When the Liberty’s offense clicked last season, 3-pointers were at the crux of that success.
Sabrina Ionescu set a WNBA record with 128 baskets from beyond the arc.
They came within one made shot of tying the league’s single-game record of 18 on four occasions.
For the first two games of 2024, the Liberty struggled to replicate that.
They connected on a combined 16 3s.
But during their 91-80 victory against the Fever in Saturday’s home opener, they unlocked that element of their offense with 12 made 3-pointers in the first half and 15 in total — with Ionescu hitting four, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton hitting three and the Liberty’s other three starters hitting two each.
“I think Indiana, they saw us missing a lot in the first two games and they decided probably to clog the paint up a little bit,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said. “We got some wide-open looks. We got some great shooters. You can miss some shots in one game, but I think over the course [of the season], we’re not going to.”
After Caitlin Clark connected on her first 3-pointer of the game to give the Fever a one-point lead, Jonquel Jones responded with one at the other end of the court.
Then, after Laney-Hamilton stole possession, Courtney Vandersloot drained another 3 just 10 seconds later.
The Liberty, which shot 29 percent from beyond the arc in their first two games, never trailed again and finished the opening 20 minutes shooting 66.7 percent on 3s.
Laney-Hamilton and Breanna Stewart each converted another 3-pointer within the first four minutes of the second half, too.
“You have to decide whether you want to take away the basket or if you want to take away the 3,” Laney-Hamilton said, and on an afternoon when Clark and her vintage 3-point shots traveled to Brooklyn, it was the Liberty who capitalized on those open attempts — and flipped the game through those shots — from the beyond the arc.
With all of the buzz surrounding Clark playing a game in New York City for the first time, the Liberty set a WNBA record by generating more than $2 million in revenue from tickets for Saturday’s game, according to the Associated Press.
Indiana, whether at home or on the road, has played in front of a sellout crowd for all three of Clark’s games to start her rookie season, and that reached Barclays Center for the Liberty’s home opener.
“I think that obviously the buzz and just the eyes that Caitlin has brought from Iowa to the WNBA is gonna be a collective win for all,” Stewart said. “And now that she’s a part of our league … even though we’re competing against each other, we’re making sure that we’re continuing to lift up this league together.”
