WNBA semifinals: How New York takes a 1-0 lead over Las Vegas

The New York Liberty haven’t been shy about talking about the “scars” left by last season’s WNBA Finals loss to the Las Vegas Aces. But in the 2024 playoffs on Sunday, the top-seeded Liberty team took a crucial first step toward exorcising those demons.

She almost led New York to win Game 1 of the semifinals 87-77 in a blockbuster rematch against the Aces in front of a crowd of 14,015. 2023 Regular Season Player of the Year Brianna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu combined for 55 Liberty points, while Kelsey Bloom and 2024 Player of the Year Aja Wilson combined for 45 points to lead the Aces.

While No. 1 seed Liberty held the court and won the opener against the No. 4 seed Aces, the No. 2 seed Minnesota Lynx fell 73-70 to the No. 3 seed Connecticut Sun. The visiting Sun beat the Lynx in part by doing two things Minnesota usually does very well: shoot 3-pointers and move the ball.

Alyssa Thomas nearly notched her fifth career triple-double in the playoffs for the Sun, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Fellow Sun veteran DeWanna Bonner struggled shooting (4 of 17) but had 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. Of Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey’s 20 points, 18 came via 3-pointers. The Sun had 24 assists to 16 for the Lynx, who averaged a WNBA-best 23.0 APG in the regular season.

The first game looked like a statement for the Liberty: New York won 3-0 over the Aces in the regular season, even though Las Vegas’ Chelsea Gray missed the first game and Wilson was sidelined for the third.

But on Sunday, the Liberty looked like they were part of the best team in the league, better positioned than last year to finally win the franchise’s first championship. New York led by double digits for large periods and jumped ahead by as many as 18 points in the third quarter. Despite Las Vegas making several runs to get within striking distance, the Aces never got closer than eight points in the fourth.

What was the score of the first match? Throughout the history of the WNBA postseason, teams that go 1-0 in a best-of-five series win 77% of the time (27-8 record). But the Aces are no ordinary playoff team either, with the two-time defending champions boasting three-time MVP honors — and before Sunday had lost just one game since the end of August.

ESPN takes a look at how Liberty and Connecticut handled Game 1.

Liberty leads the best-of-five series 1-0

How did New York lock up the best player in the world, Aja Wilson?

For most, Wilson’s stat line in Game 1 — 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting — was a remarkable performance. For the three-time MVP, who set a WNBA record by averaging 26.9 points during the regular season, it was a relatively quiet outing.

Wilson’s 16 shots tied for her fewest in a playoff game since Game 1 of last year’s finals, and four of them came in the final four minutes with Liberty leading. Wilson had to work hard for the nine brands. Of her 16 shots, 14 (87.5%) were intercepted, according to ESPN research, compared to 80% of Wilson’s attempts against New York in 2023.

Based on Second Spectrum’s tracking, Wilson’s 47% shot quality — the effective field goal percentage we expect from the average shooter based on location, type of attempt and distance to nearby defenders — was the fifth-lowest of any game. This season.

The Liberty used 6-foot-6 Jonquel Jones as their primary defender on Wilson, making it difficult for them to score in the post. And when Wilson looked to shoot jumpers, Stewart — 6-4 with a 6-10 wingspan — came in to provide late help and disrupt the shot.

To her credit, Wilson took advantage of that attention to dish out five assists, her most in a playoff game since 2022. But the Aces will need to find more ways to set Wilson up for the rest of the series to get her production back. Best player level. — Kevin Pelton

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Sabrina Ionescu hits a deep 3-pointer for Liberty

Sabrina Ionescu finds some space at the top of the key and nails a 3-pointer for Liberty.

What has worked well for Liberty on offense?

The big three. Although New York’s depth is better overall this season, its superstars in Stewart, Ionescu and Jones did most of the damage offensively on Sunday. The trio scored 68 points, with Stewart and Ionescu each shooting 60% or better from the field.

Stewart was unstoppable in the first half with 20 points, taking advantage of mismatches when guards accidentally turned on her (an issue raised by Aces coach Becky Hammon after the game) and when facing the undersized Alisha Clark. In the first half in particular, Stewart shot 4-for-5 against her former Storm teammate. According to ESPN’s tracking, Stewart made 6 of 11 of her contested shots overall, 6 of 8 open shots and scored 10 points in transition.

