The No. 8 New York Liberty became the first No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in WNBA history, sweeping the Minnesota Lynx with an 87–71 win Tuesday night at Barclays Center. In 30 years of WNBA history, an upset of this magnitude has never been seen before.
New York took the best-of-three first-round series 2–0 after winning Game 1 on Sunday in Minneapolis, 91–75. In the regular season, New York went 26–18 and made the playoffs comfortably. The first year, Portland Fire had a 17–27 record as the first team out.
“This was a tough year for us with injuries [and] a lot of other stuff going on,” first-year Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco acknowledged to reporters afterward. “I feel like we’ve been trending in the right direction for a while now, and it doesn’t always show up in the wins and losses.”
While the Liberty won the Commissioner’s Cup this season, the team had plenty of ups and downs otherwise and hovered around .500 in July. The Liberty heated up before the playoffs with back-to-back wins after the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in September, but New York dropped the last two games before the playoffs.
“But we were ready to play, and we knew we had to be at our best at the end of September and October, and I think we are right now,” DeMarco said.
Minnesota entered the playoffs with the WNBA’s best record at 33–11. The Liberty held the Lynx to 42 percent shooting in Game 1 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, and star forward Napheesa Collier scored 12 points. Liberty star forward Breanna Stewart stepped up big in that game with 34 points and 12 rebounds. Fellow forward Leonie Fiebich also came up big with 16 points and eight rebounds.
New York did more of the same on Tuesday and held the Lynx to 38 percent shooting. Collier only had 14 points, and guard Courtney Williams couldn’t provide enough firepower with a team-high 18 points.
Stewart and center Jonquel Jones led the way for the Liberty with 21 points apiece. Jones also had 13 rebounds for a double-double.
“For me, I just wanted to come out and be aggressive,” Jones told reporters afterward. “And obviously, we had a size advantage against them, and I felt like being in the paint was going to be advantageous for me and also for the team. So that was my biggest thing.”
Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu also had a big game with 18 points and seven assists. She shot 7–15 from the field and 4–10 from three-point range after just 13 points on 4–14 shooting in Game 1.
“I just went out and obviously understood what the team needed and got the crowd into it, and my teammates found me open in transition and get some easy ones to fall,” Ionescu told reporters afterward. “Just tried to do whatever it took to win, whether it was passing or finding ways to get to the basket or score.”
For DeMarco, the win held extra meaning because of his late father, Sal DeMarco, who passed away from lung cancer at 59 in 2015. The coach says his father was a lifelong New York sports fan and an inspiration for him.
“I think about him often. I grew up a New York sports fan because of him, and so this means a lot to me in Brooklyn and in New York in general,” DeMarco said. “A lot of traditions that I still have, whether it’s going to a restaurant or going to the neighborhood. He taught me hard work. He was a coach himself.”
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