Jackie Young and the Aces had their way with Courtney Vandersloot and the Liberty in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals Sunday in Las Vegas. AP Photo by John Locher
The Liberty absorbed the first blow from the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Finals.
But New York coach Sandy Brondello believes her resilient unit is ready to strike back.
“They took the first punch and now we have to respond,” Brondello said Sunday after New York suffered a 99-82 loss in Game 1 of the best-of-5 series before a capacity crowd of 10,300 at Michelob ULTRA Arena.
The Liberty (0-1) staked themselves to a 49-46 halftime lead before WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart knocked down a pull-up jumper to extend the advantage to five points early in the third quarter.
Kelsey Plum responded with a basket off a feed from A’ja Wilson and the defending champion Aces (1-0) scored 14 of the next 18 points to take the lead for good.
Plum and Jackie Young scored 26 points apiece, Chelsea Gray had 20 and Wilson finished with 19 as Vegas improved to 24-1 at home this season, not counting the Aces’ Commissioner’s Cup championship game loss to the Liberty in Sin City on Aug. 15.
“It’s kind of like Jackie and (Plum) are doing this really hard work, and then the ball goes into Chelsea and it’s just dicing everything,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said.
“It was a really nice combination. Our trio of guards were pretty ridiculous.”
New York’s backcourt wasn’t up to the task in the much-anticipated opener as Liberty guards Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot went a combined 6-of-18 from the field, including 3-of-10 from 3-point range.
“Their defense was as good as I’ve ever seen it,” Brondello ceded. “We’ve got to play with better poise and we can exploit it the next time.”
Game 2 is Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET in Vegas and…
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