Breanna Stewart’s first WNBA semifinals series in 2018 became an instant classic.
The Seattle Storm raced out to a 2-0 lead before the Diana Taurasi-led Phoenix Mercury punched back and forced a decisive Game 5.
Stewart broke teammate Sue Bird’s nose with an inadvertent elbow. Brittney Griner and Taurasi hit wild shots. The Storm ultimately won thanks to a memorable fourth-quarter push by Bird.
Stewart said she’s been thinking of that experience a lot over the past few days.
“Experience in the playoffs definitely matters,” Stewart said before Friday’s practice. “There’s so many things [during a longer series] that you have to stay focused on the end goal.”
The Liberty sent the Minnesota Lynx home early with a 2-0 sweep in the first round.
It was a stunning — even historic — outcome in the eyes of seemingly everyone but those in the New York locker room. Sabrina Ionescu told the team to enjoy the moment Tuesday night, but she said the celebration was subdued because “we haven’t done anything yet.”
That brings the Liberty to a best-of-five semifinals series against the Atlanta Dream, a team that’s walking up the driveway of the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2018.
Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
It is being billed as a physically demanding series, where speed and size will matter greatly.
Amid a search for any possible edge, the Liberty have something obvious that the Dream don’t.
“We have experience,” Jonquel Jones said.
This will be the Liberty’s third semifinals appearance in four years and Stewart’s sixth all time. New York made it to the WNBA Finals in 2023 and 2024, winning it all in the latter run.
Meanwhile, only DeWanna Bonner, Jordin Canada and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough have made it to the semifinals before — but not with the Dream.
A longer series means there’s more opportunity to take risks or experiment with matchups and coverages. But there are also more chances for the mental and emotional side of the game to creep in.
Stewart knows this all too well.
“With this group, for the majority of us, [we’ve] been in this type of series where it’s not getting too high or too low is the huge important part,” she said. “And what we did in the first round is great — we’re happy to be here — but that wasn’t a goal for our season to get out of the first round.”
If the Liberty’s first two playoff games showed anything, it’s that New York unlocked a new level of focus and connectivity on both ends that eluded the team through most of the regular season.
“The approach that we’re having in these playoffs is pretty much where you want to be,” Stewart said. “We’re the ones that are staying poised, staying under control at all times. But we’re gonna be aggressive for the full 40 minutes, and if you want something, you’re gonna have to go through us to get it.”
The Dream beat New York in back-to-back games to close out the regular season. The former game is a better measuring stick for what’s to come than the latter because Stewart missed the second game with knee soreness.
The Liberty trailed by three at halftime before Atlanta took over in the third. New York committed four turnovers, which the Dream turned into six points.
Valuing the ball, not forcing passes and playing the Liberty’s fast-paced brand of basketball will be key to New York advancing. The battle inside — limiting the Dream’s second-chance opportunities and getting rebounds to push the ball in transition — will be important too.
“It’ll be interesting to see how they match up at the start of the series,” Stewart said. “It’s just who can play a better chess match.”
