Marine Johannes' instant offense a positive note in Liberty's Game 1 loss
Aces guard Kelsey Plum drives around Liberty guard Marine Johannes during the second half in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday in Las Vegas. Credit: AP/John Locher
LAS VEGAS — It couldn’t have been easy.
Game after game in the first two rounds of the WNBA playoffs, Marine Johannes’ primary role was cheering for her All-Star Liberty teammates. Johannes totaled just five points in the Liberty’s first two rounds and did not play a second of the Game 4 win over Connecticut that clinched the team’s first trip to the WNBA Finals in 21 years.
After that game, however, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello took Johannes aside and gave her the kind of news that every reserve player craves to hear.
“She talked to me and told me that I have to stay ready,” Johannes said Sunday. “She said that I always have a positive impact against Vegas, that my time would come so get ready.”
Johannes was one of the few Liberty players to have any kind of positive impact in the team’s 99-82 loss to the Aces Sunday.
Brondello went to her bench earlier than expected and the result seemed to catch the Aces by surprise as Johannes scored 14 points in 11 minutes, including a couple of off-balance, off-one-leg three-pointers that helped the Liberty build a three-point halftime lead.
LeBron James, who was sitting courtside, was so impressed by Johannes’ early performance that he took to X, formerly known as Twitter.
“She got a CANNON!!!! The 1 leg going left got me out of my seat!!” James posted.
Johannes also was a topic of discussion in the Aces’ locker room at halftime. It wasn’t the first time she had played well against the defending champions this season. In the Liberty’s 82-63 win over the Aces in the Commissioner’s Cup game in August, Johannes came off the bench to lead her team with 17 points.
“Apparently, Johannes really likes to play against us,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said after the game. “She hits tough ones. I’m a huge fan, other than when she’s playing against us.”
So, the Aces made some tweaks in their defense, and Johannes went scoreless in the second half. The rest of her team didn’t do much better as the Liberty, who were the top three-point shooting team in the regular season, were 1-for-9 in the second half.
“Marine was Marine,” Brondello said. “She’s had some good games against this team. She was making shots. What they did in the second half is trap her. That’s what I would have done too. Credit their defense, which was as good as I’ve ever seen.”
Brondello is going to have to think of more ways to mix it up for Game 2 if the Liberty are going to find a way to deal with the Aces’ All-Star guard trio of Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum. The three totaled 72 points Sunday, running circles around Liberty starting guards Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot.
Ionescu, who has had some big games against Las Vegas in the past, scored just seven points and went 1-for-5 from beyond the arc. Vandersloot was held to 10. Both constantly seemed a step slow on defense.
“We know we can defend better,” Brondello said.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