Jones battled in the lane throughout the game, dominating the glass and helping New York come away with a 42-38 lead in scoring in the paint. Ionescu started strong with 3-for-3 shooting in the first quarter, then used an 8-point run in the fourth quarter — featuring a pair of deep 3-pointers in quick succession — to put the Aces away. Ionescu’s strong postseason performance after her post-Olympic decline in efficiency is huge for the Liberty’s tournament prospects.

They couldn’t maintain the same pace throughout the game, but New York’s 28-point first quarter, where they made 10 of 11 baskets and had seven takeaways, set the tone for what the team was able to accomplish. most of the game. — Alexa Filippo

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Kelsey Bloom’s beautiful step-by-step movement leads to an easy layup

Kelsey Bloom was able to get past her defender with a great move to get a great corner kick for the Aces.

What does Las Vegas need to do on Tuesday to avoid 0-2?

The biggest problem the Aces face between now and Tuesday can’t be solved: They don’t have an effective way to compete with both Stewart and Jones. New York’s All-Star forwards combined for 47 points on Sunday. This is a difficult thing for Las Vegas to overcome.

Having the 6-3 Kiah Stokes play to guard Jones makes sense from a size perspective, but Stokes is such a liability on offense (1.4 PPG) that she allows New York to consistently double-team Wilson. Unless Stokes can completely lock down Jones – that’s hard to do against a player of Jones’ calibre; She has 32 double-doubles since joining the Liberty before last season — a tough game for anything more than spot-up minutes. With her on the bench, Gray or Jackie Young would sometimes match up with Jones. Or when Wilson guarded Jones, Clark guarded Stewart. All of these scenarios put the Aces at a disadvantage defensively.

The solution for Las Vegas must come on offense. It’s an oversimplification to say the Aces need to beat the Liberty, but they’ll need to score more than 77 points. The offense needs better flow and Las Vegas needs to do more in transition. It starts with more balanced production from the backcourt. The Aces need more than four points and one assist from Gray. Her playmaking and ability to hit big shots has been a key part of the past two tournaments.

Bloom was great on Sunday with 24 points, but Young needs to play a bigger role. She finished with 17 points, but it took 16 shots to get there. Its impact on the game was minimal. Didn’t do much defensively against Ionescu. All three guards should be important contributors if Las Vegas is to make this series. Gray will have to play more like the version of herself seen in the first-round series against Seattle. — Charlie is generous

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Alyssa Thomas plays hero late in Sun’s Game 1 win over Lynx

Alyssa Thomas drains two huge buckets in the final minute of the Sun’s win over the Lynx.

The Sun leads the best-of-five series 1-0

What is the biggest difference between Sun and Lynx in the first game?

Three-point shooting. These two teams are the two best defensive teams in the league, and this game reflected that. Neither was great overall, with the Lynx at 41.5% and the Sun at 41.3%. But the Sun made nine 3-pointers (six by Marina Mabrey) to Minnesota’s five.

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve was impressed with the look the Lynx got. But going 5-of-20 from behind the arc and getting just eight points on 3-of-12 shooting from Courtney Williams was tough for the Lynx to overcome in such a close game.

“Corney should be able to score for us,” Reeve said. “And a lot of her shot attempts are the ones we see going down.” –Fobel

How did the Sun limit Navisa Collier to 19 points after her first big round?

Minnesota’s struggle to hit perimeter shots at its usual clip has made the defense tighter on Collier. Instead of Sun getting tired of defending, he got stronger as the match went on. In fact, both teams were defending at a high level in the fourth quarter, with 31 of their 38 total shots contested.

Collier scored 38 and 42 points in Minnesota’s first-round win over Phoenix. But Phoenix doesn’t have as good a defense as Connecticut’s. DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas were the Sun’s most effective defenders against Collier, combining to hold her to 3 of 11 from the field. Collier was 4 of 5 when he wasn’t against them. –Fobel

Who separated the sun?

When it mattered most — especially during the fourth quarter, when scores were up — the Sun turned to the veterans. Thomas and Bonner combined to score nine of Connecticut’s final 11 points. On Minnesota’s final possession with a chance to tie the score, it was Thomas who initially pinned Collier. After a short substitution to Veronica Burton, another substitution left Bonner to defend the Lynx’s best player. Bonner took full issue with Collier’s three-point attempt that never had a chance. — generous

What even should Minnesota do with the series?

The Lynx have to make the shots they are accustomed to making. Offensively, they didn’t look much alike for most of Sunday’s game. Credit the Sun for a lot of that, but the Lynx have to play like we’ve seen them all year to avoid going 2-0 to Connecticut. – Vobel