Liberty vs. Sun: How Connecticut's defense shut down Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu in Game 1

The Sun held the Liberty to their lowest scoring and least efficient game of the entire season

By Jack Maloney Sep 24, 2023 at 5:08 pm ET• 3 min read

Late in the third quarter on Sunday afternoon, the New York Liberty brought the ball down and ran through a series of their favorite actions. First, a high pick-and-roll with Courtney Vandersloot and Breanna Stewart, but the lane was cut off by a hard-working Natisha Hiedeman. Then, a clear-out post-up for Jonquel Jones, but that was blown up by Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who refused to let Jones get position. Finally, an isolation at the top of the key for Breanna Stewart, but she was trapped and had the ball stripped by Alyssa Thomas. 

The Connecticut Sun bench erupted with applause and waving towels, made louder by the silence from the Barclays Center crowd. Down to the other end walked the Liberty, heads shaking in disbelief at what was happening. 

If you watched that possession, you watched them all from the Sun's stunning 78-63 victory over the Liberty in Game 1 of their semi-final series. After losing all four regular season games to the Liberty, the Sun are now up 1-0 in this best-of-five series and have stolen homecourt advantage. 

Defense was the Sun's calling card in the regular season. Led by Thomas, the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up, they flustered teams with their length and physicality, forced turnovers at a league-best rate and rebounded with the best of them. Only the Las Vegas Aces allowed fewer points per 100 possessions than the Sun's 98.8.