WNBA playoffs: Sabrina Ionescu, Liberty fend off Aces to take 2-0 series lead over defending champions

The Las Vegas Aces and reigning league MVP A’ja Wilson may be in trouble.

The New York Liberty, thanks to yet another huge performance from Breanna Stewart and a clutch finish from Sabrina Ionescu, fended off the Aces down the stretch to grab an 88-84 win in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series on Tuesday night at the Barclays Center in New York.

That, after a dominant win in Game 1, pushed the Liberty to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. A win in Las Vegas on Friday would give them the series sweep against the team that has both dominated the league in recent years across the board and that beat them in the WNBA Finals last fall.

Teams are a perfect 18-0 in the postseason when leading a series 2-0. The Aces are the first defending champion to fall down 0-2 in a series, too.

in their Game 1 win — finished just shy of a triple-double in the win for the Liberty on Tuesday. She had 15 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in the win despite shooting just 5-of-15 from the field. Ionescu led the Liberty with 24 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter, and nine rebounds while shooting 50% from the field.

After trailing for most of the contest, the Aces came storming back to make it a game late in the fourth quarter. They tied it up multiple times down the stretch, first after Alysha Clark drilled a huge 3-pointer with about 90 seconds left.

That set up a thrilling finish, with both teams bouncing back and forth nearly the entire rest of the way. But it was Ionescu who put the Liberty back on top after Clark’s bucket with a perfect contested 15-footer.

The Liberty then won a challenge on the other end after the ball went out of bounds off of Aces guard Kelsey Plum, which gave them possession again with just 10.5 seconds left. That led to Ionescu going back to the free throw line to eventually seal the four-point win.

The Aces got off to a much better start after their struggles in Game 1, and took a slight lead after the first 10 minutes thanks to 10 quick points from Chelsea Grey in the first quarter. That advantage, however, just didn’t hold. The Liberty surged ahead by six at halftime thanks to a big 9-0 burst. The Liberty held Las Vegas to just 13 points in the period, too.

While they fell down by 10 points almost immediately out of the break, the Aces slowly chipped away for one final push late in the third. They cut the deficit down to just four, and Jackie Young dropped nine of her 17 points in the game in the period to keep them in it.

That led to the Aces comeback in the fourth quarter and the Liberty’s finish, which sealed their win and put them a game away from a return trip to the WNBA Finals.

Wilson led the Aces with 24 points and seven rebounds after she shot 11-of-18 from the field. Young added five rebounds and three assists to go with her 17 points, and Gray finished with 14 points and seven assists. Jonquel Jones added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Liberty to go with Stewart and Ionescu’s combined 39 points. Courtney Vandersloot added 12 points off the bench, too.

Game 3 of the series is set for Friday night in Las Vegas.

This post will be updated with more information shortly.