WNBA Finals Player Grades: how Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu fared in Lynx vs. Liberty

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton led the way in the Liberty’s win over the Lynx, while the Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart responded from letdown Game 1 performances to ensure the victory.

Just a few days after a letdown Game 1 loss to the Lynx, it was the Liberty who pulled away at the end to tie up the WNBA Finals with an 80-66 win. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was the hero in this one — exploding for a season-high 20 points — as the Liberty secured a Game 2 win with the series heading back to Minnesota.

“I thought we brought the energy,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said at the half. “If we keep trusting each other, great things will happen.”

They stuck together, and the rest was history.

Here’s how each starter fared in this one, Player Grade style.

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton: A+

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton had her best game of the postseason, just a day after her coach told reporters she wasn’t 100%.

“She’s giving whatever she can,” Brondello said, per The Next’s Jackie Powell. “I think everyone can see that she’s trying. It’s not the same B that we’ve seen all season long, but it is what it is.”

Laney-Hamilton finished with 20 points on 8-14 shooting, including 4-6 from three.

“Man, that shot finally kicked in,” Laney-Hamilton said to Holly Rowe ahead of the fourth quarter, seemingly referencing some pain management. “The team had been doing everything to help get me feeling by best.”

Breanna Stewart: A

Breanna Stewart responded well to a Game 1 loss that saw her miss both a free throw and a layup at the buzzer. She finished the night with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and a WNBA Finals-record 7 steals. Stewart wasn’t efficient offensively — she shot 7-18 from the field and racked up 5 turnovers — but did enough across the board to positively impact the game.

Jonquel Jones: B+

Jonquel Jones posted 14 points, 9 rebounds , and 2 steals in this one. She wasn’t as dominant as she was in Game 1, but nonetheless did what she had to do in this one. There were moments that, with Napheesa Collier sidelined, it seemed that Jones could be more aggressive. Still, she led both teams in rebounding.

Leonie Fiebich: A-

Leonie Fiebich got the Courtney Williams defensive assignment, and her length was disruptive throughout the night. Fiebich was quiet offensively — she attempted just three shots all night — but she hit her biggest attempt of the night, a three-pointer with 90 seconds to play to give the Liberty a 9-point lead. Fiebich was also a +17 on the night.

Sabrina Ionescu: B+

Sabrina Ionescu exploded for 12 first-quarter points, but scored just 3 points the rest of the way. But, it was what the Liberty needed in this one. Her 9 shot attempts marked a sharp contrast from her 26 attempts in Game 1, but her giving up the rock actually opened things up for the Liberty, as four players posted at least 14 points in the win.

Still, Sabrina Ionescu finished the night with a game-high +20, and oftentimes, deferring to others proved advantageous for a Liberty team that found a good rhythm down the stretch.

Bridget Carleton: B-

Bridget Carleton’s three-point struggles continued with a 2/6 performance in Game 2. Carleton has now made just 5 of her last 25 attempts from downtown. Carleton finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in this one, and though she nearly matched her regular season average.

Napheesa Collier: B-

Napheesa Collier has been excellent defensively in this series, and she was a big part of why Breanna Stewart struggled offensively again tonight. Collier was still efficient offensively in this one — she made 7-12 shot attempts — but got in foul trouble in the third quarter and the Lynx struggled without her. Collier’s 16-point outing was more than 10 points below her postseason average of 26.4 points, and on a night when no other Lynx player really had it going, her output simply wasn’t enough.

Courtney Williams: B

Courtney Williams showed the same flashes of brilliance that catapulted the Lynx to victory in Game 1. But, she made several key mistakes down the stretch, including dribbling off her foot with 1:30 to play, a sequence that resulted in a wide-open Leonie Fiebich three-pointer. Williams finished with 15 points on 7-14 shooting, 6 rebounds, and a playoff career-high 8 assists. She also turned the ball over 5 times, and wasn’t able to recreate the magic of Game 1 with the clock winding down.

Alanna Smith: A-

Alanna Smith was the only starter to finish the game with a positive +/-. Smith finished with 14 points on 6-9 shooting, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds. The rebounding left a bit to be desired — the Liberty out-rebounded the Lynx 34-27 — but Smith was a positive offensively, and continued her effective defensive efforts as well.

Kayla McBride: C+

Kayla McBride show just 3-9 from the field and finished with 8 points in Game 2, well below her regular season average of 15 points. On a night in which Napheesa Collier found herself in foul trouble, and Courtney Williams didn’t have it going quite as much as her previous two outings, a bigger McBride performance would have been huge for the Lynx. Instead, she had one of her quieter performances of the postseason. McBride was tied with Williams for the worst plus-minus of any starter, a -9.