The WNBA playoffs technically don’t begin until Sunday afternoon. But for all intents and purposes, the playoffs are already here.
With playoff seeding on the line, the eight playoff teams can’t afford to ease into postseason action with so much on the line. At Barclays Center on Monday night, two teams battling for home-court advantage got a playoff preview.
Entering Monday night, the Liberty were in sixth place in the standings. They needed to win their final two games and get some help elsewhere
to move into position for home-court advantage in the first round. The Atlanta Dream entered in fourth and are trying to stay one step ahead of the Indiana Fever in the standings.
To start the game, New York was able to consistently find their way into the painted area. As Lucas Kaplan detailed in his newsletter, Pauline Astier has been living at the rim this season.
As our own Lucas Kaplan discussed in his wonderful newsletter, Pauline Astier has been living at the rim this season. Astier consistently made her way to the basket and had the Dream defense out of sorts.
However, Atlanta’s superstar forward kept them in it early. Angel Reese was able to match Jonquel Jones’ physicality on the inside and keep the Dream close early.
Although the Liberty made a point to mention that they weren’t going to put too much on this being the second game of a back-to-back, their opponents certainly noticed it.
“Coming off a back-to-back for them, I thought they were tired,” Reese said in postgame. “Those are the little things that I look at. I can tell by body language. I can tell by shot selection about how a team is tired and how players are tired.
And I kept telling the team, ‘They’re tired as shit. They’re tired as shit.’ Excuse my language. But you have to take those things into consideration, especially when you’re going against an opponent that is so good on their home court. We knew that it was going to be a playoff environment and that it was going to be a back and forth game. We wanted to wear them down as much as we could, and I think we did a great job of that.”
Word of Angel’s comments made it to the Liberty in postgame media. Here’s how Leonie Fiebich responded:
Something to watch for the next outing!
After half, Atlanta started to gain some separation and wear New York down. Atlanta outscored New York 32-24 in the third quarter and it was their former number one pick that made the difference.
Historically, Rhyne Howard has struggled against the Liberty. In 16 regular season and postseason games against New York, she has only shot 40 percent and above only three times. You would have never known in the third as she scored ten of her 16 points.
In the fourth quarter, New York had their opportunities to make it close. They cut it to eight on a few occasions, but could not get any closer. New York committed 11 turnovers on the night, none more back-breaking than this
Breanna Stewart led the team in scoring with 27 points and chipped in 14 rebounds and four assists. It wasn’t enough to push the Liberty over the top. And to make matters worse, she picked up her first technical foul since 2017 late in the fourth quarter following what she felt the referees missed a no-call. Just one of those days.
Final score: Atlanta Dream 95, New York Liberty 84
The Dream have a beeline on the fourth seed while the Liberty can reach no higher than the fifth seed. At the very least, we know the Liberty will begin the playoffs on the road.
Next Up
The Liberty and Dream battle one more time at Barclays Center. Tip at 8 PM on Wednesday night.
