Home|Sports|Jones, Liberty sweep MysticsSports
Simba FrenchSend an emailSeptember 20, 2023 30 3 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
When Jonquel ‘JJ’ Jones was traded to the New York Liberty in January of this year, her goal was to win a championship. She and the Liberty got one step closer to doing that after sweeping the Washington Mystics in the first round of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) playoffs. They won a thrilling Game Two, 90-85, in overtime last night, sweeping the best-of-three series two games to none.
It is the first time the Liberty won a playoff series since 2015. Ironically, the last time was against the Mystics. Playing at home at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the Liberty had to use five extra minutes to fight off a pesky Mystics team which did everything to try and extend the series.
Grand Bahama native Jones was a menace to the Mystics as she finished with her second straight double-double in the series, scoring 19 points and adding a game-high 14 rebounds in 38 minutes on the floor. None of her points and rebounds were more important than the offensive rebound and the two clutch free throws at the end of regulation to force overtime.
“We talked about boxing out at the free throw line and I feel like I had to redeem myself with that one,” Jones said.
She grabbed a rebound off a missed free shot from her teammate Sabrina Ionescu and was fouled on a putback attempt.
Jones shot 6-for-9 from the field for 66.7 percent and went 7-for-8 from the free throw line. She also had one steal and three blocks. The one steal came with a few seconds remaining in overtime.
Breanna Stewart led the way for Liberty with 27 hard-fought points. Natasha Cloud gave the Liberty a tough time on defense as she came up with a career-high in points with 33 big ones.
The Liberty led 84-83 with 1:04 left in overtime after Ariel Atkins of the Mystics made a layup. Jones got the ball at the top the key on the next possession and went to work, driving to the hoop with the intent to score. She put in her final field goal of the night to put her team up 86-83 with 49 seconds left in the game. Seven seconds later, she got her third block of the game to preserve the lead. The Mystics got an offensive rebound and Atkins was fouled. She sank both free throws to cut into the Liberty lead, 86-85, with 38 seconds left.
That was the closest the Mystics got as Stewart went to the charity stripe twice and scored all four attempts for the 90-85 thriller.
“We knew that we wanted to play our best basketball. We had to come together. We had a lot of hard tests during the season that has gotten us ready for this moment and now we are here,” Jones said.
The first half ended with the Liberty leading 46-35 after being up just 21-18 after one quarter. They looked like they gained control of the game and was going to take Game Two easily. The Mystics came out the half and played some strong defense in the third quarter. They outscored the Liberty 21-13 in the third and trailed just 59-56 entering the fourth.
The fourth quarter saw the Mystics taking their first lead since the first quarter when they went up 62-59 on a Cloud’s three-point shot at the 8:33 mark. The two teams battled throughout the fourth quarter as the Mystics fought to stay alive and take the series to Washington D.C. for a do-or-die game three. The Liberty had other plans. They tied the game at 76 points at the end of regulation thanks to Jones’ clutch two free throws and then took over down the stretch in overtime.
The Liberty will now wait to see who they will play between Jones’ old team the Connecticut Sun and the Minnesota Lynx. That series is tied at 1-1 and their decisive game three is set for tonight. The semifinal series between the Liberty and the Sun or Lynx will get underway on Sunday September 24 at 1 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.