Liberty Avoid Familiarity in Game 1 Win

The New York Liberty avoided repeating history in their postseason-opening victory over the Atlanta Dream.

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

BROOKLYN-And now for something completely different, the New York Liberty offered in their 2024 postseason opener on Sunday.

While there were plenty of seafoam staples on hand on Atlantic Avenue ... Breanna Stewart had a double-double, Sabrina Ionescu offered floaters and threes aplenty, Ellie the Elephant stomped her way toward Brooklyn adoration ... certain elements were adjusted en route to an opening game victory over the Atlanta Dream.

Leonie Fiebich became the latest woman to appear in a starting playoff lineup for the Liberty, stepping in for Courtney Vandersloot, who came off the bench for the first time since 2017. Following the win, the Liberty lit the torch that often heralds their pregame entrance in recognition of the first of eight victories necessary to lift a championship banner.

The Liberty's biggest change, however, was eschewing recent history in the name of something greater at least in their latest posteason debut.

It wasn't too long ago, for example, that the top-seeded Liberty found themselves in a similar position to the eighth-ranked Dream: in 2022, the Liberty made the postseason as the seventh of eight teams on the WNBA playoff bracket. Their reward was a best-of-three series with the defending champion Chicago Sky starring the services of Vandersloot, among others.

Brandon Todd, NY LIberty

Perhaps surprisingly, the Liberty posted a 98-91 victory in the opener, buoyed by shared 22-point efforts from Sabrina Ionescu and the since-departed Natasha Howard. Chicago took the next two games (including the first WNBA playoff showing at Barclays Center) but an effective throat-clearing gesture was well-pronounced.

New York didn't let Atlanta, harboring thoughts of grandeur of its own with a resurgent Tina Charles and a healthy Rhyne Howard in tow, develop any similar thoughts of a Game 1 upset: the Liberty shot 8-of-11 in the opening period and visited the foul line on eight perfect occasions to built a double-figure lead that would never be relinquished.

Perhaps appropriately, the first five points came courtesy of Ionescu, who had struggled in the postseason lead-in. Ionescu bucked the trend by opening WNBA postseason scoring with a floater before swishing one from deep. She and Fiebich united for 20 of the Liberty's 29 points over the first 10 minutes and they didn't miss a shot until the 2:33 mark of the first.

"We worked hard to get the number one seed, so we didn't want to let it go down the drain. It's just coming out with a focus," Brondello said. "We had a great quarter because we played defense. For the most part, we executed what we wanted to, and then we could get out and run, and we're just sharing the ball. That's Liberty basketball. That's when we're at our best. We're not an iso team, it doesn't look good on us when we try and do that."

The 72.7 percent success rate from the field was the Liberty's best in a home game in three months and the eight free throws they tried were the most they've had in any opening frame this year.

In addition to the 2022 squad, the Liberty also had extraordinarily recent material to work with: a de facto playoff preview was staged in Brooklyn on Thursday, With the Liberty locked into the top seed and Atlanta facing a win-or-go-home scenario, the Dream took over on a night were Liberty starters played healthy minutes, the 78-67 final mostly beautified by electrifying play from rookies Marquesha Davis and Jaylyn Sherrod.

"I think it was, you know, humbling to watch that film (from Thursday) because we just weren't good at all and it's not fun to watch when you're just not very good," Vandersloot said. "It lights a fire and I think we decided at that moment, like, something needs to change. It's not going to just change on its own. We all switched our mentality and we're really focused on the start of the game knowing we've got to put this behind us, , we've got to change something. That resulted in a good game."

But the Liberty took lessons from a "meaningless" games and used it to their advantage. While things weren't perfect (Atlanta still carried a formidable presence in the paint), a genuine tone-setter was established.

Brandon Todd, NY LIberty

"I think that obviously, the past few weeks, to be honest, the way we were playing, we didn't love it, especially after just losing to this team, we knew we could kind of beat into them a little bit more and let our defense dictate our offense," Stewart said. "We were just pushing the tempo, we were trying to be aggressive on all cylinders, and, especially with a bigger lineup, you're able to kind of control things on the backside because you can always exit out or whatever the case may be."

This Liberty postseason trip, of course, is built by the concept of remembering history: no one in the New York locker room has forgotten the images of the Las Vegas Aces using Barclays Center facilities to celebrate their second consecutive WNBA title. The elimination of certain memories, however, could pave the early path to redemption.

New York has a chance for advancement on Tuesday when the Dream returns for Game 2 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

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