Jonquel Jones wasn’t going to let it end this way.
She wasn’t about to get swept out of the playoffs in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch a WNBA game at the Barclays Center. She wasn’t ready to spend another offseason sorting through a pile of “what-ifs” and “I should haves.”
And so, prior to tipoff Sunday of a do-or-die Game 3 against the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Finals, Jones laid it all on the line to both her teammates and the media.
“I think we need to prove we belong,” Jones declared just hours before doing exactly that.
Jones proved that and more Sunday, coming up with a monster performance that pushed her team to an 87-73 win that narrowed the Aces’ lead to, 2-1, in the best-of-five series.
Jones finished with 27 points on 10-for-15 shooting, eight rebounds, three assists two steals and three blocks. Most stunningly, the 6-foot-6 center was her team’s top three-point shooter, hitting 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.
“With JJ, it just keeps getting better and better,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “It’s her will to win. She’s a superstar, this girl. She’s amazing. She’s humble. She’s carried us in the games we lost as the only one being consistent.”
While most of her teammates struggled in the Liberty’s two blowout losses in Las Vegas, Jones produced in every game. She paired 16 points with 10 rebounds in Game 1 and was the only player on the Liberty to score at least 20 points in Game 2.
It was Jones who got the team rolling early Sunday, hitting two three-pointers in the first quarter as the Liberty came out with force for the first time in the series. The Liberty continued to push, never trailing after the first quarter and leading by as much as 17 in the second half.
It wasn’t just on offense where Jones made her presence known. Defensively, she spent a lot of time guarding A’ja Wilson. The Aces superstar had scored 19 and 26 points in her team’s first two wins, but was held to 16…
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