Atlanta Dream at New York Liberty
· First Round - Game 1Leonie Fiebich scores a career-high 21 and the Liberty beat the Dream 83-69 in Game 1
New York can sweep the best-of-three series with a win Tuesday in New York. Game 3, if necessary, is Thursday in Atlanta.
The Liberty — who made each of their first six field-goal attempts, including four 3-pointers — jumped to a 13-4 lead. Allisha Gray was fouled on a jumper and hit the and-1 free throw to cut Atlanta's deficit to four with 5:33 left in the first quarter, but the Liberty scored the next 14 points — the final seven by Sabrina Ionescu — to take an 18-point lead. The Dream went scoreless for more than four minutes before Tina Charles hit a fade-away jumper to spark a 7-2 spurt that trimmed their deficit to 29-16 going into the second quarter.
New York made 8 of 11 from the field, 5 of 6 from the 3-point range and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line while outrebounding the Dream 11-3 in the first period. Atlanta, which shot 35.3% (6 of 17) and went 0 for 6 from behind the arc, trailed by double figures for the final 33-plus minutes.
Rhyne Howard scored 14 points and Charles added 12 for Atlanta.
The Dream beat New York 78-67 on Thursday in the regular-season finale to clinch the eighth and final playoff spot — and a date with the top-seeded Liberty in the first round. Atlanta shot 50% (31 of 62) from the field.
Fiebich scored 15 points — one shy of the rookie's season high — on perfect shooting in the first half, making 5 of 5 from the field, 2 of 2 from behind the arc and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Ionescu added 14 points and New York took a 48-30 lead into halftime.
The Liberty, who seek their first WNBA championship, made their fifth WNBA Finals appearance last season but lost 3-1 to the Las Vegas Aces.
New York's Courtney Vandersloot had four points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Ionescu finished with 17 points and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 10 for the Liberty.
Regular Season Series
NY wins series 3-1
Recent Plays
4th 0.0 | End of Game | 69 - 83 | |
4th 0.0 | End of the 4th Quarter | 69 - 83 | |
4th 4.1 | Nyara Sabally bad pass (Ezinne Kalu steals) | 69 - 83 | |
4th 5.1 | Haley Jones out of bounds lost ball turnover | 69 - 83 | |
4th 8.1 | Maya Caldwell defensive rebound | 69 - 83 |
Statistics
ATL | NY | |
---|---|---|
27-68 | FG | 29-67 |
39.7 | Field Goal % | 43.3 |
3-16 | 3PT | 8-23 |
18.8 | Three Point % | 34.8 |
12-19 | FT | 17-18 |
63.2 | Free Throw % | 94.4 |
36 | Rebounds | 37 |
10 | Offensive Rebounds | 6 |
26 | Defensive Rebounds | 31 |
16 | Assists | 22 |
9 | Steals | 10 |
5 | Blocks | 5 |
14 | Turnovers | 14 |
2 | Team Turnovers | 1 |
16 | Total Turnovers | 15 |
0 | Technical Fouls | 0 |
0 | Total Technical Fouls | 0 |
0 | Flagrant Fouls | 0 |
18 | Points Conceded Off Turnovers | 14 |
14 | Fast Break Points | 11 |
38 | Points in Paint | 28 |
14 | Fouls | 18 |
0 | Largest Lead | 22 |
Game Information
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Attendance: 12,115 · Capacity:
2023-24 Eastern Conference Standings
TEAM | W | L | PCT | GB | STRK |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York | - | 8 | L1 | 0.8 | 32 |
Connecticut | 4 | 12 | W1 | 0.7 | 28 |
Indiana | 12 | 20 | L1 | 0.5 | 20 |
Atlanta | 17 | 25 | W3 | 0.375 | 15 |
Washington | 18 | 26 | W1 | 0.35 | 14 |
Chicago | 19 | 27 | L5 | 0.325 | 13 |
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