13 points for New York, which will take on the Aces (2-0) in the best-of-five semifinals for the right to advance to the WNBA Finals for the second straight year.

“The way Sab was aggressive from start to finish. She was able to see some shots going in,” Stewart said. “When she’s aggressive like that it opens things up for everyone else.”

Jonquel Jones and the Liberty played keep away from Atlanta, sweeping the Dream out of Brooklyn in Game 2 at Downtown’s Barclays Center. AP Photo by Corey Sipkin

Ionescu even got a high-five from legendary film director Spike Lee during the third quarter of her best career playoff effort.

“I felt like New York was injected into me. I was like, ‘We’re winning this.'” she said of the courtside encounter.

“I’m just happy to see (Sabrina) doing her thing and being able to shine on a big stage because we know that that’s the type of player that she is,” Jones added.

WNBA All-Rookie Team selection Leonie Fiebich started for the second consecutive game, scoring nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, including 2-of-3 from long range.

Fiebich, who poured in a career-best 21 points in Game 1, went a combined 10-of-12 from the field in the series, including 6-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Las Vegas held off visiting Seattle, 83-76, at Michelob ULTRA Arena on Tuesday to complete its own two-game sweep.

Kelsey Plum scored a game-high 29 points and unanimous WNBA Most Valuable Player MVP A’ja Wilson added 24 and 13 boards for the Aces, who are trying to become the first team to win three straight WNBA titles since the Houston Comets won four in a row from 1997-2000.

New York lost three of those series to Houston, and last year’s defeat to Las Vegas dropped it to 0-5 all-time in the Finals.

This “Superteam” decided to run it back this season to claim Title I for the franchise and perhaps produce our borough’s first championship parade since 1955, when the beloved Dodgers finally beat the hated Yankees in the World Series.

But first, the Liberty will have to get past the team that broke Brooklyn’s heart last fall.

“We have unfinished business,” Jones insisted.

Las Vegas’ Kelsey Plum goes up for two of her 29 points during the Aces’ Game 2 win over Seattle Tuesday night. AP Photo by John Locher

GIVE ME LIBERTY: Pondexter’s 36-point playoff performance came in 2010, and was also vs. Atlanta. … The Aces will be competing in their sixth consecutive WNBA semifinal series. … New York had lost two in a row at Barclays to close the regular season before sweeping by the Dream. … A tip-off time has not yet been set for Sunday’s Game 1 vs. Vegas. Game 2 will be here on Tuesday and Game 3 is in Sin City on Oct. 4. Game 4, if necessary, will be Oct. 6 in Vegas. If the series comes down to a fifth and decisive game, it will be back in Brooklyn on Oct. 8.