Liberty Takes Things Personally vs. Lynx

At the request of the New York Liberty, the result was changed. The rest was told exactly as it occurred.

The Liberty went into a brief Independence Day break on a high note, taming the Minnesota Lynx by a 76-67 final on Tuesday night at Barclays Center. It was New York’s first win over a Lynx pack that was responsible for two of their four total losses this season, pulling off the feat in their third get-together.

With Minnesota responsible for two of the four L’s on the Liberty ledger, Brooklyn’s franchise faces couldn’t help but revel in a victory that capped off the first half of their regular season.

“They’re a great team. They were 2-0 against us. So this was personal,” Sabrina Ionescu, overcoming an illness to score 17 points, said. “We were playing at home. This was a bigger game than it really was in terms of it being a regular season game. We had to understand that we had to come out and play our best basketball. No matter how I felt, I was going to leave everything out on the floor here to want to come out here and win.”

Despite being under the weather, Ionescu reached 17 points, mostly infiltrating the interior with her trademark triple struggling to fall (1-of-10, but 6-of-10 on doubles). Stewart earned 17 points and rebounds each, falling just one short of her career-best in the latter category.

Redemption awaited Jones, who was held to seven points on 1-of-8 shooting over the first two Minnesota meetings. She responded with a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double on Tuesday, sinking eight of her 13 tries from the floor. Mere minutes after putting the finishing touches on the Liberty win, Jones learned that she would be partaking in the WNBA All-Star Game, repping the league against Team USA stars Ionescu and Stewart.

“I felt like they did a good job against me in the last two matchups. But keeping it aggressive, no matter what was going on, I think that was the biggest thing, understanding that there are different spots where I can affect the game both offensively and defensively,” Jones said. “I got back to myself in terms of rebounding, attacking the glass. Whether or not it’s coming within the offense, I can still get touches.”

Space at the top of the WNBA leaderboard has been hard to find but the win allowed the Liberty (17-3) to maintain the No. 1 seed, currently leading second-place Connecticut by one game.

A look at the ledgers of Minnesota (14-6) hints at a team almost grown in a lab to beat the Liberty: the team is led by a formidable interior threat (Naphessa Collier), a legendary three-pointer shooter with a breakout assistant (Kayla McBride and Bridget Carleton respectively), and the lineup rounded out by a playmaker(Courtney Williams) and defensive standout (Alanna Smith) who are quite capable of creating something from nothing.

All that and more (such as Natisha Hiedeman and Cecilia Zandalasini coming off the bench) has made Minnesota one of the Liberty’s most formidable adversaries when it comes to a return trip for the WNBA Finals. The Lynx formally announced their contention candidacy with a 17-point win over the Liberty in late May before denying New York repeated in-season glory in the Commissioner’s Cup Final in Elmont last week.

“They had beaten us twice, so you want to try and make sure you get one up over them, because you may meet them down the track,” head coach Sandy Brondello added. “We were aggressive, we were very connected at all levels.”

Eager to use the Commissioner’s Cup disappointment as a “learning experience,” class was fully in session on Tuesday night.

A shutdown fourth quarter, not to mention a Brooklyn crowd well-versed in the meaning of a win over the Lynx, pushed New York forward. Down by one entering the final act, the Liberty limited the Lynx to 3-of-14 shooting from the field and built their late lead up to 11 before Minnesota took the hint and emptied its bench for the last minute-plus. Over the final eight, New York allowed just one field, a Dorka Juhasz lay-up that served only to annoy anyone who bet the Liberty minus 10.5 points.

The result was an 18-8 advantage that lacked the Liberty’s trademark brand of outside flair but featured gritty problem-solving that manifested itself through interior efforts, chasing down loose balls, and preventing Minnesota from conjuring late-shot clock magic that haunted UBS Arena during the CC Final.

Examples of that physical style of victory were present through what has become the Liberty’s customary finishing five: rookie entrant Leonie Fiebich once again played all 10 minutes while Betnijah Laney-Hamilton shook off apparent minor injuries from a tie-up gone wrong in the third to put up two points, two assists and a steal during the closing run. Laney-Hamilton, described by Brondello as “one of the toughest players out there,” scored was team-best 12 in the plus/minus column.

Elsewhere in the opposing box score, Minnesota’s finest (Collier, McBride, Williams) shot a united 5-of-21 from the field in the second half. Carleton, who tied a Commissioner’s Cup record with six three-pointers in the prior win, was held to a single shot attempt the whole game.

“I think just the way that we locked in (was big),” Stewart said of the fourth quarter, which saw her add nine points and six rebounds to her serendipitous tally. “We knew that defensively, there was some miscommunication somehow. End of shot clock, they were getting some open looks. We really made sure that we tightened up, that we weren’t switching as much, and that we were rebounding the ball.”

“Just being able to win the game the way that we did it in terms of just being able to get stops, being really locked into the fourth (was big),” Jones said. “It definitely feels good to score against a team that has kind of had my number in the last two matchups.”

The Lynx visit Brooklyn one more time on Sept. 15. In the meantime, New York will look to continue its winning streak on Saturday afternoon when it faces Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever (1 p.m. ET, CBS).

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