After a historic 3-point shooting campaign last summer, Sabrina Ionescu made it her mission to level up her inside-the-arc game during the offseason. All of her hard work paid off on Tuesday night, as she used her dribble-drive skills to put the New York Liberty on her back late in their 88-84 win over the Las Vegas Aces in Game 2 of their semifinal series.
“Sabrina was massive down the stretch there,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said.
Thanks to the hard-fought win, the Liberty have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five matchup, and are now just one win away from getting revenge on the Aces and returning to the Finals for the second consecutive season. Since best-of-five series were first introduced in 2005, no team has ever blown a 2-0 lead.
Ionescu finished the night with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists on 9 of 18 from the field. In the process, she joined Diana Taurasi as the only players in WNBA history with at least 20 points and five assists on 50% shooting in three consecutive playoff games.
She had nine of those points and an assist in the final 5:08, when she took over the game to ensure the Liberty did not blow a double-digit second-half lead.
After A’ja Wilson had cut…
