Liberty’s WNBA title quest begins with Game 1 battle vs. Dream

The Liberty and their all-male practice squad engaged in a feisty and physical scrimmage on the practice court Saturday at Barclays Center in preparation for Sunday’s postseason opener against Atlanta.

“It was a no bulls–t practice, that’s for sure,” All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu said. “It wasn’t a shootaround, we were taped up and going live. The guys were in their playoff scout mode. So it’s exciting, because I know we’re gonna be able to come out ready.”

Coach Sandy Brondello and the Liberty were singularly focused all season on earning the No. 1 seed, especially after falling short in the WNBA Finals one year ago to the Las Vegas Aces.

That disappointment kept the Liberty as the only original franchise in the league still searching for its first title.

A 32-8 record ensures Brondello’s star-studded squad home-court advantage throughout the postseason, including the first two in Brooklyn in an always-dangerous best-of-three first-round series against Tina Charles and No. 8 Atlanta.

The Dream finished just 15-25, but they ended the 40-game slate with a win Thursday night at Barclays, albeit with the Liberty resting All-Star forward Breanna Stewart and others in the second half with nothing to play for in the regular-season finale.

“Look, I wasn’t happy with the way that we played. You get comfortable when you’re at the top, and you can’t,” Brondello said. “Anyone can beat anyone, and I’m just trying to emphasize that.

“We go back to last year’s experience, we nearly lost to Washington [in the first round]. It’s about us. It’s home court, but we can quickly lose it if we don’t take care of business. It’s about remembering how it feels. We all have memories and that should be enough, just having a little appropriate fear is good.”

Hence, Saturday’s fierce practice, including the two-way portions against the men, which Brondello described as “going up to a whole different level” of intensity.

“We had a great day to prepare and I’m excited to see the level of intensity we come out and play with [Sunday], because it’s gonna be a lot greater than what we’ve done in the regular season,” Ionescu said. “They’re a team with nothing to lose, and those teams are dangerous.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re an 8-seed or a 1-seed, anything can happen. Losing in that last game motivated us and probably was what we needed to understand that every team is going to come in here and give us their best shot.”

Indeed, as Brondello recalled, the Liberty needed overtime in Game 2 to sweep the Mystics in last year’s first round to avoid conceding home-court advantage to Washington for a decisive third game.

“I’m really excited to be at this point, because this is where we start to chase our goal,” said Stewart, a two-time WNBA champion earlier in her career with the Seattle Storm. “The 1-seed definitely was one of our goals. We wanted to make sure that we clinched home court, especially in this league, where you see it, games are so tough, and we want to have our home crowd behind us. We have to win at home, and we don’t want to go to Atlanta for the third one.”

Stewart, the former UConn standout and the 2023 league MVP in her first season in New York, added that she was “excited to come in today and get after it a little bit, just to be ready for what’s to come” in pursuit of the franchise’s elusive first title.

“This is the best time of year, this is why you play, this is what you’re playing for,” Stewart said. “I’m excited to share some new memories with some new teammates, and have everyone remember that feeling of what it’s like to play playoff basketball at Barclays.”