Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu have made opponents pay for leaving them open beyond the arc this season, and the New York Liberty have reaped the rewards.
Aliyah Boston and the Indiana Fever, meanwhile, have thrived scoring in the paint. However, the team is mired in the funk of a seven-game losing streak.
Boasting different strengths and trending in opposite directions, the Liberty (13-4) and host Fever (5-14) cross paths Wednesday afternoon in Indianapolis in each team’s final game before the WNBA All-Star break.
Stewart and Ionescu combined for 10 of New York’s 13 3-pointers in Saturday’s 80-76 win over the visiting Seattle Storm.
Stewart canned four and Ionescu nailed six as beneficiaries of the Liberty’s crisp ball movement, which produced 27 field goals on 23 assists.
“Playing together, that’s really the thing,” Stewart told the New York Post. “You don’t want to force it. You want to let it come to you and find the openings and the right places to get going.”
New York’s sharpshooting duo has combined for 82 made 3-pointers this season, the third-most in the WNBA between two teammates as of Tuesday. As a team, New York leads the league with 10.4 made 3-pointers per game.
Interior scoring hasn’t been the issue for the Fever. Indiana is just one of three teams averaging over 39 points in the paint per game as of Tuesday.
Rather, slow starts have hindered Indiana, which has trailed after the first quarter all but once during its seven-game slide.
Boston traced Sunday’s 77-76 home loss against the Dallas Wings back to the Fever’s 27-17 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
“We look at the rest of the stats, the second quarter, second half was a lot better than our first quarter was,” Boston told the Indianapolis Star. “So, just making sure that we dial in defensively and make it harder for them, especially in that first quarter.”
Indiana will have to adjust its first-quarter gameplan to avoid a repeat of its first meeting with the Liberty. New York raced out to a 36-14 lead after the opening stanza and cruised to a 90-73 win on May 21.
Stewart torched the Fever with a Liberty franchise-record 45 points, including 19 in the first quarter.
–Field Level Media
