The eighth-seeded Liberty walked into Target Center on Sunday on a mission, and left with a 91-75 win against the top-seeded Lynx, putting them one win from the semifinals while pushing Minnesota’s season to the verge of elimination.
asserted
Liberty → walk → elimination
Stewart authored her best playoff game in a Liberty uniform, posting 34 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks.
asserted
Stewart → author → points
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tRY IT NOWAnd yet, Stewart wasn’t outwardly celebrating like someone who had helped demoralize the league’s best team.
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who → cover → team
“This doesn’t mean relax,” Stewart said of going up 1-0 in the best-of-three series.
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Stewart → mean → series
“Minny’s exceptionally talented, and they’ll throw everything at us Tuesday.”
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they → ’ → us
Stewart remembered what happened a year ago.
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what → remember → ?
She’s far from the only one.
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She → ’ → one
Last September, the Liberty won Game 1 of their first-round series against the Mercury on the road.
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Liberty → win → road
They returned home and got hammered 86-60.
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They → return → ?
Two nights later, the Mercury finished the job.
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Mercury → finish → job
The Liberty had the advantage but couldn’t hold on.
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Liberty → have → advantage
They face a similar trap Tuesday, when they host the Lynx for a potential closeout game.
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they → face → game
“We understand it’s going to be even harder now that we have them on the ropes,” Jonquel Jones said.
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Jones → understand → ropes
“When you have anybody with their backs against the wall, they’re going to fight to try to get out of that.”
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they → have → that
After Sunday’s loss, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve took solace in knowing they went a league-best 18-4 on the road during the regular season.
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they → take → season
Though Game 1 was a disappointing result for the Lynx, veteran guard Kayla McBride said the locker room’s confidence hadn’t been rocked.
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confidence → say → Lynx
“There’s not one second that I don’t believe in this group,” McBride said.
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McBride → ’ → group
“This 40 minutes wasn’t our best, but we have another opportunity to show up for ourselves, for each other and for this organization and for these fans.
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we → have → fans
“… I believe in us.
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I → believe → us
I don’t have any doubt inside my body that we can’t go to New York and bring this s–t back.”
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we → have → t
The Liberty are one win away from making history as the first team to beat a No. 1 seed in the first round in the WNBA’s current playoff format.
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Liberty → make → format
It looks both incredibly close and dangerously far away.
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It → look → ?
“[Minnesota] is a team that has proven that throughout the season that they’re the best,” Jones said.
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Jones → prove → season
“We don’t expect that it’s just going to be some blowout and it’s going to be easy, that this is going to be a cakewalk.
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this → expect → ?
We understand that it’s going to take everybody being locked in, everybody having a very high level of focus and just [playing] team basketball again to be able to close the series.”
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everybody → understand → series
Both teams are sure to make adjustments.
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teams → make → adjustments
The Liberty can’t count on McBride and Courtney Williams having off nights again or Napheesa Collier and Natasha Howard getting into foul trouble.
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Collier → count → trouble
The Liberty also need to be honest with themselves about their turnover problem.
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Liberty → need → problem
The Lynx ranked second in the league in points off turnovers, averaging 18 per game.
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Lynx → rank → game
On Sunday, the Liberty committed 21 turnovers, which led to 18 Lynx points.
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which → commit → points
Advancing in the playoffs — they would play the winner of the Dream-Mystics series — is within reach.
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they → advance → reach
Last year’s early exit, though, should serve as a reminder of how quickly that opportunity can vanish.
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opportunity → serve → reminder
The Liberty’s mental fortitude and focus will be key to closing out the series.
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fortitude → close → series
“Just staying mentally really locked in,” Leonie Fiebich said.
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Fiebich → stay → ?
“[When] we’re really calm and collected and can just focus on our execution, I think, that’s really, really good.
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that → ’re → execution
When we gave away games is when we got emotional and … there’s some bad calls and we react to that.”
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we → give → that
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