WNBA playoffs: Sabrina Ionescu, Liberty fend off Aces to take 2-0 series lead over defending champions

The Las Vegas Aces and reigning league MVP A’ja Wilson may be in trouble.

Though Wilson kept the Aces in it down the stretch, it wasn’t enough to get past the New York Liberty on Tuesday night.

The Liberty, powered by another huge outing from Breanna Stewart and a clutch finish from Sabrina Ionescu, fended off Wilson and the Aces on Tuesday night. They grabbed an 88-84 win in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series at the Barclays Center in New York and now are on the cusp of a return trip to the WNBA Finals.

The Liberty, who rolled to a dominant win in Game 1 of the series, now lead 2-0 in a rematch of last season’s WNBA Finals. WNBA teams are 18-0 in the postseason when leading a series 2-0. The Aces, who have dominated the league in recent years and are coming off back-to-back titles, are the first defending champions to fall down 2-0 in a WNBA playoff series.

Stewart, who dropped an incredible 34 points in the Liberty’s Game 1 win, finished just shy of a triple-double with 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds while largely facilitating the Liberty’s offense through the first three quarters. Ionescu then took it the rest of the way and sealed the win in the final minutes. She dropped 11 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter and finished with nine rebounds while shooting 50% from the field.

After trailing for most of the contest, the Aces came storming back to make it a game late in the fourth quarter. They tied it up multiple times in the final minutes, first after Alysha Clark drilled a 3-pointer with about 90 seconds left. That was the first time the game had been tied since late in the second quarter.

Ionescu responded and put the Liberty ahead again with a perfect contested 15-footer.

Then after a bit of back and forth, the Liberty won a challenge on the other end after the ball went out of bounds off Aces guard Kelsey Plum, which gave New York possession again with 10.5 seconds left. That led to Ionescu going back to the free-throw line to seal the four-point win.

The Aces got off to a much better start after their struggles in Game 1 and took a slight lead after the first 10 minutes, thanks to 10 quick points from Chelsea Grey in the first quarter. That advantage didn’t hold. The Liberty surged ahead by six at halftime, thanks to a big 9-0 burst. The Liberty held Las Vegas to 13 points in the period.

While they fell down by 10 points almost immediately out of the break, the Aces chipped away late in the third. They cut the deficit down to four, and Jackie Young scored nine of her 17 points in the period to keep the Aves in it before their final push, which eventually came up short.

Wilson led the Aces with 24 points and seven rebounds, and made 11 of 18 from the field. Young added six rebounds and three assists to go with her 17 points, and Gray finished with 14 points and seven assists. Jonquel Jones added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Liberty to go with Stewart’s and Ionescu’s combined 39 points. Courtney Vandersloot added 12 points off the bench for New York.

Game 3 of the series is set for Friday night in Las Vegas. The Aces, who are trying to become the first team to win three straight championships since the Houston Comets did so at the very beginning of the WNBA’s existence, will now need to pull off a historic comeback in order to keep that dream alive.

Otherwise, it’ll be the Liberty who advance to the Finals again in their quest for the franchise’s first championship.