Breanna Stewart, seeking playoff atonement, rolls through the Aces

NEW YORK – Breanna Stewart won the WNBA’s MVP award last season, but felt her playoff performance wasn’t good enough after her New York Liberty lost the WNBA Finals to the Las Vegas Aces – something that stayed hard in Stewart’s mind.

“I think I just grew from it,” Stewart said of her disappointment after the 2023 season. “I had – unfortunately – a lot of time to think about where I can get better. And how I can handle things better together. But in doing so, I don’t forget who I am and what I can do.”

Lest anyone else forget, Stewart showed it off Sunday in the Liberty’s 87-77 victory over the Aces in Game 1 of their best-of-five WNBA semifinal series at Barclays Center. Stewart had 34 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists and shot 12 of 19 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the line.

It was Stewart’s sixth career game with more than 30 points in the playoffs; only Diana Taurasi (8) of Phoenix has more. Stewart’s energy, which helped the Liberty get off to a strong start, made it a tough day overall for the two-time defending champion Aces.

“She had too many mismatches,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said of Stewart’s effectiveness, which included 20 points in the first half. “We switched guards on her and (Jonquel Jones) in the first half and we can’t do that. And they destroyed us in there, both of their big ones.”

Supporting Stewart were defender Sabrina Ionescu (21 points) and forward Jones (13 points, 12 rebounds). Stewart and Ionescu scored 62 of the Liberty’s 87 points through goals and assists.

“You’re trying to dig yourself out of a hole all the time,” Hammon said. “It’s not the way you want to start, especially on the street.”

Historically, WNBA teams that win the first game of a best-of-five series take that series 77% of the time (27-8). The hope for freedom that remains true again. Last season they were the team that needed a boost in the semifinals. They lost their first game to Connecticut 78-63; Stewart had 19 points but was 9 of 25 from the field.

They and the Liberty came back and won that series 3-1, but then couldn’t prevail against the Aces and lost 3-1 in the final. In the 2023 postseason, Stewart shot just 35.8% from the field and 19.6% from 3-point range.

What few outside of her team, family and friends knew at the time was that Stewart had a lot to deal with off the field last fall. Her father-in-law battled cancer (he died on October 6) and her wife, Marta, gave birth to their second child on October 25, a week after the Finals ended with a 70-69 loss in Game 4 in New York.

Stewart never cited personal hard times as a reason for not being at her best in the 2023 playoffs. In fact, she still told the Barclays Center crowd after Sunday’s game that she had “a lot to make up for” from last year.

Stewart, who arrived in New York in 2023 as the most sought-after free agent in WNBA history, won two league titles while playing for the Seattle Storm, with whom she won her first MVP award in 2018. A native of Syracuse, New York, Stewart, a four-time NCAA champion at UConn, came to New York to be closer to home and help the Liberty win the franchise’s first title.

This season, New York had the best record in the league at 32-8 and was a No. 1 seed. It won its first-round series against the Atlanta Dream, with Stewart totaling 33 points and 17 rebounds in both games. A win Tuesday in Game 2 against the Aces will move the Liberty one step closer to their sixth attempt at winning the WNBA title.

“Last time wasn’t my greatest pride,” Stewart said of the 2023 playoffs, “but I will continue to get better.”