NEW YORK — The New York Liberty have been focused on bringing the first championship to the franchise after falling just short last year.
They moved one step closer to that goal as Sabrina Ionescu tied a franchise playoff record with 36 points to help the Liberty beat the Atlanta Dream 91-82 on Tuesday night and advance to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.
“The ultimate goal is what it is. But, you know, it’s every single game is a championship game to get to that final goal,” Ionescu said. “And obviously our goal is to not lose at home. So this was really important for us to come out, take these two and have a couple days off and kind of rest, recharge and get ready for whatever it is we’re going to play.”
Jonquel Jones added 20 points and 13 rebounds for the top-seeded Liberty, who swept the best-of-three series and will face either Las Vegas or Seattle in the next round that begins Sunday in New York. The Aces beat the Liberty in the WNBA Finals last season.
“We have unfinished business,” said Jones, who recorded her 19th career playoff double-double, passing the Aces’ A’ja Wilson and Lisa Leslie for fifth most in WNBA history. It was the 109th double-double of Jones’ career, and her teams improved to 85-24 (.780) when she…
