The New York Liberty had a chance to show up and put their foot down on Wednesday night, as the Phoenix Mercury faced elimination in Brooklyn in front of the Liberty fans in Game 2. However, the momentum from winning a tough Game 1 on the road in overtime did not carry over for the defending champs, as the Mercury crushed them 86-60 to force a Game 3.
New York was lifeless and sluggish for most of the night, and it never recovered after a 15-0 run by the Mercury in the second quarter. Nate Tibbetts' club was the more desperate team throughout the game, and it showed throughout the night.
Now, the Liberty have their backs against the wall going into a Game 3 on the road, but they are not panicking just yet. Jonquel Jones and company have been in this position before, and she conveyed the calm after Game 2 despite the blowout loss, via Myles Ehrlich of Winsidr.
“The vibe is, the season isn't over. The vibe is, we got game 1,” Jones said. “We have the opportunity to go play another game and win another game… We know what it's gonna take, and there's definitely no panic.”
The Liberty have gone into Phoenix and gotten a win already, so they will have plenty of confidence that they can do it again on Friday night and move onto the semifinals. However, Breanna Stewart is playing through a knee injury that is clearly affecting her, so it will be a tough task for New York to replicate that feat in Game 3.
With Stewart hampered, Sandy Brondello and company will lean heavily on Jones in the decider. The Liberty star finished Game 2 with seven points and 13 rebounds in 22 minutes, as the starters spent most of the fourth quarter on the bench. She will need a much better performance in Game 3 if the Liberty want to move on.
The winner of the deciding game will move onto the semifinals to take on the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx, who survived a big scare from the Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday night. Of course, if the Liberty do win, it would set up a rematch of one of the best WNBA Finals series of all time in the next round, but New York has a lot of work to do before that comes along.
