The New York Liberty leaned on their two MVPs to avoid elimination in Game 3 of the 2023 WNBA Finals, keeping their season alive. Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones combined to play their best collective games of the WNBA Finals, especially on the defensive end, to push New York past the Las Vegas Aces at home 87-73, forcing a Game 4 on Wednesday night. New York made the right adjustments, got MVP-caliber performances from its MVPs and was fueled by a crowd that was relentlessly on their side from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
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In Game 3 both Stewart and Jones were forces on both ends of the floor. The two combined for 20 rebounds, five blocks and two steals. The way they were flying around the court and bottling up the paint, it felt like they had 10 blocks, which is also probably what it felt like on the court for Las Vegas.
The defensive intensity started with a change to the way New York matched up with Las Vegas, particularly on A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray.
To start the game Stewart, with all of her length and size, defended Gray. Putting Stewart at the point of attack junked the Las Vegas offense, forcing the team to become more of a one-on-one team, which works for stretches, but not for an entire game. Gray was limited to just two assists after combining for 20 in the first two games. Gray also shot 4-12 from the field finishing with 11 points after combining for 34 points shooting (12-27) in the first two games.
With Gray off her game, the momentum and rhythm for the Las Vegas offense never reached its potential like in the first two games where they scored 101.5 points per game.
Las Vegas finished with just 13 assists as a team with Gray locked up after averaging 26.0 in games one and two.
Jones also bottled up Wilson, limiting her to just 16 points, half of which came from the free-throw line while shooting just 25% from the floor overall. A big part of New York’s success came with strategic double-teams on Wilson. With Jones defending her, Stewart was able to roam over and put more pressure on Wilson because of her vantage point coming off of Gray.
On the offensive end, Jones led the way with 27 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, impressively going 4-7 from three, stretching out the Las Vegas defense all night.
Stewart was right there with 20 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks making clutch plays on both sides of the court all game.
The New York defense was the key to the win in Game 3. They came out, energized by the crowd and the fear of elimination to play their best defensive game of the WNBA Finals and arguably the best of the entire year considering the opponent and circumstances.
Looking ahead to Game 4 in New York, all eyes will be on Gray and whether or not she can play and at what level after going down with what looked like an ankle injury late in the fourth period. As talented as Las Vegas is, without its leader and point guard creating offensive flow they become more predictable and more guardable.
New York did its job by winning Game 3 of the WNBA Finals at home. All the pressure was on them to not get swept. Now, all of the pressure shifts to Las Vegas starting with Game 4 to avoid becoming the first team in WNBA history to go up 2-0 in a best-of-five series and see a fifth game.
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