Liberty top Aces 88-84 to take a 2-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals and put the champs on the brink

NEW YORK (AP) — Sabrina Ionescu and her New York teammates downplayed being on the brink of knocking off the Aces. In their mind, they haven’t accomplished anything yet.

Ionescu scored 24 points and the Liberty beat Las Vegas 88-84 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five semifinal series.

“Being up 2-0 is great, but we haven’t won anything,” Ionescu said. “Everyone knows that. Did what we were supposed to do, protect home court. Win two at home. We’re not patting ourselves on the back, talking how happy we are. We didn’t come to win two games at home and be satisfied, we’re a hungry group.”

Game 3 is Friday night in Las Vegas, with the two-time defending champion Aces trying to avoid being beaten by the team they beat in the WNBA Finals last year.

“We protected home court. We want to go to Vegas,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “We play well on the road and they play great at home.”

History is on New York’s side.

No team has rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-five playoff series in WNBA postseason history. Only Phoenix was able to force a Game 5 in 2018 against Seattle.

“It’s a series for a reason, there’s no championship won off two wins,” Aces forward Alysha Clark said. “I’ve had a lot of playoff experience where I’ve been up 2-0, down 2-0. The series is not over.”

The game was tied at 81 before Ionescu hit a jumper with 1:15 left to give New York a two-point lead. Both teams had chances before Ionescu fouled Tiffany Hayes with 16.9 seconds remaining off a jump ball.

Hayes hit the first of two free throws to make it a one-point game. New York secured the rebound and Ionescu got fouled with 11.6 seconds left and also only hit one free throw to make it 84-82.

Las Vegas had a chance to tie it, but the ball went out of bounds on the sideline with 10.5 to play and after New York challenged the call that it was the Aces’ ball, the officials overturned the decision and gave the Liberty the ball.

Ionescu, who had seven of the Liberty’s final nine points, then hit two free throws to make it a two-possession game.

“In the big moments she steps up, doesn’t shy away from the moments,” Liberty center Jonquel Jones said.

A’ja Wilson answered with a jumper with 5.6 left before Breanna Stewart hit two free throws less than a second later to seal the win.

“It was close down the stretch, but they made more plays then us,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said.

Hammon said after Game 1 that Tuesday’s game was “do or die.”

“Did I say it was a must win? I was lying,” the coach said after Tuesday’s game, laughing. “Trying to bring the drama.”

Stewart finished with 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

Wilson scored 24 points and Jackie Young added 17 for the Aces.

The Liberty led 69-62 heading into the final period before the Aces rallied behind Wilson to tie the game at 81 on Clark’s 3-pointer with 1:31 left.

After a rough start in Game 1, the Aces jumped out to a 27-22 lead after the first quarter behind a strong opening 10 minutes from Chelsea Gray. She had just four points in the Game 1 loss and Hammon said she would have a discussion with her star guard. Gray responded by coming out aggressively with 10 points in the first 10 minutes.

The teams went back and forth and Las Vegas led 40-37 with 2:33 left in the half before Ionescu hit two 3-pointers sandwiched around a three-point play by Kayla Thornton to give New York the 46-40 advantage at the break, drawing loud cheers from the sellout crowd that included Carmelo Anthony, Alicia Keys, Robin Roberts, Colin Kaepernick and Gayle King.

Liberty great Teresa Weatherspoon was also in the crowd. She was fired by the Chicago Sky as their coach last week. She received a very loud ovation from the fans when she was shown on the video screen in the fourth quarter.

It’s not just fans turning up to watch the series in person. Game 1 of the series drew an average viewership of 929,000 on TV. It was the most-viewed WNBA semifinal in 22 years.

The Aces lost center Kiah Stokes with 9.5 seconds left in the third quarter. She was chasing a loose ball out of bounds and went down hard to the ground after committing a loose ball foul. She was down for a few minutes before being helped back to the locker room. The team said she suffered a potential concussion.

“It’s a head injury right now,” Hammon said. “We’ll wait and see, I don’t have a lot of information for you. We’ll be monitoring her very closely.”

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