32-8. That’s the win-loss tally for the New York Liberty this season. They won all regular season series except for one: against the Minnesota Lynx. And now that the Liberty are facing the Lynx in the Championship Finale series, they need to be careful not to let history repeat itself. However, when the Sandy Brondello-coached team went into Game 1 against the Lynx on Thursday, they committed a few errors that led to a loss. And to avoid the horrors of last season, their star Sabrina Ionescu shared a few changes in their gameplay that might help them level the series on Sunday.

Ionescu was present in a chat session with the media on Saturday when she reflected on why the Liberty lost despite having an 11-point lead with 3:23 minutes left in the fourth quarter. And fans were excited to hear about the Liberty’s preparations.

“No, they played the same way that they’re… they always play. I think it’s more of what we did do. You know, I think we were up maybe 15 or 18 at one point, and we slowed the game down. You know way… way too much. I think we just got to keep playing, and that’s the strength of ours. It’s how we got up so much is by playing our style of play, and I think it’ll be a good adjustment going into the next game,” Ionescu stated.

Ionescu reminded the journalists that the Lynx were down by 18 points in the first half. From there, the Liberty “slowed the game down.” This resulted in the home team giving away their advantage. The game will always be remembered by fans for how the Lynx chased down their opponents. Even during the fourth half with five minutes left, the Lynx trailed by 15 points, becoming the first team in the WNBA playoff history to make a comeback in such a tense situation and win the game. For this, their head coach, Cheryl Reeve also lauded them. However, the Liberty could have stopped the Lynx, if not for their changing style of play.

The Liberty are known for their offense with the best offensive ratings this season (107.0), whereas the Minnesota-based team is popular for its defense, with the second-best defensive ratings (94.8), only behind the Connecticut Sun. Therefore, according to Ionescu, her team changed their style of play in order to slow things down and that was where their downfall started. And now they will be mindful of their issues going forward. Meanwhile, the Liberty’s forward Breanna Stewart also shared her perspective on the loss.

Breanna Stewart regrets missing her free throws

When the DPOY Napheesa Collier blocked Stewart’s 3-foot driving layup in the fourth quarter, the ball went out of bounds. From there Ionescu gave an inbound pass to Stewart, who looked to score another layup. However, Collier once again tried blocking the shot and was given a foul. The referees reviewed if the call had occurred before the buzzer. And yes, it did. Stewart was given two free throws when the score was 83-84 in the Lynx’s favor. However, unfortunately, Stewart could make only one free throw. And that tied the game, sending it into overtime. Hence, when asked about their defeat after the game, the 30-year-old couldn’t help but share her perspective on the missed throw.

“We just take it on the chin, you know. We were up a lot, and then we had a wild kind of sequence to end the fourth. Didn’t start overtime great. I had a great look at the end and I didn’t make it. But I think that this is a series. We wanted to really win, obviously, for home court. But the beauty is, we have another game on Sunday and we’ll be ready,” Stewart said. And as the game went into OT, the Lynx immediately took a four-point lead while the Liberty couldn’t execute their first six shots. All this made the home team give away their advantage and lose the game by a 95-93 tally.

But now that Ionescu has pointed out the real reason, maybe this adjustment will help them level the series. Moreover, their other star Stewart will also be mindful of their tactics this time.