The New York Liberty beat the visiting Indiana Fever 83-75 on Saturday on the back of a 30-point output by Breanna Stewart. At one point in the third quarter, the Liberty trailed by 12 points, and Stewart couldn’t take it anymore.
On the court, New York’s star appeared frustrated, demanding more from her teammates. This, paired with her drawing nine fouls, which allowed her to score 18 points on free throws, took the Liberty over the hump and eventually onto victory.
On Tuesday on the “Game Recognize Game” podcast, Breanna Stewart explained what motivated her in the moment:
“As a player, you have these moments where you get mad, and you just can’t like hold it anymore, and I basically got to that moment. We were down 12 halfway through the third, and I was kind of like ‘What the f** are we doing?’ Like we’re just like playing around with this team and like Indiana is obviously a good and very talented team, but like we weren’t putting ourselves in the best position to be successful, and that’s what was most frustrating to me.”
She said that it’s incredibly important for WNBA teams to protect their home court advantage, and that they had already lost three games at home in a row. For her, the game against the Fever was a must-win affair, and it was her role as a leader to demand more of herself and her teammates.
Breanna Stewart on what allowed the New York Liberty to beat the Indiana Fever
Analysts and fans have pointed out that what allowed the Liberty to win was mainly the Fever’s lack of discipline when guarding Breanna Stewart. The Stewart’s comments to the press in the game’s aftermath basically confirmed this, with her saying that they took advantage of the Fever’s desire to play a physical game:
“I think we definitely exploited [the Fever’s physicality and aggression],” Stewart said. “You know, we wanted to really kind of put that pressure on them, too. They want to get into the paint. They want to attack us that way. We want to also attack their hips, and put the right people in the actions.”
The Liberty (8-4), on a five-game winning streak, followed Saturday’s win with an 89-80 win over the Connecticut Sun on Monday.
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