The Sky can talk all they want about the target on their back as the reigning champs and how that affects their opponents’ effort, but the playoff opener Wednesday came down to theirs. In front of their home crowd, with multiple opportunities to close out Game 1 of the best-of-three series against the Liberty, the Sky failed to.
Credit the seventh-seeded Liberty, who were unaffected by the pressure of facing the champs on the road. They executed on both ends of the floor, led by Sabrina Ionescu and Natasha Howard, and have a chance to win the series Saturday.
