The Liberty couldn’t have started on a worse note Wednesday. Almost halfway into the first quarter, they had just one basket while the Aces had 19 points, forcing head coach Sandy Brondello to go to her bench for any solution.
She subbed out three of her starters, but it didn’t matter. The damage was already done and nothing could prevent the Liberty from suffering consecutive losses for the first time all season — and both in blowout fashion.
The Aces set a record for most points scored in a WNBA Finals’ first quarter (38) and the dominance only continued as they grabbed a 104-76 Game 2 win at home to give Las Vegas a 2-0 lead going into Game 3 on Sunday at Barclays Center.
The Aces’ backcourt ran the game again despite early foul trouble for Jackie Young, who finished with 24 points followed by Kelsey Plum with 23. Chelsea Gray finished with a double-double (14 points and 11 assists).
The Aces, led by another double-double from A’ja Wilson with 26 points and 15 rebounds, are now a game away from back-to-back WNBA titles.
“Vegas is playing their best basketball at the moment. … And for us, you know, we haven’t taken steps forward. We haven’t shown it. We’re disappointed. Very disappointed because we’re a way better team than what we showed,” Brondello said after the game, answering why the Liberty, who beat the Aces three times in August, haven’t shown up in the series. “So, I don’t know why. Is it because of our opponent? Possibly. But we’re better. We’re better than this. So the challenge is to go home and to win on Sunday.”
Despite the dominance, the Aces still had to hold off a gritty Jonquel Jones, who kept the Liberty in the game, fighting back from a 22-point deficit to get within eight at the half.
The 2021 WNBA MVP earned a double-double in the first half, helping the Liberty to outscore the Aces 25-14 in the second quarter while enduring a physical game on both ends of the court.
Jones led the Liberty with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
“We always tell ourselves, we got to weather the storm,” Wilson said. “When you’re playing against the New York Liberty, you have a great team that has a lot of weapons. They’re going to come back. They’re going to do the right things. So, for us, we just had to weather the storm and I think we did a good job of that.”
Any offensive fluidity came from Jones, as both Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot didn’t have an answer against the Aces’ guards.
Ionescu was held to 10 points and shot just 2-for-10 from beyond the arc while Vandersloot didn’t score her first field goal until the fourth quarter.
She finished with 10 points.
“I think things are just a little too easy for them,” Jones said. “Honestly, I think we have to dig deeper, be a little bit tougher, make things a little bit harder and come up with some more grit.”
Other usual offensive threats were held to less than usual. Betnijah Laney had 12 and Breanna Stewart — the WNBA’s leading scorer and regular-season MVP — had a double-double (14 points and 13 rebounds).
Jones’ effort only could go so far and the Liberty defense crumbled again in the third quarter, enabling the Aces to put the Liberty back into another 22-point hole.
Young opened the frame with two three-point plays while Gray played facilitator, grabbing a steal for two points and later finding Wilson with a no-look highlight assist under the basket.
“We didn’t really execute anything we wanted to. Everything was too easy,” Brondello said. “We had no resistance and that’s what I’m disappointed about is that we didn’t compete. Like JJ said, there was no grit. … We’ve got to find some urgency.”
The Aces dominated across the board, shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 44.8 percent from the 3-point line.
They exposed the Liberty and made them look like a team making its first finals appearance since 2002.
“Obviously, we still have a lot of basketball left to be played,” Stewart said. “But this is the finals and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be ready to go from the start of the game, to the start of the third quarter. We keep putting ourselves in these positions where we have to fight back and we need to be better.
“But as frustrating as it is, we still have an opportunity.And we’re still here and we’re in the finals and like Sandy said we’re going home for Game 3, and we’re going to fight and we’re going to put it on the line. We’re gonna do whatever we can do to get that win.”
Game 2 was a must-win for the Liberty, and they missed the mark, falling by an even wider margin than they did in the series opener.
Now the superteam’s dream of a first WNBA title is in jeopardy.
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