Sunday’s WNBA playoff opener between the top-seeded New York Liberty and the eighth-seeded Atlanta Dream went accordingly.
The Liberty started fast, never trailed and cruised to a convincing 83-69 home win. They will have a chance to sweep the best-of-three first-round series on Tuesday night with Game 2 in New York.
“They punched us in the mouth. That’s exactly what they were supposed to do. They’re in their home, they’re supposed to come out like that,” Atlanta coach Tanisha Wright said.
“Now we have to learn how to respond to it.”
A sufficient response Tuesday must feature more aggression from the Dream, especially in the early minutes.
In the opening quarter of Game 1, the Liberty outrebounded the Dream 11-3 and limited the visitors to 35.3 percent shooting as they led by as many as 18 points.
“Their physicality really bothered us,” Wright said. “We have to make that adjustment and understand that it’s playoff basketball.”
The Dream may also need to tweak their defensive scheme against New York rookie Leonie Fiebich. The forward tallied a career-high 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting and made all four of her 3-point attempts on Sunday.
Fiebich’s career day came in a rare start, something she did in just 15 of the Liberty’s 40 regular-season games.
“Whatever role I’m in, however many minutes I play, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’m gonna bring the same every day.”
Fiebich also imposed herself on defense. She helped limit Rhyne Howard, Atlanta’s top regular-season scorer at 17.3 points per game, to two points as New York opened a 48-30 halftime lead. Howard finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said she started the 6-foot-4 Fiebich over Courtney Vandersloot, listed at 5-foot-8, to give New York more size when defending Howard and her teammates.
Given Fiebich’s success on Sunday, Brondello suggested she may stick with the rookie over the 14-year veteran Vandersloot on Tuesday.
“For now, we’ll keep (the starting lineup) like that, but we’ll do whatever we think is best for the team at that time,” Brondello said.
A win Tuesday would send the Liberty to the semifinals for the second straight season. New York lost last year’s best-of-five WNBA Finals to the Las Vegas Aces in four games.
The Dream, who were swept out of last year’s first round by the Dallas Wings, would host Game 3 on Thursday if necessary.
–Field Level Media