Down 2-0 in WNBA Finals, how can New York save its season? - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — The New York Liberty pride themselves on never getting too high or too low. Coach Sandy Brondello «never hits the panic button,» Courtney Vandersloot told ESPN on Wednesday morning, a big reason why the Liberty hadn't dropped consecutive games all season entering the WNBA Finals, the point guard said.

Brondello wasn't exactly hitting the panic button later that day after her team's 104-76 blowout Game 2 loss to the Las Vegas Aces, putting them one defeat from elimination. But her bewilderment and disappointment were clear in her postgame remarks to media.

«We didn't have any toughness.»

«Everything was too easy.»

«We had no resistance… There was no grit.»

«We've got to take some pride in playing better than what we did.»

Brondello's sentiments were echoed by the players to her left and right, 2018 and 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart and 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones.

«We have to dig deeper,» Jones said.

«We need to take a look from within and figure it out,» added Stewart, a two-time WNBA champion whose losses this series are her first in a championship setting across the NCAA and WNBA.

The Liberty will fight to keep alive their championship aspirations Sunday when they host Game (3 p.m. ET, ABC) at Barclays Center. Teams that trail 0-2 in a best-of-five WNBA playoff series have never managed to overcome the deficit to win the series, and in Finals history have been swept in seven of eight instances.

The possibility of a sweep, by either team, seemed far-fetched a week ago. Las Vegas and New York split the regular-season series 2-2, with the Liberty winning the Commissioner's Cup championship game in August. The Aces swept the Chicago Sky in the first round and the Dallas Wings in the semifinals. New York had to grind out