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The No. 1 New York Liberty started Sunday’s slate of WNBA playoff games with an 83-69 win over the No. 8 Atlanta Dream. New York can sweep the series with a win Tuesday, while Atlanta will look to force a Game 3.
New York was dominant from start to finish, outscoring Atlanta 29-16 in the first quarter. Here’s what it took for the Liberty to win Game 1:
Leonie Fiebich saves best game for playoffs
This was the Liberty rookie’s first playoff game, and Leonie Fiebich made the most of it. She’s been a key contributor for New York all season, mostly coming off the bench, but coach Sandy Brondello opted to start Fiebich against Atlanta. She finished with a season-high 21 points and was 5-of-5 shooting in the first half. She’s averaging 6.7 points, 3 rebounds and 1.8 assists on the season.
Fiebich, who will likely earn All-Rookie honors this season, finished 7-of-8 from the floor, including 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. She is also just the seventh rookie to have her first 20-point game in the playoffs.
Fiebich started in place of 14-year veteran Courtney Vandersloot. But despite coming off the bench for the first time in her 32 appearances this season, Vandersloot still made history. The guard dished out her 365th assist, passing Sue Bird for the most assists in WNBA playoff history.
Liberty win 3-point and free-throw battle
New York got out to a hot start, going 5-of-10 from the 3-point line in the first half, while the Dream were 0-of-8. New York cooled off after halftime and finished the game 8-of-23 (34.8%), but Atlanta couldn’t close the 3-point shooting gap. The Dream were 3-of-16 (18.8%) from beyond the arc.
Fiebich scored 12 points from beyond the arc, and Sabrina Ionescu added 9, going 3-of-7 from distance.
The Liberty also won the free-throw battle, making 17-of-18 attempts to Atlanta’s 12-of-19.
Las Vegas turns back Storm
After defeating No. 5 Seattle 78-67 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series, No. 4 Las Vegas is one step closer to winning its third consecutive WNBA title. The Aces have a much more challenging path to the championship this season after they earned the No. 1 seed in the previous two seasons. Here’s how they got it done in game 1:
Aces shut down Storm in fourth quarter
Seattle had a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the Aces went on a 14-2 run to secure the opening victory. Seattle had just two points in the quarter on free throws from Skylar Diggins-Smith with 4:07 left to play. Seattle shot 0-of-12 in the final frame.
Kelsey Plum, who shot 1-of-8, made her only field goal to start the fourth quarter, kicking off her team’s run. A’ja Wilson, Tiffany Hayes, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young also scored during the run.
Prior to the fourth quarter, Seattle shot 44.6% from the field, a number that dropped to 36.8% for the game. Diggins-Smith led the way for the Storm with 16 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds, Gabby Williams added 14 points and 8 rebounds, and Nneka Ogwumike finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Jewell Loyd, Seattle’s leading scorer this season, finished with just 6 points on 2-of-8 shooting. She averaged 19.7 points during the regular season. The Storm will look for more from their star guard in Game 2 on Tuesday.
Caitlin Clark viewed a return to Connecticut to open her first WNBA playoffs as an opportunity to show how far the Indiana Fever have come since their first game in the same arena.
They didn’t seize it.
“I felt like we just played a crappy game,” Clark said. “Like the flow of the game was really bad.”
The Fever couldn’t get into rhythm Sunday against the Sun’s league-leading defense for much of the 40 minutes and could merely watch as Marina Mabrey, Connecticut’s midseason acquisition, poured in 27 points on five 3s. Indiana lost another blowout at Mohegan Sun Arena, 93-69, and needs to win Game 2 here on Wednesday to keep alive its first playoff appearance since 2016.
Негізгі бет Caitlin Clark Fanboys Fake OUTRAGE + A'ja Wilson's Las Vegas Aces INSANE Finished Game 1!
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