The New York Liberty walked into this series carrying the weight of an #8 seed and the kind of uneasy offseason talk that can hang around a team like a storm cloud. One game later, they’ve flipped the mood entirely. After beating the #1 seed Minnesota Lynx to take a 1-0 lead, the Liberty now have a shot to close things out Tuesday night at home and punch their ticket to the semifinals.
This wasn’t some fluky steal, either. New York has now put together back-to-back games in which it clearly outplayed Minnesota, and Breanna Stewart was at the center of everything.
She stayed on the floor until garbage time and finished with a 34/12/6/2/2 line on 11-of-18 shooting. “Last year, we did this in Phoenix, then got smoked on our home court,” Stewart said, which is exactly why nobody inside this group is treating Sunday like the finish line.
Still, the tactical edge was real. The Liberty leaned hard into base pick-and-roll, using it on 19 of their 61 half-court possessions - 31.15% of the time - their second-highest rate of the season and nearly 10% above their usual number.
That flat alignment opened the middle of the floor and gave Stewart room to operate while Sabrina Ionescu found pocket passes with ease. The result was a massive 1.32 points per possession in those sets.
The shooting was sharp across the board, too. New York hit 13-of-25 from deep as a team, though Marine Johannès was quiet offensively, going 0-of-2 and not taking a shot in her first seven minutes on the floor.
That kind of output is hard to bank on holding steady, which is why the Liberty may need Johannès to give them a lift in Game 2. The regression monster is waiting somewhere down the road.
There were also smart adjustments on the sideline. Chris DeMarco kept trusting his pick-and-roll creators, mixed in actions Minnesota hadn’t seen before, and managed his defensive matchups well.
Pauline Astier spent time harassing Olivia Miles at half-court to give Leonie Fiebich a breather, and even with Astier flirting with foul trouble, she kept her edge on defense. She was loud with her mistakes on offense, but still serviceable there.
DeMarco also shifted Ionescu onto Maya Caldwell at points in the second half so she could get a break from chasing Kayla McBride. Clean, practical coaching.
One more thing could matter in Game 2: the building. Barclays Center should be rocking, and not just because it’s a playoff game.
The residual dislike of the Lynx ought to give the crowd an extra charge, and that matters in a building that can sometimes feel more neutral than Liberty fans would prefer. The arena gets loud for Stewart and Ionescu, sure, but there’s no mistaking how much more venom this one should have than a regular home date.
Given the price of Game 2 tickets, that atmosphere is a real factor - especially with Minnesota on the other side.
Now it’s about finishing the job. The Liberty can sweep and move on Tuesday night, with tip-off set for 8:30 p.m. ET.
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The appeal of that approach is obvious for a team still trying to build toward its next major move, but it also asks the Nets to trust the process in the present. For now, there are no confirmed trades or signings attached to Marks' comments, only a clear picture of an organization betting that young talent and financial flexibility can set up the real opportunity when it arrives. [Read more 🡒]