Sabrina Ionescu leads Liberty against defending champion Aces, Sun steal Game 1 away win against Lynx

Sabrina Ionescu scored 21 points as she helped the New York Liberty to an 87-77 win against the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of their WNBA playoff semifinal series, much to the enjoyment of basketball superfan Spike Lee.

The acclaimed film director is no stranger to courtside seats, regularly watching his beloved New York Knicks, but was very much in the three-time WNBA All-Star’s corner on Sunday.

Lee donned an Ionescu jersey as he watched on from inside the Barclays Center, cheering when the 2024 Olympic gold medalist made her shots.

“He was the first person who called me and shared the excitement with New York getting the (2020) No. 1 pick,” Ionescu said after the win, describing her long-time friendship with Lee from the days she was drafted out of Oregon.

“Every time I’ve seen him, we’ve had small talk and I said he’s got to come out to a game. To be able to see him here, cheering us on loud, over there chirping at the refs and talking to the players, which was really fun.”

Over the years, Lee has become known for his trademark trash-talking from courtside – whether at legendary NBA players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Reggie Miller or Scottie Pippen – and this time directed it towards Aces star guard Kelsey Plum.

The pair could be seen chirping away at each other in the third quarter, but Plum told reporters it was all in good spirits.

“I can’t say exactly what was said, but I told him that he should talk louder,” Plum said, per AP.

“But it was all well and fun and really cool that he’s here.”

It was the second consecutive Liberty game that Lee has watched, as New York continues its campaign for a first-ever WNBA championship.

Sunday’s game was a rematch of last season’s WNBA Finals, which the Aces won in four games to clinch their second straight title, but it was the Liberty who came out fastest in front of their home-crowd.

Breanna Stewart, who was disappointed with her performances in last year’s series, came out flying, scoring 20 of her game-high 34 points in the first half as the Liberty took the early lead.

But the Aces never went away and were kept in the game courtesy of Plum and league MVP A’ja Wilson, who added 24 and 21 points respectively.

With the game on a knife-edge, it was left to Ionescu to be the difference. The 26-year-old whipped Lee and the crowd into a frenzy with two three-pointers in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

“We came out, it’s Game 1, we wanted to play with a sense of urgency and protect our home court,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello told reporters.

Game 2 will take place Tuesday in New York.

Elsewhere, the Connecticut Sun beat the Minnesota Lynx 73-70 in Game 1 of their best-of-five semifinal.

Marina Mabrey scored a game-high 20 points and Alyssa Thomas nearly had a triple double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Sun edged the victory in a tight affair.

Lynx star Napheesa Collier, fresh off being named WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and having a monster series against the Phoenix Mercury, led the way in the losing effort with 19 points, nine rebounds, two steals and a block.

In the end, the Sun’s defense proved the difference and coach Stephanie White was happy to see her team excel on that side of the court.

“That’s just what our group does. This is a team and a franchise that has hung our hats on defense,” White told reporters.

“We had to be disruptive. We had to try to force them into uncomfortable shots.”

Game 2 takes place on Tuesday as Minnesota looks to pull level.

“It’s a long series for a reason. We have all the faith in the world that we’ll perform better on Tuesday night and hopefully come out with a win,” Lynx forward Bridget Carleton said after scoring 17 points in the defeat.