Sun's Game 1 Heroine Rebecca Allen Has 'No Hard Feelings' For Liberty
It's nothing personal. It's strictly business.
Many vengeance seekers have at least paraphrased Al Pacino's Michael Corleone but few have truly meant it. Connecticut Sun forward Rebecca Allen, formerly of the New York Liberty, is the latest to claim sanctuary in such a camp, her business being the pursuit of a WNBA championship.
Allen was a visitor but hardly a tourist in the opening matchup of the WNBA's semifinal round on Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn. Back in New York to face her original WNBA employers, Allen did one of almost everything in the Connecticut box score, scoring 18 points, hauling in seven rebounds, and registering a couple of blocks and steals each in the Sun's 78-63 victory en route to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five set.
The winner of this Eastern Seaboard scrap will face either Dallas or defending champion Las Vegas in the WNBA Finals. New York recovered to even the series at one apiece after a Game 2 victory on Tuesday but Allen's early tenacity was a swift declaration that the series would not face early cancellation.
"Bec was here she she played a great game. I'm not happy she had a great game," head coach Sandy Brondello, who also coach Allen on Australia's women's national basketball team, said in the aftermath. "But she did what she did. She really helped her team. It wasn't just scoring, it was her defense. Her length bothered us, rebounding, her cutting. She was a handful for us tonight."
Reunions are often awkward and the Liberty-Sun semifinal is no exception: New York won all four games of the regular season series but its personnel would be the first to admit that luck was on their side in some stanzas of the sweep. The opening chapters of this tri-state trial were written in the cold of winter when the Liberty began curating downright historic talents to their seafoam-branded cause.
Brandon Todd, NY Liberty
Part one was a three-team trade that brought in Jonquel Jones. Among the chief sacrifices was Allen, who was the longest-tenured New Yorker at seven seasons (2015-19, 2021-22). Epiphanny Prince's hardship contract-induced cameos notwithstanding, Allen was the last remnant of the team's Madison Square Garden days.
To that end, Allen's prescience was perhaps the one assurance a nomadic Liberty team working through unique calamities could've counted on as they worked their way through MSG, Westchester County Center, and their current set-up at Barclays Center. The Australian-born Allen became a fan favorite as she worked her way up from 12th woman to starter, namely through her ability to become a defensive pest through a massive wingspan that earned her the play moniker of "Spida" back home.
New York relearned exactly what Allen was capable of on Sunday.
The Liberty knew that they'd have to deal with Allen's defensive prowess and she fulfilled that promise and then some by partaking in a Connecticut crackdown that held New York to a season-low in scoring. But Allen also made a reputation of showcasing a deep-ball talent if and when the situation called for. She played that up to deadly fashion on Sunday, by shooting 7-of-9 from the field, including 4-of-6 with an extra point on the line.
Allen saved the best for last: when the Liberty shrank the Connecticut lead to five after the midway mark of the third quarter, Allen popped up immediately after a timeout to more or less break the hosts' will with a big three that ignited a 19-8 run that allowed the Sun to take their biggest lead of the afternoon.
The Liberty opted to use Allen's aggressiveness against her in the rematch on Tuesday, getting her into foul trouble with relentless drives to the rim that resulted in 16 free throws, including 10 alone for Sabrina Ionescu. New York's three-point queen said that getting Allen off the floor wasn't a "point of emphasis" but everyone is still aware of what she brings to the defensive equation.
"She was really hot in the first game," Ionescu, scorer of a Liberty-best 21 on Tuesday, noted. "We understood that we had to do our best to take that away from her in this game. She got in some foul trouble which played to our advantage. We continued to get downhill and applied pressure on the defense."
If anyone had earned entry into this group, to hop aboard (and contribute to) the Liberty's wild ride (that later picked up Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot), it was Allen.
But unlike Michael Jordan, don't expect Allen to "take that personally."
"There's no hard feelings," Allen said. "There's no hard feelings in this game. I mean, there's always movement every season. For me it's been a blessing. It's something that I've actually been really grateful (for), being able to play in Connecticut has done great things for me playing alongside these caliber of athletes. So for me, no, there's nothing personal but (there is) the personal aspect of wanting to do well and wanting to be successful as a group."
"It's my first semifinals and it's playing my old team so there are a lot of things about that that are quite special for me," she continued. "But I'm just happy that I came out. I said I wanted to be assertive and confident, and I feel like I started like that."
Allen's ability to counter her tenacious defense with an infectious upbeat personality, well-received by family, friends, and teammates, makes her claims of separating the Liberty's artists from their art all the more believable. Even in the heat of a potentially rising New York-New England rivalry, Allen extended an olive branch after Game 1, referring to Ionescu and Marine Johannes as "beautiful people" when asked about an apparent post game conversation she had with the metropolitan backcourt pair as time expired.
"I wish for success for them as well, but I want more for us," Allen said with a laugh. "But, for them, I will always be in their corner, too."
Don't expect, however, for Allen to back off as the series gets back rolling in Uncasville on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
In Connecticut, Allen has taken a relatively similar role in helping a rebuilding team find its footing. In addition to Jones, the defending WNBA finalists also lost Courtney Williams to Chicago and later found out they'd be without Brionna Jones (no relation) after only 13 appearances.
The renovation process has been a little faster in Uncasville, thanks in part to a sterling MVP campaign from Alyssa Thomas and the extended stay of recurring Sun star DeWanna Bonner (Connecticut's leading scorer with 20 on Sunday). But Connecticut's headliners have made it clear that Allen, earner of her best career defensive rating since 2017, has played no small part in the resurrection.
“She’s just a long, athletic wing," Sun head coach Stephanie White noted. "To have her versatility to be able to defend multiple positions is important, particularly when you’re playing a team that can score from all five positions."
