Two hours before the game, Sandy Brondello didn’t know if Sabrina Ionescu would play at all. She had been downgraded to questionable on the Liberty injury report that afternoon with an illness label, something that left her without a voice following a win two days ago.
Maybe there’d be a minutes restriction for Ionescu against the Lynx, which had just snatched the Commissioner’s Cup from the Liberty less than a week ago.
Maybe they wouldn’t have the Eastern Conference’s player of the month for June at all.
Ionescu ended up playing 37 minutes.
She ended up scoring 17 points.
And when those contributions paired with Jonquel Jones’s 21 points — reversing what happened in the Liberty’s first two meetings with the Lynx, when she was held to seven combined points — that allowed them to top Minnesota, another WNBA Finals contender, for the first time in 2024 with a 76-67 win at Barclays Center on Tuesday.
The Liberty appeared to avoid an injury scare midway through the third quarter, though.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, the anchor of the defense always tasked with guarding an opponent’s top scorer, came up limping with just over six minutes remaining in the frame, trying to continue playing before eventually hobbling to the bench.
She didn’t play for the rest of the third quarter, but checked back in ahead of the fourth.
There were so many elements of the game that needed to tip in the Liberty’s direction to defeat a team such as the Lynx, and for the most part, they did. Ionescu warmed up pregame and decided to play, and she hit a 3 early in the first quarter.
Napheesa Collier during the Liberty’s win. Michelle Farsi / New York Post
She sparked their transition offense, and ended up evening the game in the second half, too.
Jones, too, entered Tuesday’s game following the two poor performances against the Lynx to start 2024.
She didn’t expect them to change their defensive strategy — and expected other teams to follow a similar blueprint to contain her moving forward — but then found a way to reach 20 points for the first time since June 20.
A back-and-forth first half ended with a 42-42 tie at halftime, with Jones and Kayla McBride pacing the Liberty and Lynx, respectively, with 13 points each.
Jones dished assists. She hit three 3-pointers.
In the second quarter, she grabbed an offensive rebound and converted a basket.
But in the fourth quarter, the Liberty made their move.
A Jones 3-pointer gave them the lead momentarily, and after Laney-Hamilton tied the game at 65, the Liberty went on an 11-2 run across the final 6:10.
Earlier in the season, the Liberty passed a litmus test against the Aces, who defeated them in the Finals.
They passed another one against the Sun, the No. 2 team in the league and the one that the Liberty eliminated last year to reach the championship series.
But they hadn’t managed to top the Lynx.
That, for the Liberty, changed Tuesday.
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