With back-to-back 100+ point wins, the New York Liberty seem to be rounding into superteam form, living up to the promise of their blockbuster offseason.
The Liberty (6-2) took down the Atlanta Dream 106-83 on Friday, led by a career-high 37 points from Sabrina Ionescu – which included a franchise-record eight 3-pointers.
“I didn’t know what the franchise record for 3s was. But they were going under (the screen) — as a shooter that’s the most disrespectful thing you can do, so I shot it when I was open,” Ionescu said after the game. “My teammates got me the ball and great actions. I was just thankful we won at the end of the day. I was just making the reads and shooting if I’m open.”
The fourth-year guard shot 61.5% from 3-point range in the win, much better than her 42.9% mark for the season. She came down to earth Sunday, shooting just 37.5% from behind the arc, but still finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. So far this season, she is averaging 16.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists.
Lightin’ it up is what she does 🤷♀️ pic.twitter.com/2QrJvvN9gf— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) June 11, 2023
Lightin’ it up is what she does 🤷♀️ pic.twitter.com/2QrJvvN9gf
Breanna Stewart also has been electric for the Liberty, averaging 24.9 points (second in the WNBA) and 10.1 rebounds per game (fourth in the WNBA), she noted before Sunday’s game how much Ionescu has meant to the team as they’ve finally started to gel.
“I’ve seen a lot from playing against Sab,” Stewart said. “Now going to be her teammate, the thing that I’ve noticed the most is she wants to learn. She wants to be great, she wants to put herself in a position to not only help herself but help others and make this team be really difficult to beat.
“For her to have that understanding and awareness of ‘I’ve done so much but I still can get better,’ shows a lot and just shows that she’s gonna continue to grow, especially with the weapons that we have. She’s realizing she’s gonna get a lot more open looks than she did before.”
ISSA 3 PARTY YOU CANNOT GET INNNN 🎯New franchise record/career-high 8 3PM for @sabrina_i20 🪣 pic.twitter.com/al3qJI7AYr— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) June 10, 2023
ISSA 3 PARTY YOU CANNOT GET INNNN 🎯New franchise record/career-high 8 3PM for @sabrina_i20 🪣 pic.twitter.com/al3qJI7AYr