Sabrina Ionescu gets her Liberty moment in comeback win

A few years ago, the New York Liberty drafted her as the No. 1 overall pick for moments like this. She longed for a moment like this in the WNBA.

It finally happened for Sabrina Ionescu on Sunday afternoon, when she led the Liberty to an 89-88 overtime victory against the Washington Mystics at Barclays Center after a 31-point performance with seven 3-pointers to show for it.

In a game where Breanna Stewart uncharacteristically struggled by scoring 18 points on 4-of-17 shooting, the Liberty needed Ionescu to lead the way against a WNBA title contender that outplayed them for most of the game.

She scored 14 second-half points and five points in overtime to lead the Liberty to a comeback victory. She did enough to have Courtney Vandersloot tie the game on a layup at 78 with two seconds left in regulation. And Stewart played the hero by executing a three-point play (driving the lane to score and drawing a foul that would have her execute a free throw) with 19.7 seconds left in overtime to give the home team a victory.

Ionescu came up big in overtime by hitting a jumper that would have the Liberty tie the game at 83. But just a minute later, she would hit a 3-pointer to give them an 86-85 lead. It was then that the Liberty believed they were going to win the game. The Mystics gave it their best shot, but they had nothing left, and they unraveled in overtime when the Liberty would not give in. The Mystics treated this like a championship game, but the Liberty had an answer because of Ionescu.

It was about time Ionescu showed assertiveness and took over the game. She can be guilty of being, like LeBron James, a facilitator. That can be a great thing, but if Stewart and Vandersloot have to grind it out despite not having a great shooting day, this is where Ionescu has to be valuable.

Stewart is the Liberty’s best player. It’s understandable that Ionescu still defers to her after averaging 22.9 points per game. Plus, Stewart has a knack for making big shots like she did in overtime.

Still, this has to be Ionescu’s team. That is why the Liberty drafted her, and that is why they built a super team around her. Stewart, Vandersloot and Jonquel Jones decided to play for the Liberty because of Ionescu. Ionescu needed to show her teammates that she can be the driver of the bus when they need her the most. She led the way by coming up with several 3s to help the Liberty, plugging along to be in a position to tie the game and get a comeback win.

She showed grit out there as she kept on shooting, despite going 9-of-19 on the field.

Maybe it has been a struggle for the game to come to her, but this is where she has to take over the game by trying to make it happen as she did on Sunday. This could be the moment that Ionescu needed to be that impact player the team expects her to be. That is why this game was huge for her. If the Liberty are going to win a championship this season, they need her to elevate them as she did on Sunday.

Ionescu has played well this season by averaging 17.1 points per game. She stands out by improving her 3-point shooting to 43.8 percent, compared to 33.3 percent last season. Part of it is that she is open with so many of her teammates being guarded, and part of it comes from working on her game. This season, she shot six 3s in games against the Seattle Storm and eight 3s against the Atlanta Dream to go along with her seven 3s on Sunday.

Her improvement in 3-point shooting comes in handy since there are so many great shooters in the WNBA now. The Liberty need that kind of shooting from her for them to do well in the postseason, when 3-point shooting makes the difference between making a postseason run and a quick playoff exit. Her work on her 3-point shooting may have set the stage for a day like Sunday, where she played the hero for a change.

This is Ionescu’s fourth year in the WNBA. She is better than a work in progress, but she still has a way to go to be a star like a couple of the WNBA MVP candidates in Stewart and A’ja Wilson. As the season goes on, maybe we will see a breakthrough in Ionescu.

She did enough on Sunday to be the player of the game much to the approval of Mikal Bridges and Donovan Mitchell, who embraced her when the game was over. More moments like Sunday, and she will eventually be a perennial All-Star starter.

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