Breanna Stewart’s first WNBA semifinals series in 2018 became an instant classic.
asserted
series → become → 2018
The Seattle Storm raced out to a 2-0 lead before the Diana Taurasi-led Phoenix Mercury punched back and forced a decisive Game 5.
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Mercury → race → Game
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you → get → things
tRY IT NOWStewart broke teammate Sue Bird’s nose with an inadvertent elbow.
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NOWStewart → try → elbow
Brittney Griner and Taurasi hit wild shots.
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Griner → hit → shots
The Storm ultimately won thanks to a memorable fourth-quarter push by Bird.
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Storm → win → Bird
Stewart said she’s been thinking of that experience a lot over the past few days.
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she → say → days
“Experience in the playoffs definitely matters,” Stewart said before Friday’s practice.
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Stewart → matter → practice
“There’s so many things [during a longer series] that you have to stay focused on the end goal.”
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you → ’ → goal
The Liberty sent the Minnesota Lynx home early with a 2-0 sweep in the first round.
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Liberty → send → round
Sabrina Ionescu told the team to enjoy the moment Tuesday night, but she said the celebration was subdued because “we haven’t done anything yet.”
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we → tell → anything
That brings the Liberty to a best-of-five semifinals series against the Atlanta Dream, a team that’s walking up the driveway of the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2018.
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that → bring → 2018
Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
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Game → schedule → Atlanta
It is being billed as a physically demanding series, where speed and size will matter greatly.
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speed → bill → series
Amid a search for any possible edge, the Liberty have something obvious that the Dream don’t.
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Dream → have → something
“We have experience,” Jonquel Jones said.
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Jones → have → experience
New York made it to the WNBA Finals in 2023 and 2024, winning it all in the latter run.
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York → make → run
Meanwhile, only DeWanna Bonner, Jordin Canada and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough have made it to the semifinals before — but not with the Dream.
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Bonner → make → Dream
A longer series means there’s more opportunity to take risks or experiment with matchups and coverages.
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series → mean → matchups
But there are also more chances for the mental and emotional side of the game to creep in.
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side → be → game
Stewart knows this all too well.
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Stewart → know → this
“With this group, for the majority of us, [we’ve] been in this type of series where it’s not getting too high or too low is the huge important part,” she said.
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she → get → series
“And what we did in the first round is great — we’re happy to be here — but that wasn’t a goal for our season to get out of the first round.”
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season → ’re → round
If the Liberty’s first two playoff games showed anything, it’s that New York unlocked a new level of focus and connectivity on both ends that eluded the team through most of the regular season.
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that → show → season
“The approach that we’re having in these playoffs is pretty much where you want to be,” Stewart said.
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Stewart → have → playoffs
“We’re the ones that are staying poised, staying under control at all times.
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that → ’re → times
But we’re gonna be aggressive for the full 40 minutes, and if you want something, you’re gonna have to go through us to get it.”
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you → go → it
The Dream beat New York in back-to-back games to close out the regular season.
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Dream → beat → season
The former game is a better measuring stick for what’s to come than the latter because Stewart missed the second game with knee soreness.
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Stewart → ’ → soreness
The Liberty trailed by three at halftime before Atlanta took over in the third.
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Atlanta → trail → third
New York committed four turnovers, which the Dream turned into six points.
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Dream → commit → points
Valuing the ball, not forcing passes and playing the Liberty’s fast-paced brand of basketball will be key to New York advancing.
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York → value → basketball
The battle inside — limiting the Dream’s second-chance opportunities and getting rebounds to push the ball in transition — will be important too.
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battle → limit → transition
“It’ll be interesting to see how they match up at the start of the series,” Stewart said.
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Stewart → see → series
“It’s just who can play a better chess match.”
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who → ’ → match
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