Sabrina Ionescu's 36 points help Liberty sweep past Atlanta to take first-round series

Sandy Brondello wanted the Liberty to have a flashback. Their coach wanted them to remember last September.

The second-seeded Liberty won by 15 in Game 1 of the 2023 best-of-three opening round against No. 7 Washington at Barclays Center, then struggled to shake them in Game 2 and were possibly facing a win-or-season-over Game 3 in D.C. They managed to force OT and survived by five to finish the sweep.

Now let’s return to 2024: The top-seeded Liberty won by 14 in Game 1 Sunday against No. 8 Atlanta at Barclays and had a chance to end this in Game 2 at home Tuesday night and avoid a nerve-racking season-on-the-brink game at Atlanta. So Brondello had a basic message for her players: You can’t relax.

The Dream provided the same message, dropping the Liberty in an 11-point hole early in the second quarter and putting forth a much better effort overall.

But the Liberty climbed out of the hole and finally pulled free in the fourth, finishing the sweep with a 91-82 win behind by Sabrina Ionescu’s postseason career-high 36 points and nine assists and Jonquel Jones’ 20 points and 13 rebounds.

“I did quote a Pat Riley quote,” Brondello said before Game 2. “I can’t repeat it (exactly) because I can’t remember it. But after a really big victory, your biggest thing is if you don’t come ready to play the next one because you just think it’s going to happen. That’s the biggest danger that we have.

“So it’s a reminder: Remember when last year we escaped. We could have been going back to Washington and that’s tough to win on somebody else’s home court.”

Now the degree of difficulty could shoot skyward, especially if the Liberty have to face two-time defending champ Las Vegas with three-time MVP A’ja Wilson in the best-of-five semis, which would be a rematch of the 2023 Finals that went to the Aces in four.

Vegas was trying to finish off a home sweep of Seattle Tuesday night. The Liberty swept three games from both teams during the regular season, but Vegas didn’t have an injured Wilson in a 75-71 loss in the third game on Sept. 8 at Barclays.

The winner of that Aces-Storm series will be coming to Brooklyn for Game 1 Sunday and Game 2 next Tuesday.

The Liberty had raced out to an 18-point advantage in the first quarter of Game 1 and cruised to an 83-69 victory after falling to Atlanta in the regular-season finale.

Leonie Fiebich, the 6-4 rookie wing, replaced Courtney Vandersloot in the starting lineup for the opener and scored 15 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 21 on 7-for-8 shooting.

“That kid is a good basketball player,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said.

This time, Fiebich picked up three fouls in the first half and had one shot and no points at the break. But she ended up going 3-for-4, including 2-for-3 on threes, and scoring nine, including six in the fourth.

The Liberty led 73-72 with six minutes left. Then came the run, a 12-4 burst by the home team.

Jones found Courtney Vandersloot for a layup. Jones followed with her own layup off an offensive rebound. Rhyne Howard, who scored 19, made a layup for Atlanta.

But Breanna Stewart tipped in a miss and Fiebich delivered a three-point play. Then Fiebich swished a three from 26 feet away and the Liberty were up 85-74 with 3:37 remaining. The Dream could only get it down to seven from there.

After trailing by five at halftime, the Liberty fell behind 55-47 in the third after five straight points by Howard. Then Ionescu scored five and Fiebich nailed a three in an 8-0 run, and it was tied just like that.

Ionescu kept scoring — driving scoop, 21-foot jumper, short bank. She scored 11 in the quarter, and the Liberty headed for the fourth clinging to a 65-64 edge.

The Dream had looked like a different team right from the start, jumping in front 11-3, causing Brondello to call for time.

The lead was still nine after one at 28-19 and Allisha Gray had 14 of her 26 points. The Liberty passed the Dream briefly in the second quarter, but were behind 48-43 at the intermission.