After losing a very close Game 1 in overtime at home, the Phoenix Mercury came to Brooklyn on Wednesday night with their backs against the wall and their season on the line. You could feel that desperation right from the opening tip, as the Mercury crushed the New York Liberty 86-60 on the road to force a decisive Game 3 back in the desert on Friday night.
It was both a very impressive performance from the Mercury and a dreadful showing from the Liberty in front of their home fans. The defending champs had no energy or urgency and spent the night making sloppy mistakes and failing to execute on either end of the floor.
The blowout sent multiple records, including the fact that it is the largest road win while facing elimination in WNBA playoff history, according to ESPN Insights.
The Liberty struggled with injuries all season long, primarily to both Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart. Some rocky results in the wake of those injuries caused them to drop all the way down to fifth in the standings and forced them to go on the road for Game 1 against a very talented Mercury team, but they seemed to have everything on the right track in the playoff opener.
However, with New York running away with Game 1 in overtime, Stewart went down with a knee injury that didn't keep her out of Game 2, but it did significantly hamper her ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor like she does so well. With Stewart hampered and Sabrina Ionescu off her game, the Liberty had no answers for a Phoenix club that was playing with its hair on fire.
Stewart played just 20 minutes in the loss, scoring six points and grabbing two boards on 2-for-6 shooting. Ionescu shot just 3-for-13 and 1-for-8 from the 3-point line in the loss, so both will have to up their games in Game 3.
Now, the Mercury have all of the momentum heading into a win-or-go-home Game 3 back in Phoenix on Friday night. Stewart will likely still be hampered, and the Liberty have to be reeling coming off of such a resounding loss. If the defending champs can't recover in time, they could be heading for an early exit just one year after reaching the mountaintop.
