Sabrina Ionescu scores 36 as Liberty sweep Dream
Sabrina Ionescu poured in a playoff-career-high 36 points, Jonquel Jones had a double-double and the New York Liberty completed a 2-0 first-round sweep of the Atlanta Dream with a 91-82 home win on Tuesday.
The top-seeded Liberty, who beat the eighth-seeded Dream 83-69 on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-three series, advanced to the semifinals for the second straight season.
New York next will face either the fourth-seeded Las Vegas Aces or the fifth-seeded Seattle Storm. Las Vegas led Seattle 1-0 ahead of Game 2 later Tuesday.
Ionescu shot 12-for-23 from the floor, including 5-for-11 from 3-point range, and added nine assists. She put the Liberty ahead for good with a 3-pointer that made it 70-67 with 7:17 left in the fourth quarter.
Jones scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds. Breanna Stewart added 13 points and Leonie Fiebich had nine for New York.
Allisha Gray put up 26 points to lead Atlanta, which was swept out of the first round of the playoffs for the second straight season. Rhyne Howard had 19 points, Tina Charles added 14 and Naz Hillmon paired six points with 10 rebounds.
The Dream pulled even at 67 on Nia Coffey’s 3-pointer with 9:01 to go and trailed 73-72 after Gray’s fifth trey with 6:03 to play. The Liberty took over from there, rattling off a 12-2 run to put the game out of reach.
New York went up 82-74 on Fiebich’s three-point play before Fiebich’s 3-pointer made it 85-74 with 3:37 left. The Liberty maintained at least a seven-point lead the rest of the way.
New York made eight more free throws than Atlanta and had an 18-11 edge in points off turnovers.
The Dream led 28-19 after a perfect first quarter from Gray, who scored 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including four 3-pointers. She went scoreless in the second as the Liberty used a 21-8 run to go up 40-36 midway through the quarter. Atlanta responded with a 12-3 surge to enter halftime leading 48-43 after Charles’ 3-pointer with three seconds left.
The Dream went ahead 55-47 on Howard’s 3-pointer before New York charged ahead 63-59 with 1:52 left in the third quarter. Ionescu delivered 11 points in the third for the Liberty.
