The two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces are a loss away from elimination after dropping Game 2 88-84 to the New York Liberty on Tuesday at Barclays Center. No WNBA team has come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a best-of-five series, and no defending champion has been in this position.
This series is a rematch of the 2023 WNBA Finals, which the Aces won 3-1. Since the championship-sealing 70-69 Game 4 victory in Brooklyn, Las Vegas has lost five games in a row against New York. The skid ties the franchise record for consecutive losses against the same opponent.
Meanwhile, the Liberty’s five consecutive wins over the Aces are a franchise single-season record against an opponent.
The top-seeded Liberty have never won a WNBA championship, but they have been to the Finals five times. WNBA teams are 18-0 in playoff history when leading 2-0 in a best-of-five series.
The playoffs continue Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) as the semifinal series shift to Las Vegas and Connecticut.
ESPN looks at how the Liberty won Game 2.
Liberty lead best-of-five series 2-0
It’s worth remembering the sample of WNBA series that started 2-0 is small and reflects many that weren’t this close. New York won these first two games by a combined 14 points, and just four of the previous 18 featured a combined margin that small — including the only time a team rallied to force a Game 5, with the Phoenix Mercury knotting the series against the Seattle Storm during the 2018 semifinals.
When the NBA staged best-of-five series, we saw six 2-0 comebacks, per ESPN Research. By that 5.6% win rate (6-102), we’re overdue for a similar WNBA comeback. We’ll see if Las Vegas can be that team. — Kevin Pelton
When New York’s superteam came together ahead of the 2023 season, the arrival of three high-profile newbies — Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot — in Brooklyn dominated headlines.
Ionescu, however, has emerged as a dominant offensive force in the 2024 postseason. She led the Liberty with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists on Tuesday, making her the only player in Liberty history with multiple postseason 20-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist games. What made Ionescu’s performance stand out in Game 2 (aside from the super-stuffed stat line) was her impact in the fourth quarter, when she scored or assisted on 16 of New York’s 19 points. The Liberty looked to her to lead, and she delivered. — Katie Barnes
When asked what she appreciated about her team’s play in the first half of Game 2, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said, “I liked the second quarter.” She should have. That’s when New York won the game. The Aces were the better team for the other 30 minutes, but in the second quarter, New York exhibited why it was the best WNBA team in the regular season. The Liberty outscored Las Vegas 24-13. Stewart scored or assisted on 13 of those points, with the strategy of making the two-time MVP a facilitator paying off. (She finished with eight assists.) Five New York players scored, and Ionescu came alive with two massive 3-pointers in the final 1:45 of the half.
The Liberty’s defense also created eight Las Vegas turnovers and allowed just five field goals in the second quarter. — Charlie Creme