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“I think we looked around and kind of realized we’d kind of been in that position before,” Sabrina Ionescu said postgame. “With the majority of us just understanding how important overtime is and knowing we had another gear to get to.”
In a game that was a slog due to both teams being laser-focused on the defensive end, the Liberty prevailed by executing their defensive game plan and hitting clutch shots.
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Head coach Sandy Brondello‘s game plan was zeroed in on limiting the playmaking and scoring of Alyssa Thomas. The Liberty played a lot of drop coverage on her, forcing her to make inefficient shots further from the rim. Also, Jonquel Jones was deployed to mainly defend Thomas, which with Jones’ length and height made it difficult for Thomas to maintain her field of view to play make leading to hesitation in half court sets from 2025’s regular season assists leader.
“What I think worked the best, I think we just were all on the same page,” Jones said of the Liberty’s defensive scheme. “And I think you just alluded to it, but the connection was probably the most important thing of rotating, helping each other, understanding what the schemes are for the game, and just going out there and executing. But I think we did a really good job, and now we’ve got to go to New York and take it up to another level.”
That new level Wednesday night in Brooklyn going to start with their non-negotiables, some of which they adhered to on Sunday night and some that they need to add.
Breanna Stewart, whose status for Game 2 remains in question after she injured her left knee during the overtime period, set these prior to the start of the playoffs. After the Liberty played their final regular season game at home on September 9 against the Washington Mystics, Stewart spoke to reporters about the details she and her team were focusing on going into the playoffs.
“Controlling the boards and then no live ball turnovers,” she said. That’s a non-negotiable that needs to happen throughout. We need to be better with the turnovers, especially live ball.”
Rebounding the basketball at a high level, quick decision-making and taking care of the basketball remain the main keys that will be vital for the Liberty surviving and advancing to the WNBA semifinals for third year in a row.
Rebounding the basketball
Not only did Jones defend Thomas all night, she pulled down 12 out of the team’s total 48 rebounds on Sunday night.
The Liberty has been self-critical of their own effort in addition to their lack of chemistry defensively, citing both as reasons they struggle to rebound the basketball.
“Our help in our defensive positioning was not as good as it needed to be, and it wasn’t timely enough,” assistant coach Olaf Lange told The Next. “What I mean with that is we allowed too many gaps, which led to penetration. Once you allow too much penetration, you are in help and you are out of rebounding position. Now you may change the shot to a miss, but now out of position to get inside position and rebound.”
While Jones led the Liberty on the glass, it wasn’t just her. No one in the Liberty’s starting five had fewer than six rebounds. While Emma Meesseman and Kennedy Burke struggled shooting the basketball, there were moments when both players were alert and made sure to to fly in and secure the rebound.
Quick, measured decision-making
What stood out the most about Natasha Cloud’s 23-point performance on Sunday night, shooting 75% from the field, was how she got those points. This has been a point of growth for Cloud all season — she’s had moments where she’s struggled to move the ball on a second-side action or has opted to take inefficient shots rather than finding a better one.
Often, opposing defenses would go under screens on Cloud and the offensive possession would falter. Brondello acknowledged this issue during a practice prior to playoffs on September 8.
“ I think everyone knows they’re going under,” Brondello said. “Why do we screen and not hit? Just slow it down. And it’s [Cloud] too. She’s got to slow down and where she can re-space to get a flatter angle or diversity in our screening, not just set in one way, we’re pinching it, set up moves, and that’s stuff we just keep getting better, and we’ve worked a lot on that. I think that leads all our processes here.”
On Sunday, the Liberty set more effective screens, not only for Cloud to take in-rhythm open three-point shots, but also to allow Cloud to get downhill and take advantage of the Mercury’s lack of rim protection while forward Natasha Mack was on the bench.
One Cloud decision may have decided the game. With under a minute left in overtime, she penetrated into two Mercury defenders, including Kahleah Copper, and then used her pivot foot to turn and kick the ball out to Fiebich. Her dagger three sealed the contest for the Liberty.
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Taking care of the basketball
The Liberty’s decision-making wasn’t perfect. The team committed 21 turnovers, tying their season-high for a single game, and that came in an ugly 78-62 loss to Connecticut back in August.
Many of the turnovers were of the less-costly dead-ball variety, but some were not, leading to a 15-5 edge for Phoenix in points off turnovers.
Phoenix could lean into this edge further, picking up their defense even more to get more transition scores off turnovers. If the Liberty aren’t ready for that, the series is likely to return to Phoenix for Game 3.
Can the Liberty move forward without Breanna Stewart?
The Liberty’s win came with an asterisk. Breanna Stewart, responsible for 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists in the game — much of the production at critical moments — exited the game with just over two minutes left in overtime after injuring her left knee, the opposite knee where she had sustained a bone bruise earlier this season.
She collied with DeWanna Bonner and Satou Sabally in the air while scoring the basketball and drawing the foul before coming down hard and in obvious pain. She stayed on the floor to attempt a free throw but then subbed out less than a minute later.
Throughout the 2025 regular season when someone like Stewart or Jones would leave the game with an injury, the team floundered and lost. But on Sunday, however, there was a focus that carried New York to the win.
Moments after Stewart went down and was still even on the floor staggering around before she was taken out, Ionescu found Fiebich on a backdoor cut and score, a play that immediately shifted the momentum of the game back toward the Liberty.
“I think just trying to be in the moment and understand what they were doing defensively,” Ionescu said about what she was seeing on that play to Fiebich. “It was sending whoever at the ball, and I knew… I had an angle to attack downhill, and knew the defenders were going to be watching the ball, and so I knew that it’d be a perfect opportunity to get [Fiebich] on a back cut. She read it perfectly. Timed it perfectly.
“I think continuing to find different ways to attack defenses and kind of keeping them on their toes is something we’ve gotten really good at. And you can’t really go into a series, especially in the playoffs, premeditated on what it is you want to do. It’s just whatever it takes for the team to win. That’s what you do.”
Stewart received an MRI and further evaluation back in New York on Monday. She remains an unknown for the Liberty. While the Liberty played almost an entire month this season without her from late July through late August, New York really struggled and they missed the glue of their team that their offense and defense are built around.
If Stewart is out for Game 2 and for the rest of the playoffs, Meesseeman, who only scored 2 points and Jones who only scored 7 points on 7 shots, are going to have to step up offensively if the Liberty have a chance to not only return to the semifinals but go even further.
