The regular season concluded with the New York Liberty holding the #8 seed, looking sourly into the mirror and perhaps just a little bit, out of the teeny-tiny corner of their eye but trying not to think about it, toward a very uncomfortable offseason. That uncomfortable offseason could still arrive by the end of the week.
But a rainy weekend in New York City ended with the Liberty seizing a 1-0 lead over the #1 seed Minnesota Lynx, and thus the opportunity to advance to the semifinals on Tuesday
night in front of their home crowd. It’s no time for celebration — “Last year, we did this in Phoenix, then got smoked on our home court,” said Breanna Stewart — but this marks consecutive games in which the Liberty roundly outplayed the Lynx. Maybe the matchup truly isn’t so bad. Maybe it’s time to stop underestimating any team that has Breanna Stewart, who played every second until garbage time en route to a 34/12/6/2/2 line on 11-of-18 shooting.
Here is what you need to know about the Liberty’s victory and the tactical storylines heading into Game 2:
Other Notes
- Per my tracking, the New York Liberty ran base pick-and-roll (meaning the possession began with one of their four main PnR spacings, no frills necessary) on 19 of their 61 half-court possessions, or 31.15% of the time. That is their second-highest mark of the whole season, nearly 10% more than their average. Better yet, they scored a whopping 1.32 points per possession. That “flat” alignment in particular did wonders for them, opening up the middle of the floor for Stewie to work and Sabrina Ionescu to make pocket passes.
- Marine Johannès did not take a shot in her first seven minutes of action on Sunday. The Liberty shot 13-of-25 from deep as a team, while Johannès finished 0-of-2. It feels like they’ll need an offensive spark from her in Game 2, as the shooting regression monster looms over the rest of the team. I don’t expect her to be so passive on Tuesday night.
- Han Xu.
- Chris DeMarco coached yet another solid game against the Minnesota Lynx. He trusted his pick-and-roll playmakers to make plays, and called previously unseen actions when the Liberty needed to spice it up. He let Pauline Astier harass Olivia Miles at half-court to give Fiebich a break here and there, even as Astier approached but never quite landed in foul trouble. (Astier left it all out there on defense. She’s gotta keep attacking on offense; her mistakes were loud on Sunday, but she was still decent on O.) DeMarco also put Ionescu on Maya Caldwell for some of the second half to give her a bit of a defensive break from chasing around Kayla McBride. Simple, but good stuff all around.
- I expect the residual dislike of the Minnesota Lynx to help the Barclays Center atmosphere for Game 2. The arena is as loud as ever in 2026, but at times during the regular season, it skewed a bit closer to neutral than die-hard Liberty fans would surely want. Yes, the building goes nuts for Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, but Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers were drowning in support when the Dallas Wings came to New York earlier this season. Same with Angel Reese. Given how expensive Game 2 tickets are, this would be a moderate worry…if the Liberty were playing anybody but the Lynx. The hate will flow through this crowd.
Next Up
The chance to sweep and advance. Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for a late 8:30 p.m. ET.
