The second round of the WNBA Playoffs continued Tuesday night with game two of both semi-final matchups. The Aces fell to a 0-2 deficit against the Liberty, and the Lynx bounce back against the Sun to even the series.
Liberty take 2-0 series lead.
New York bested the reigning champions 88-84 in a back-and-forth battle Tuesday night. Sabrina Ionescu led New York in offensive production, finishing with 24 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Ionescu spoke on the mentality of the locker room heading to Vegas with a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-five semi-final matchup.

“Being up 2-0 is great but we haven’t won anything. I think everyone knows that. We did what we were supposed to do, which was protect home court; win two at home.” Ionescu said in the post-game press conference. “We didn’t come to just win two games at home and be satisfied: we’re a hungry group.”
New York’s hunger was on full display inside the final two minutes of the game Tuesday night, as well as the Aces. With approximately a minute and a half remaining in the furth quarter, Aces forward and former 6th player of the year, Alysha Clark drained a wide-open corner three to tie the game at 81. Ionescu then hit a mid-range jumper to give New York an 83-81 advantage. Following a lull in both team’s offense, Ionescu fouled Tiffany Hayes with 16.9 seconds remaining off a jump ball. Hayes missed one of her free throws, returning possession to the Liberty. Ionescu was fouled and hit both free throws, making it a two-possession game.
2024 MVP A’ja Wilson responded late with a jumper with 5.6 seconds remaining in the game, bringing the Aces back within one score, before 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart sealed everyone’s fate, going 2 for 2 from the line with 5.0 seconds remaining.

Aces Coach Becky Hammon recognized in her post-game interview that in a close game down the stretch, the Liberty made more plays than her team, but also focused on what caused the champs to find themselves in such a close game late.
“I don’t even think it’s close if we quit passing it to the other team and turning it over. They had 20 points at halftime off of our turnovers. The amount of layups we gave up was obscene, it looked like a layup clinic. So that stuff is on us. Yeah, it was close down the stretch, they made a few more plays than us, but the game shouldn’t have been there.”
Both teams now head to Vegas with very different goals. The Liberty look to finish the series in three or four games, while the Aces have to defend home court to force a game five in Brooklyn. However, history suggests this series is already over. No team in league history has rallied from a 0-2 deficit, in fact only team one has ever been able to force a game five under these circumstances.
Game three is in Vegas at 9:30PM on Friday, October 4th.
Minnesota bounces back to even series, physicality gets the spotlight.

Thanks to the adaptability of the Lynx, they managed to even the series against the Sun despite Naphessa Collier’s poor scoring performance (3-for-14). Courtney Williams scored 17 points and Alanna Smith scored 15 points to make up for her scoring lull. Collier, coming off historic performances in round one against Phoenix, was able to adapt to her own neutralization by assuming a supporting role, finishing the game with 12 rebounds and five assists.
Similar to the Aces reason for losing game one against the Liberty, the Sun don’t have to look much further than their 25% 3-point and 36.4% overall field goal percentages in comparison to Minnesota’s 42.1% 3-point and 45.2% field goal percentages to determine where they lost this game. Connecticut coach Stephanie White credited Minnesota’s defensive presence and ability for the loss in the post-game press conference Tuesday.
“Minnesota came out and they were the aggressor tonight. They were aggressive on the defensive end, they were physical, wouldn’t let us get into our offense. They responded to every run that we had… there are some things that we as coaches have to clean up for our team.” White said in her opening, post-game statement. “it’s a series for a reason and we’ve got to go home, regroup, and get ready for Friday.”

Following Tuesday’s game, the headlines and questions are largely concerned with the physicality of the series up until this point. Game 2 saw extra competitiveness with technical fouls, back-and-forth chirping, and plenty of scuffles. Players from both teams don’t necessarily seem bothered by this, simply saying that this is what playoff basketball looks like.
The physical competition that this round two matchup has generated is no surprise to fans of the W. As we know, these two teams were the top two in the league this season in defensive rating, and those monster defenses are on full display from start to finish. Viewers knew to expect a knock-down drag-out series due to both teams’ defensive ability mixed with the added stakes of the playoffs. Sun star Dewanna Bonner, who found herself in headlines with Fever rookie Caitlin Clark following some chirping in round one said Tuesday that there isn’t anything more to it other than wanting to win.
“It’s playoffs, so it is going to be physical. There are going to be dicey moments. Its win-or-go-home, so everybody wants it.” Bonner said. “Emotions are high but we are just two competitive teams going after it, that’s about it.”
Lynx guard Courtney Williams echoed this during her post-game interview.
“Folks ain’t fighting man. It’s playoff basketball, folks ain’t fighting.” Williams stated. ” We’ve got to match their energy; first game they were chirping and chatting so, we had to give it back to them. Playoff basketball man.”

Game three is Friday, October 4th at 7:30PM in Connecticut.
Written By Raven Ullah, WUFO Intern.