MINNEAPOLIS — The WNBA playoffs don’t technically start until Sept. 27.
But ask just about anyone in the playoff field and they will tell you the postseason began now following the FIBA Women’s World Cup break.
Amid a race for playoff positioning, the stakes for these games over the final week of the season carry immense weight.
The Liberty took that seriously, opening the last sprint of the season Friday with an impressive 93-81 win against the Minnesota Lynx.
The Liberty marched into a raucous road environment at Target Center, collectively battled the league’s best team and walked out with a well-deserved victory.
Not only was it one of the Liberty’s most complete games of the season, but it was arguably their most impressive win since they pounded the Aces in Las Vegas on June 23.
“It was huge,” Sabrina Ionescu said. “The way we just played together hard, locked in for 40 minutes and weathered their runs, and I’m really proud of the group.”
It was exactly the message the Liberty hoped to send in their first game back.
Coach Chris DeMarco didn’t exactly know what to expect from his team given that the Liberty sent a league-high seven players to Berlin — five of whom played on the final day of the tournament.
But any jetlag be damned, the Liberty came out with playoff energy.
“It was not only one offense but defense — the defensive part was much better,” Marine Johannès said. “We played with aggressiveness again. The physicality tonight was great and it was the difference.”
It was a back-and-forth, physical game.
No team led by more than eight points entering the fourth.
But the Liberty were able to withstand the runs thanks to players stepping up in key moments.
Breanna Stewart was steady all night, finishing with a team-high 24 points and 10 rebounds less than a week removed from leading Team USA to a gold-medal finish in Berlin.
Ionescu, who had been itching to play again after going an unprecedented 0-for-10 from the field in the final game before the break, added 17 points and six assists.
Marine Johannès scored 10 consecutive points in the final 1:30 of the third quarter to ensure the Liberty maintained their lead heading into the fourth.
Pauline Astier and Jonquel Jones helped seal the win.
Astier scored 10 of her 14 points in the fourth, while Jones had nine of her 18 points and five of her 10 rebounds in the final frame.
“This is a team,” DeMarco said. “The energy was phenomenal, everyone was pulling in the same direction.”
The Liberty threw just about everyone at Rookie of the Year runaway favorite Olivia Miles. She missed 10 of her first 13 shots across three quarters, though she still managed to record a team-high 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
“What I’m most proud of with this team is we were steady throughout,” said Stewart, who climbed to ninth on the league’s all-time scorers list. “This was a game of runs. There was highs and lows and things like that, but nothing kind of rattled us. People made big play after big play.”
The Liberty set the right tone out of the break, but now they must build on it with the actual playoffs quickly approaching. Friday was the Liberty’s first of four games in six days.
“We know who we are when we’re at our best,” Ionescu said. “We have to continue to work towards being our best every single night. … We can’t just turn on a switch and just be who we want to be. It’s going to take a lot of work and togetherness. And we all understood tonight was the first step into doing that.”
