Liberty 90, Mystics 85 (OT): Behind every Cloud, a silver lining
The Liberty said it’d take 40 minutes of effort to knock off the Mystics and advance to the next round. It took 45, but what’s done is done — and won.
As omens go, you could do worse than the moon over the Statue of Liberty during Game 2 of the New York Liberty’s playoff series against the Washington Mystics.
The thing with omens is you can read ‘em however you like. The stakes were high enough for both teams to read any celestial shenanigans as a good sign for them. The Liberty were looking to win a playoff series for the first time since knocking off the Mystics back in 2015. Most of the Mystics who played tonight also played on Washington’s title-winning team four years ago. They weren’t looking for a moral victory; they wanted to get the series back to their building for a winner-take-all game Friday. They very nearly did, before succumbing in overtime 90-85.
Natasha Cloud told the world she was coming for Sabrina Ionescu after the Liberty star went supernova from 3-point land in Game 1 and she did, making it hard to her to get any clean looks while running riot herself on the offensive end. This year U.S. Open fans were treated to Caroline Wozniacki returning and advancing to the fourth round after a three-year retirement, where she fell to eventual champ Coco Gauff. Wozniacki is married to former NBA star David Lee, who spent his first five years with the Knicks. Lee was known for adding something new to his game every year; he was always improving. That’s Cloud, currently in year eight of her career and still on the ascent. Last night may have been her apex.
Cloud, who’d never scored more than 26 points in any WNBA game, exploded for 33, along with nine assists, six rebounds, five threes, four assists and four steals. The Mystics’ backcourt of Cloud and Brittney Sykes outplayed Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot — not only in total production, which was vastly in Washington’s favor. Cloud kept Ionescu from even getting shots up; Linus from Peanuts could only dream of such blanket security. Meanwhile, Vandersloot was having a hard time just getting the ball across halfcourt and initiating the offense.
The Liberty adjusted by having Breanna Stewart bring the ball up instead of the guards. Elena Delle Donne can do just about anything on a basketball court, but one thing she won’t is apply ball pressure for 94 feet that Cloud and Skyes can. The two-time MVP just never get on track from the floor in this series, making only nine of 28 shots over two games. The Mystics play three guards with Cloud, Sykes and Ariel Atkins; with center Shakira Austin out for the series, the pressure fell to Delle Donne and Myisha Hines-Allen to meet the challenge of battling Gotham’s goliaths.
But Stewart and Jonquel Jones proved to be too much for Washington. While EDD and Hines-Allen combined for 21 points, eight rebounds and one blocked shot, Stewart and Jones tallied 46, 23 and six. Jones was especially impactful in the game’s biggest moments. With the Liberty down two and about 10 seconds left, Ionescu missed a pair of free throws, but Jones corralled the offensive board and drew a shooting foul, then sank both foul shots to tie the game and force overtime. In a wild 35-second sequence in the last minute of OT, Jones scored to put New York up three, blocked a Hines-Allen shot, turned the ball over with the Liberty up one and under 20 seconds left, then stole it back, helping seal the win. The Liberty are now 13-0 this year when Jones has a double-double. As Washington coach Eric Thibault said of her after the game, “She’s big and good. Big and good. That’s a former MVP.”
I don’t know which is tougher: for Betnijah Laney, who scored 19, to not be overlooked in the galaxy of stars New York has concentrated, or the degree of difficulty of the shot she made in overtime to put the Liberty ahead for good. Both have merit. The home team led most of the night, fell behind six with a few minutes left, came back, blew the comeback, came back again, and ultimately won. Had they lost, who knows how different our universe would be? One difference I feel confident predicting: Cloud would not have gotten the same effusive love from the New York crowd that she did after this L. She’d have deserved it, though.
As for the Liberty? They broke a few ducks with the win, winning their first playoff series since beating the Mystics in 2015 and winning their first Game 2 after a Game 1 win since doing so against the Mystics way back in 2000. New York now awaits the winner of the Connecticut/Minnesota series, while Las Vegas will take on Dallas in the other semifinal. If the Sun topple the Lynx, the Liberty could get as far as the Finals without having been on a plane for weeks.
In a game where their starting guards shot just 7-of-22, New York’s frontcourt dominated. When Stewart struggled to score in Game 1, Ionescu took the reins; when Ionescu couldn’t get a shot off in Game 2, Jones and Laney helped pick up the slack. The Liberty are able to win in so many ways. They’ll need more of that moxie moving forward.
Typically this is where I’d add “especially since the competition is about to get tougher,” but out of respect to the Mystics I can’t. There’s an awful lotta multiverses where the Entertainment & Sports Arena is prepping to host Game 3 Friday night. The Liberty’s sights have been aimed higher than reaching the second round ever since trading for Jonquel Jones and starting this whole don’t-call-us-a-superteam superteam. They’re nowhere near where they wanna be. But they’re somewhere they haven’t been in a good long while. Enjoy it.
