NewzNew York are first No 8 seed to beat first seedLiberty ease to 2-0 series victory over MinnesotaJonquel Jones had 21 points and 13 rebounds and the No 8 seed New York Liberty beat the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx 87-71 in Game 2 of their WNBA playoff series on Tuesday night to advance to the semi-finals.Breanna Stewart added 21 points and Sabrina Ionescu had 18 to help the Liberty become the first No 8 seed to eliminate a No 1 seed in the league’s 30-year history. The WNBA has undergone a number of different playoff formats, and in many of them, it wasn’t possible for those seeds to match up. However, in 2022 the league changed to the current iteration in which the top-eight teams play in the quarter-finals.
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Liberty are peaking at the right time and were able to complete a historic sweep of the Minnesota Lynx to advance to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.Jonquel Jones had 21 points and 13 rebounds and the No. 8 seed Liberty beat the top-seeded Lynx 87-71 in Game 2 of their WNBA playoff series Tuesday night. 1 seed in the league’s 30-year history.The WNBA has undergone a number of different playoff formats.
And in many of the formats, it wasn’t possible for those seeds to match up. However, in 2022 the league changed to the current format in which the top eight teams play in the quarterfinals.“It feels good, we understand who we are as a team,” Jones said. “We're not listening to outside noise, we understand that we can do a lot of great things.
We feel like we can play with anybody and beat anybody. That’s the mindset we have moving forward. It had to be done for us to advance.
It’s nice to say it’s been accomplished, but we have a lot of work to do."Breanna Stewart added 21 points and Sabrina Ionescu had 18 for the Liberty, who await the winner of the Atlanta-Washington series. The Dream are up 1-0 and play at Washington on Wednesday night. The semifinals begin Sunday.A year after losing in the first round to Phoenix after going up 1-0 in that series, New York was determined not to have that happen again.The Liberty were up five points after one quarter and led 40-35 with 2:39 left in the half.
New York scored nine of the final 11 points in the second quarter to go up 49-37 at the break.New York was up 52-39 with 6:26 left in the third when Stewart drove to the basket and was hit in the face by Olivia Miles as she tried to block the shot. Stewart was down for a minute as the officials reviewed the play and upgraded the play to a Flagrant-1 foul.As Stewart walked off the court, she raised her hands to the sellout crowd of 17,593, who serenaded her with M-V-P! Stewart hit both free throws.Minnesota couldn't get closer than seven points the rest of the way.“New York is a great basketball team,” said Courtney Williams, who led Minnesota with 18 points.
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