New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu shares legendary Spike Lee moment

BROOKLYN– The New York Liberty made sure that the Atlanta Dream reached their 25th hour on Tuesday.

In front of 11,003 spectators, including Brooklyn-raised director Spike Lee, the Liberty played well and continued Sab’s summer: Point guard Sabrina Ionescu tied the Liberty’s franchise playoff record in a single game with 36 points, shooting 12 of 23 shots en route to a 91-82 victory over Atlanta. The win moves New York into the second round of the three-game WNBA playoffs, where they will play a rematch of the finals against the Las Vegas Aces in 2023.

The former Oregon Duck is off to a brilliant start this postseason: While Ionescu struggled in the final stages of the WNBA regular season (14 points per game on just over 31 percent shooting), she averaged 26.5 (the highest among all players who played in at least two playoff games before Wednesday) at 50 in the clear win over Atlanta. With nine assists and three more possessions through steals, Ionescu was literally involved in 61 of New York’s 92 points on Tuesday.

“Honestly, it’s just about doing whatever it takes to win. I know I’m capable of scoring goals, but I also know that a big part of my job is creating space and good opportunities for my teammates,” Ionescu said of her epic night. “I think just continuing to take what the defense gives me while also being assertive, throwing the ball with confidence and continuing to go downhill, pulling and kicking is going to be a big part of what we do going forward.”

In her subsequent address to reporters, Ionescu thanked Lee, a regular on the sidelines at New York Knicks games at Madison Square Garden, for a special assist.

“Spike Lee gave me a high five as I was about to put the ball out of bounds, and I felt like New York had just been injected into me,” Ionescu recalled. “At that moment, I thought we were winning this. The ball had just injected in, like it had just flown through.”

The fateful handshake is said to have occurred in the second half, with Liberty trailing by eight points just after the fourth minute. Ionescu then had a hand in all but three of Liberty’s next 16 points, creating a slim but defensible one-point lead before giving the Dream a final nightmare with a fourth-place finish by 12 points.

Ionescu was a generous wizard as she left the podium, shaking hands with nearly every returning Liberty-area reporter to give them “some Spike Lee.” The decorated principal was one of several notable names who stopped by to check out the Liberty’s progress: American Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas, actress Whoopi Goldberg and musician Pharrell also sat in courtside seats, while Queens-born rapper Ja Rule performed at halftime.

When it comes to adapting her game to the professional level, the top pick of the 2020 WNBA Draft is doing it right: Highly regarded for her three-point ability, Ionescu has made other areas of the court just as dangerous: Through two games, 29.4 percent of her attempts have come from 3 to 10 feet away. In her first three postseason appearances (14 games), Ionescu attempted just 18.6 percent from the same distance.

“When we put the ball in her hands, we want to get her going. She’s a great shooter. I know she hasn’t shot as well the last few weeks, but she’s still a great shooter,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said. “We’ve been working on how to help her; getting the ball in her hands is one way, getting her to block is another. But when she sees the ball go through the hole, that’s all you need as a shooter… Her aggressiveness is good for us. It’s not about her scoring though. It’s about everything else, just the impact she has on both ends of the court.”

“I think Sab is someone that you can tell has put in the work to get better,” added Dream head coach and former New Yorker Tanisha Wright. “She’s done a great job of not just focusing on threes, but trying to put together a different package of being someone who scores at the basket, mid-range and behind the arc at threes… Hats off to her for putting in that work and understanding that this is the best league in the world. In this league, you have to stay hungry, you have to keep going and keep improving, and that’s what she’s done.”

Ionescu’s next chance to light the Liberty torch will come Sunday when Game 1 against the Aces kicks off at a time to be determined.

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