Liberty looking to ‘steal’ one in Vegas

The New York Liberty haven’t had a losing streak all season.

Now, would be a bad time to start one.

“We haven’t lost two in a row all season long,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello pointed out as her team took one on the chin in Game 1 of these best-of-5 WNBA Finals Sunday in Las Vegas.

“I trust these players and we’re going to keep competing, keep fighting,” she added ahead of Wednesday night’s Game 2 at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

New York (0-1) suffered a 99-82 loss in Vegas before a sellout crowd that was eager to see the defending champion Aces (1-0) move closer to becoming the first repeat titleholders in the league since the 2001-02 Los Angeles Sparks.

The Liberty will be headed back to Brooklyn for Game 3 on Sunday, but would love to avoid slipping into an ominous 0-2 hole against the Aces, who are an eye-popping 24-1 at home this season, not counting New York’s Commissioner’s Cup championship game win in Sin City on Aug. 15.

“They got the upper hand in (Game 1), but it’s a series,” Brondello noted. “We know we can defend better. We’ve got to make it a little bit harder than what we did.”

New York, an original eight franchise still seeking its first-ever WNBA crown, held a three-point lead at the half Sunday before Vegas went on a 14-4 run early in the third quarter and never looked back.

Aces guards Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young combined for 72 points on 23-of-43 shooting while the Liberty backcourt of Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot only managed 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting, including a 3-of-10 performance from 3-point range.

“It was a really nice combination. Our trio of guards were pretty ridiculous,” Vegas coach Becky Hammon said.