Watch: New York icon Spike Lee's nod to Sabrina Ionescu's sharpshooting fuels Liberty's playoff dominance vs Aces

By Reign Amurao

Modified Sep 29, 2024 21:47 GMT

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WNBA's Sabrina Ionescu is on fire as she helped the New York Liberty capture Game 1 of their semifinal series against the Las Vegas Aces. The Liberty took home the win, 87-77, against the Aces.

During a moment in the game, Ionescu shot a 3-pointer to the New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee's delight, and they gave each other a nod of approval.

The Liberty are focused on winning the title this season to prevent the Aces from winning a third championship in a row. It's the first game of their best-of-five playoff series. This is a rematch of last year's WNBA Finals, where the New York franchise lost to Las Vegas in four games.

Ionescu and her squad are looking to avenge their loss from last year. In their first playoff game against the defending champions, the Liberty showed complete dominance. The sharpshooter finished the game with 21 points, four rebounds and five assists. She also shot 3-6 from beyond the arc.

Lee was feeling the playoff vibes after one of Ionescu's 3-pointers. Watch the video below to see the two give each other a nod after the sequence.

The three-time All-Star had help from Breanna Stewart, who had 34 points, five rebounds and four assists. Stewie also had two steals and a block.

In the first round, the Liberty played against the Atlanta Dream. After two games, they took care of business to advance to the semifinal round. Ionescu was an important player during the two-game series. She averaged 26.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists.

The All-Star guard was efficient during the game and made 44.4% of her long-range attempts. New York is hoping that Ionescu will continue her playoff dominance even in the series against the Aces.

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Sabrina Ionescu is focused on winning her first ring

Sabrina Ionescu has fixed her eyes on the WNBA title this year. It's no surprise, as she's played better than the previous postseason, taking her scoring to another level. During the Liberty's practice on Saturday, the star guard spoke about working on her game during the offseason.

"I think when you’re one-dimensional, it’s obviously a lot easier to guard," Ionescu said. "Obviously, this offseason, I worked really hard on just continuing to get really explosive, get back to driving, using my body, getting contact, getting into the paint and just getting some easy looks at the basket, which opens up the floor for everyone else."

After her 36-point performance against the Dream in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series, Jonquel Jones applauded how her teammate played.

"She’s able to affect the game in so many different ways and obviously teams know they want to run her off the line," Jones said.

The Liberty are locked in, with Ionescu leading the way. However, today was only Game 1 and she needs to continue her good work.