The New York Liberty took a 1-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals by defeating the former champions, the Las Vegas Aces, 87-77 on Sunday afternoon. The victory was led by Liberty forward and former MVP Breanna Stewart, who had a huge scoring performance putting up 34 points.
Game 2 is set to take place on Tuesday at Barclays Center once again. New York will look to take a commanding 2-0 lead with a win on Tuesday. Fans should expect another close game, which will set the tone for the remainder of the series; either the Aces will tie it up, or another loss will give New York the advantage of heading back to Las Vegas for Game 3.
“It’s do or die. You have to win Game 2.” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said.
Given that message by Hammon, expect the Aces to come out strong for Game 2 with a must-win mentality. Aces center and WNBA MVP A’Ja Wilson struggled in Game 1 both defensively and offensively. She was a team-worst minus-17. Despite Wilson and Aces guard Kelsey Plum combining for 45 points, it wasn’t enough to outscore the dominant offense of the Liberty.
It is expected that Wilson will have a bigger performance in Game 2, aiming for higher scoring to propel her team’s offense. However, it’ll take more than a big performance by Wilson to lead the Aces to victory. They will look for more offensive involvement from other role players, such as guard Chelsea Gray, guard Jackie Young, and bench player Tiffany Hayes, who all underperformed in game 1.
The Aces will also look to make defensive adjustments if they don’t trail the entire game as they did on Sunday. Given that Stewart had a scoring showdown, getting to all of her spots with ease, it’s expected that the Aces will look to double her more on Tuesday.
As for the Liberty, expect their core three to lead the game once again. It doesn’t have to be Stewart who puts up a big performance since New York has so many scoring options between her, guard Sabrina Ionescu, and center Jonquel Jones. Any one of them can lead the Liberty to a win. If defensive adjustments are made to limit Stewart in the next game, then it will be expected for Ionescu or Jones to step up and drive the offense.
Ball movement was a key factor for New York in Game 1; therefore, we should look for the Liberty to continue to share the ball all around, looking for open and easy looks from the perimeter. New York will look to force turnovers and push out the ball in transition yet again, as they had an advantage in fast break points on Sunday, accumulating 16 in total.
This is expected to be a closer game in scoring between the two teams, unlike game one where the NY Liberty led the entire game. Given that the Aces will make adjustments and learn from their mistakes from Sunday, fans should look out for a competitive game that may very well define how this series turns out.
