Late in the third quarter of Saturday’s matinee at Barclays Center, Breanna Stewart missed a 3-pointer and the Los Angeles Sparks took off the other way on a three-on-one fastbreak. They appeared to have an easy bucket on the way, but Stewart had other ideas. The reigning MVP sprinted the length of the court, timed her leap to perfection and stuffed Stephanie Talbot at the rim for one of the best blocks of the season.
“Just not giving up on the play,” Stewart said. “Whatever happened on the offensive end, knowing that we want to make every basket difficult for them. Also just the timing. I could see Hamby was about to pass it back to Steph and the way that the fans reacted, it’s amazing to have those types of blocks at home.”
That was Stewart’s sixth block of the day, which set a new career high and helped her start an exclusive club. Stewart finished with a season-high 33 points, three rebounds, seven assists, three steals and six blocks on 12-of-19 from the field to lead the Liberty to a 98-88 win over the Sparks.
While she narrowly missed out on joining Candace Parker as the only player in WNBA history with a 5×5 effort, Stewart did become the first player with 20 points, five assists and five…
