Breanna Stewart, aiming for playoff atonement, rolls through Aces

NEW YORK -- Breanna Stewart won the WNBA's MVP award last season but thought her playoff performance wasn't good enough after her New York Liberty lost the WNBA Finals to the Las Vegas Aces -- something that stuck hard with Stewart.

"I think I've just kind of grown from it," Stewart said of her 2023 postseason disappointment. "I've had -- unfortunately -- a lot of time to reflect on it, and where can I be better. And how to handle things collectively better. But with that, I don't forget who I am and what I can do."

Lest anyone else forget, Stewart showed them Sunday in the Liberty's 87-77 victory over the Aces in Game 1 of their best-of-five WNBA semifinal series at Barclays Center. Stewart had 34 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, shooting 12-of-19 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the line.

It was Stewart's sixth career game of 30-plus points in the playoffs; only Phoenix's Diana Taurasi (8) has more. Stewart's energy getting the Liberty off to a strong start made it a rough day overall for the two-time defending champion Aces.

"She had too many mismatches," Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said of Stewart's effectiveness, which included 20 first-half points. "We were switching guards on to her and [Jonquel Jones] in that first half, and we're not supposed to do that. And they destroyed us in there, both their bigs."

Backing up Stewart were guard Sabrina Ionescu (21 points) and forward Jones (13 points, 12 rebounds). Stewart and Ionescu, through scoring and assists, accounted for 62 of the Liberty's 87 points.

"You're trying to dig out of a hole the whole time," Hammon said. "It's not the way you want to start, especially on the road."

Historically, WNBA teams that win the first game of a best-of-five series take that series 77% of time (27-8). The Liberty hope that holds true again. Last season, they were the team that needed a rally in the semifinals. They lost their first game against Connecticut 78-63; Stewart had 19 points but was 9-of-25 from the field.

She and the Liberty came back to win that series 3-1 but then couldn't overcome the Aces, falling 3-1 in the Finals. For the 2023 postseason, Stewart shot just 35.8% from the field and 19.6% from 3-point range.

What few outside her team, family and friends knew then was that Stewart was dealing with a lot off the court last fall. Her father-in-law was battling cancer (he died Oct. 6) and her wife, Marta, gave birth to their second child Oct. 25, the week after the Finals ended with a 70-69 Game 4 loss in New York.

Stewart has never used the personal hard times as a reason why she wasn't at her best during the 2023 playoffs. In fact, she still told the Barclays Center crowd after Sunday's game that she had "a lot to make up for" from last year.

Stewart, who came to New York in 2023 as the most coveted free agent in WNBA history, won two league titles when she played for the Seattle Storm, with whom she won her first MVP award in 2018. A native of Syracuse, New York, and four-time NCAA champion at UConn, Stewart came to New York both to be closer to home and to try to help the Liberty win the franchise's first title.

This season, New York had the league's best record, 32-8, and got the No. 1 seed. It swept its first-round series against the Atlanta Dream, with Stewart recording a combined 33 points and 17 rebounds across the two games. A victory Tuesday in Game 2 against the Aces will put the Liberty one step closer to their sixth try at winning the WNBA title.

"Last time wasn't my most proudest," Stewart said of the 2023 playoffs, "but I'm going to continue to be better."