The Liberty were almost on the brink of elimination.
Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas appeared to have a go-ahead layup with a second remaining in regulation to defeat the defending champions.
But she smoked it and gave the Liberty life.
The miss — and Sabrina Ionescu‘s end-of-regulation prayer — led to an overtime period the Liberty won, which led to a 76-69 first-round Game 1 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.
Now it’s the Mercury on the brink of elimination as the best-of-three series shifts to New York for Wednesday’s Game 2.
The result comes after Leonie Fiebich put her team up six following a made trey with under a minute remaining in OT. Natasha Cloud‘s drive — and near turnover — got Fiebich open on the win for the trey at the 57.3 mark of the extra period.
At that point, the game was out of reach.
Cloud scored a game-high 23 points in the Game 1 victory. Kahleah Copper led the way for Phoenix with 15 points.
But the Liberty have more issues on the horizon as Breanna Stewart left the overtime period due to an apparent left knee injury. She finished the game on the bench with a brace on the knee. The apparent injury is to the other knee she missed time for in the regular season due to a bone bruise.
The game ended up in OT after countless lead changes. The see-saw battle eventually got the Liberty down two with 1:45 remaining in regulation after a nice sequence by the Mercury: after playing defense for almost 24 seconds, Akoa Makani advanced ball then passed to Thomas. Thomas advanced into the paint, then misdirected traffic and found a cutting Copper for the go-ahead layup.
But then Stewart tied it, 65-65, again with a contested jumper at the 1:31 mark.
No one scored for the rest of that fourth quarter and Thomas’ easy layup would’ve likely iced the game.
She missed the opportunity. And Phoenix missed the opportunity in OT to seal a home win after losing the extra period, 11-4.
Thomas — the Mercury’s do-it-all MVP candidate — got close to her season averages: 14 points, nine rebounds and assists. But she missed 11 of her 18 attempts and worked each possession while guarded by New York Jonquel Jones.
She faced a defensive game plan tailored for her from the start. The non-shooter faced no resistance from the three-point arc, but Jones — and sometimes a Liberty wall — never left her as she got closed to the paint.
The first quarter ended with the Liberty up four. Both teams featured balanced scoring under the arc, but a combined 3-of-17 from three-point range. Cloud and Jones scored the Liberty’s pair of treys in the first and both finished with five points apiece in the period.
The Liberty’s lead eventually got shortened to one at halftime as both teams continued a see-saw battle.
Leading the charge in the second was Sabrina Ionescu, who scored nine points while running as the focal point of the Liberty’s offense.
The Liberty are best when they can turn defense into lightning quick offense. But speed and pace are turned down in playoff basketball as the emphasis turns into half-court offense.
Luckily for Sandy Brondello’s squad, that’s where Ionescu can run her pick-and-roll offense with star forwards scattered all over the floor.
Benefitting from that gravity, Cloud registered 13 points (5-for-5 from the field) going into halftime, and Stewart poured in 11 of her own.
Ionescu’s action also got Phoenix Kahleah Copper into foul trouble, as the former Finals MVP got called for her third personal foul midway through the second. But they stayed afloat and Akoa Makani’s trey before the halftime buzzer kept her team within one possession.
The Liberty should’ve ran away in the third quarter as Phoenix faltered.
Copper picked up her fourth foul and got sent to the bench again. The defense on Thomas kept the Mercury’s offense quiet — so quiet that Phoenix didn’t score a field goal until the 2:44 mark of the period. The Liberty, however, only made two more field goals than their opponents during that stretch, failing to take advantage of a perfect opportunity.
Then the Mercury scored eight unanswered to take a one-point lead with under a minute remaining. And after Jones’ bucket, Mercury forward Kathryn Westbeld drained a 28-footer to cap an 11-2 run that gave Phoenix the lead, 57-55.
But the run meant nothing, as the Mercury fell at the end.
Liberty crawl away with Game 1. And another win puts them into the second round.
Originally Published:
