The New York Liberty missed their chance to secure their first WNBA title in Game 4, a victory that felt almost within reach. The Minnesota Lynx’s defense proved to be a formidable barrier, successfully shutting down Breanna Stewart, the Liberty’s top scorer in the finals. Now when the thrilling series heads to a decisive Game 5 in New York, Stewart herself opened up about what held her back during last night’s game.

After the game, the Liberty’s head coach Sandy Brondello, along with players Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart, took to the podium for the post-game press conference. Given that Liberty’s #30 had an off night, the media turned to Stewart, inquiring about how the Lynx’s defense managed to contain her and prevent her from scoring. Well, after taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Stewie offered a thorough self-assessment of her performance.

“I mean, I think that I was going a little bit too fast. I just needed to slow down. You know, they’re sending multiple people when I’m slipping on a screen, stuff like that, just a little bit better awareness on my part,” stated Stewart. The Liberty forward delivered her least impactful performance of the series in Game 4 as she recorded only 11 points on the scoreboard.

If she had delivered another standout performance like her 30-point game in Game 3, not only would the Liberty have clinched their first title in franchise history, but she also would have earned a bonus of $20,825—an amount awarded to each player on the championship-winning team. Nevertheless, Stewart didn’t just score the fewest points; her stats showed several other low figures as well.

Breanna Stewart hit several lows which led to a disappointing performance

As Stewart acknowledged that she came out a bit too aggressively in her offensive attempts, in the first quarter alone, she launched seven shots—the most she’d taken in a first quarter itself during this series—but unfortunately, none found the net. As a result, she had zero points for the first time by the first quarter end of the series. She did manage to get on the scoreboard in the second quarter with a couple of baskets from inside the paint, but by halftime, she only had four points to show for her efforts.

Ultimately, she finished the game with 21 attempts, converting just five of them, resulting in her lowest field goal percentage of the Finals at 23.8%. She might have scored more points if there were more free throws awarded, which in last night’s case was awarded only once. In the past, Stewart had got over five free throws in every game against Lynx in this series. In fact, her 30-point game had 10 out of 10 successful free throws included.

If the Liberty lose this series, this night would definitely haunt Stewart adding to her guilt of Game 1 where she had missed the free throw that might have already made the franchise champions. Nevertheless, as Stewart concluded, “But quick turnaround and be ready for Sunday,” she might have her last knockout punch in her bags for Sunday’s game at Barclays Center.