With the WNBA regular season officially in the books, the best time of the year is upon us: playoff basketball.
The top-seeded Minnesota Lynx and the eighth-seeded New York Liberty opened up the four-game slate of first-round matchups on Sunday afternoon at Target Center, the start of a best-of-three series between two teams who are awfully familiar with each other.
And as we all expected, the unexpected happened — a common theme when these two teams match up. You just never know what will actually
happen until the ball is tipped up.
New York stormed into Minneapolis, dominated and stole Game 1 from Minnesota, 91-75, behind a 34-point double-doubler from Breanna Stewart.
As a result, the Liberty take a 1-0 series lead with the series now shifting back to Brooklyn for a Game 2 battle at Barclays Center at 7:30PM CT on Tuesday. New York is one win away from ending Minnesota’s season early and advancing to the semifinals, while the Lynx now need to win the next two games to advance.
Starting Slow, Bouncing Back
The first quarter of the game was almost the opposite of what you would expect in a Game 1. The home team typically starts things off strong in front of their home crowd, with the road team oftentimes playing from behind and trying to climb back.
In Sunday’s Game 1, that was the opposite. New York came out of the gate strong, shooting red-hot from deep and taking the Target Center crowd out of it while leading by as much as 10 in the open frame. However, Minnesota bounced back strong — led by Nia Brodie off the bench.
The Lynx outscored the Liberty 26-15 in the second quarter alone, led by Brodie’s team-best 12 first-half points off the bench with four threes, to finish the opening half strong and taking a 44-40 lead into halftime.
Second Verse, Same as the First
Like we saw out of the gate in the first half, New York had a similar start to the second half out of halftime. The Liberty jumped out to an 11-2 run over the Lynx in the opening minutes of the third quarter, with Minnesota trying to battle back the entire third frame.
As a result, New York remained out in front going into the final 10 minutes, taking a five-point edge into the fourth quarter.
In those final 10 minutes though, the Lynx weren’t able to replicate what they did in the first half by erasing a 10-point deficit to regain the lead. Behind a 7-2 run to open the fourth quarter, New York stretched its lead up to as much 19 and didn’t look back, holding off any late-game comeback by Minnesota to steal Game 1.
Brodie Steps Up Off Bench
When Brodie signed with the Lynx in the offseason, many thought she would play the exact role she has late in the season and did in Game 1 on Sunday.
Brodie is a veteran that understands when her team needs her to step up and when she needs to provide a spark in a big moment. She did that and more at Target Center in Game 1.
With Natasha Howard dealing with foul trouble most of the game, Cheryl Reeve tapped on Brodie early, and she ended up being arguably the best player on the floor for Minnesota in the game.
In 16 minutes off the bench, Brodie finished with a team-high 16 points on four threes, stepping up in key moments to help the Lynx regain momentum.
Minnesota will need Brodie to continue that type of production in Game 2 — and what the Lynx hope is well beyond Game 2 — but she has already provided great value to the Lynx which is exactly what they had hoped for when they signed the Minnesota native as a free agent.
Stars Return for Postseason
Minnesota and New York both got key players back in Game 1 on Sunday, after those notable names sat out the end of the regular season to get healthy ahead of the playoffs.
For the Lynx, Olivia Miles officially returned to the floor after missing the final two games of the regular season with a left calf injury, looking healthy right out of the gate against New York.
For the Liberty, the status of their two stars of Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones were in question entering the game, with Stewart sitting out the regular season finale with left knee soreness and Jones leaving that regular season finale with an ankle injury. In Game 1 on Sunday, they looked just fine while leading the charge for New York.
Good news for both teams — and fans who enjoy quality basketball — is that they were all on the floor when the postseason tipped off Sunday. Something we all hope continues the rest of this series and however long either team remains in the playoffs.
First Round Schedule
- Game 1: Liberty 91, Lynx 75 (NY leads 1-0)
- Game 2 — Sept. 29: Lynx at Liberty, 7:30pm CT on USA/CNBC
- Game 3* — Oct. 1: Liberty at Lynx, TBD
*If necessary
