The No. 1 New York Liberty began Sunday’s slate of WNBA playoff video games with an 83-69 win over the No. 8 Atlanta Dream. New York can sweep the sequence with a win Tuesday, whereas Atlanta will look to drive a Sport 3.
New York was dominant from begin to end, outscoring Atlanta 29-16 within the first quarter. Right here’s what it took for the Liberty to win Sport 1:
Leonie Fiebich saves finest recreation for playoffs
This was the Liberty rookie’s first playoff recreation, and Leonie Fiebich made essentially the most of it. She’s been a key contributor for New York all season, largely coming off the bench, however coach Sandy Brondello opted to begin Fiebich towards Atlanta. She completed with a season-high 21 factors and was 5-of-5 capturing within the first half. She’s averaging 6.7 factors, 3 rebounds and 1.8 assists on the season.
Fiebich, who will seemingly earn All-Rookie honors this season, completed 7-of-8 from the ground, together with 4-of-4 from past the arc. She can also be simply the seventh rookie to have her first 20-point recreation within the playoffs.
Fiebich began instead of 14-year veteran Courtney Vandersloot. However regardless of coming off the bench for the primary time in her 32 appearances this season, Vandersloot nonetheless made historical past. The guard dished out her 365th help, passing Sue Chook for essentially the most assists in WNBA playoff historical past.
Liberty win 3-point and free-throw battle
New York obtained out to a sizzling begin, going 5-of-10 from the 3-point line within the first half, whereas the Dream have been 0-of-8. New York cooled off after halftime and completed the sport 8-of-23 (34.8%), however Atlanta couldn’t shut the 3-point capturing hole. The Dream have been 3-of-16 (18.8%) from past the arc.
Fiebich scored 12 factors from past the arc, and Sabrina Ionescu added 9, going 3-of-7 from distance.
The Liberty additionally received the free-throw battle, making 17-of-18 makes an attempt to Atlanta’s 12-of-19.
Starters shine, whereas bench stays quiet
Of New York’s 83 factors, all however 4 got here from the beginning 5. Fiebich led with 21, Breanna Stewart had 20, Ionescu had 17, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton had 10 and Jonquel Jones added 9. Vandersloot had all of the bench factors.
The dearth of bench scoring wasn’t a problem towards Atlanta, and it seemingly received’t be for the rest of the sequence, however New York will want manufacturing outdoors of its beginning 5 because the playoffs progress.
Kayla Thornton, Kennedy Burke, Nyara Sabally and Vandersloot are all able to contributing off the bench. Vandersloot usually scores 6.4 factors per recreation, Thornton averages 5.5, Sabally contributes 4.9, and Burke averages 3.4. In the meantime, Fiebich is normally New York’s largest contributor off the bench, but when she continues to begin, the Liberty might want to discover a raise outdoors of their first 5.
