Ionescu high-fives Spike, drops 36 to fuel Liberty

NEW YORK — The Liberty have been focused on winning the first championship after falling just short last year.

They moved one step closer as Sabrina Ionescu tied a franchise playoff record with 36 points to help the Liberty beat the Atlanta Dream 91-82 on Tuesday night and advance to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.

“The ultimate goal is what it is. But, you know, it’s every single game is a championship game to get to that final goal,” Ionescu said. “And obviously our goal is to not lose at home. So this was really important for us to come out, take these two and have a couple days off and kind of rest, recharge and get ready for whatever it is we’re going to play.”

The game drew another sellout crowd that included Olympian Gabby Thomas, singer Pharrell as well as Spike Lee and Whoopi Goldberg. Rapper Ja Rule performed at halftime.

Ionescu said she got a high five from Lee during the third quarter.

“I felt like New York was injected into me. I was like, we’re winning this,” Ionescu said.

Jonquel Jones added 20 points and 13 rebounds for the top-seeded Liberty, who swept the best-of-three series and will face Las Vegas in the next round that begins Sunday in New York. The Aces beat the Liberty in the WNBA Finals last season.

“We have unfinished business,” said Jones, who recorded her 19th career playoff double-double, passing the Aces’ A’ja Wilson and Lisa Leslie for fifth most in WNBA history. It was the 109th double-double of Jones’ career, and her teams improved to 85-24 (.780) when she gets a double-double, the fifth best such win percentage in WNBA history (minimum 25 games played).

The Liberty took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter, and the teams went back and forth before a layup by New York’s Courtney Vandersloot made it 75-72 with 5:41 left and started a 12-2 run. New York’s Breanna Stewart followed later in the spurt by swooping in for a tip-in. It was her first points since the second quarter.

Leonie Fiebich, who scored 21 points in the opening game, then had a three-point play to extend the advantage to 82-74 with 4:11 left. She hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to give New York a double-digit advantage for the first time in the game.

“It had a little bit of everything,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said of the run.

Atlanta couldn’t get closer than seven the rest of the way.

“I don’t think it was anything they did different,” Rhyne Howard said of New York’s stretch run. “We fought pretty hard, laid it out there. Coach told us to not go home with any regrets and we did that.”

Allisha Gray and Howard did all they could to try and stave off elimination. Gray finished with 26 points and Howard added 19. She also had a massive block on Stewart on a fast break in the third quarter.

“We watched it four or five times before we came in here [to the postgame presser],” Howard said, smiling.

Stewart was impressed with the play.

“She timed it really well,” the Liberty star said. “She got the block. I got the win.”

Unlike Game 1, when New York jumped all over Atlanta, the Dream got off to a quick start behind Gray. They led 28-19 as Gray had 14 points in the opening 10 minutes, hitting all five of her shots, including four 3-pointers.

Atlanta was up 11 in the second quarter before Ionescu started hitting deep 3s. She rallied the Liberty to take a brief 40-36 lead before the Dream closed the half on a 12-3 run to go up 48-43 at the break.

The Liberty snapped an 11-game playoff losing streak in scenarios where they trailed by five or more points at halftime. It’s their first such win since the 2008 playoffs.

Ionescu tied Cappie Pondexter for the most points by a Liberty player in the postseason. Pondexter set the mark in 2010 also against the Dream.

“I guess I should have had one more,” Ionescu said, laughing.

Ionescu became the third player with 35 points and five assists in a playoff game in WNBA history and the second to put up that stat line in a series-clinching win, joining Angel McCoughtry in 2016 against the Storm.

“I thought it was incredible,” Stewart said of her teammate. “The way Sab was aggressive from start to finish. She was able to see some shots going in. When she’s aggressive like that it opens things up for everyone else.”

ESPN’s Katie Barnes, ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.