The New York Liberty struck first during their opening round series of the WNBA Playoffs, taking a 1-o lead against the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday. The Liberty stole home court advantage and will have the luxury of hosting Game 2, but Liberty star Breanna Stewart has a warning for her teammates if they want to avoid a letdown and potential return to Minnesota, as per WNBA reporter Myles Erhlich.
“When you’re the lower seed, you want to steal one at their place. Doing that today is really important for this series, but we’ve harped on it, this doesn’t mean relax,” Stewart said. “Minny’s exceptionally talented and, and they’ll throw everything at us Tuesday. Last year, did this in Phoenix, then got smoked on our home court.”
The series that Breanna Stewart was referring to was last season with the Liberty stole Game 1 in the opening round of the WNBA Playoffs against the Phoenix Mercury. The Mercury then proceeded to win Game 2 on the road before closing out the series in Game 3 at home.
Article Continues BelowIn Game 1 against the Lynx, Stewart led the way with a game-high 34 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocked shots in a team-high 38 minutes. She shot 11-of-18 from the field, 2-of-3 from the 3-point line and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line.
During the regular season, Stewart appeared in 42 games at just about 33 minutes per game. She averaged 20.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocked shots with splits of 47.4 percent shooting from the field, 25.4 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 84.1 percent shooting from the free-throw line.