Liberty vs. Aces: Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu Lead New York in a Commissioner's Cup Final Preview

If Tuesday night was a dress rehearsal, the Las Vegas Aces showed up without their lines. One week before these teams play for the Commissioner's Cup in New York, the Liberty strolled into Michelob ULTRA Arena, drained 13 3-pointers and spent 94 percent of the game in front.

Breanna Stewart scored 15 of her 20 points after halftime, Sabrina Ionescu filled in with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and New York left town with an 87-76 win over Las Vegas that was never quite as close as the final minutes tried to suggest.

Vegas Never Got a Clean Breath

The first quarter was the only stretch that felt like what it was supposed to be, a heavyweight meeting of teams that came in at 11-6 and 12-4. New York led just 19-17 after one. But the Aces' biggest lead of the whole night was a measly two points, and there was exactly one lead change all game.

The Liberty stretched it to 42-33 by halftime, and then the third quarter turned into Han Xu's personal showcase. She played only 13 minutes on the night, but she scored 10 of her 12 points in the period and never missed, finishing 4-of-4 from the floor with two 3s. New York won the quarter 25-18, took a 67-51 lead into the fourth, and at one point had the margin up to 19.

To their credit, the Aces didn't sleepwalk through the last 10 minutes. They won the fourth 25-20, and a sudden 8-0 run in the span of a minute gave them a pulse. A'ja Wilson stepped back from 12 feet, Chelsea Gray pulled up from 25, and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus buried a 3 to make it 78-70 with 2:40 left.

That hope had a shelf life of 23 seconds. Ionescu stepped back from 26 feet and hit a 3 at the 2:17 mark. Then she found Stewart for a 27-footer with 1:30 left, and later found Jonquel Jones from 26 with 21.6 seconds to go. Three Liberty 3s in the final 2:17, and Ionescu had a hand in all of them. Good luck rallying through that.

Stewart Picked Her Spots, Ionescu Did Everything Else

Stewart wasn't surgical from the floor, going 7-of-16, but her night was bigger than the shooting line. She added six rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 36 minutes without committing a single foul. Her second-half scoring was the part that mattered, because that's when a nervy nine-point game turned into something Vegas could only chase. She went 2-of-3 from deep, and her long one late basically closed the argument.

Ionescu's double-double came the hard way. Nine of her 10 boards were on the defensive end, she shot 5-of-12, and she went a clean 4-for-4 at the line while chipping in four assists and, like Stewart, playing foul-free. Each of those defensive rebounds ended a Vegas possession on the spot, which is no small thing against a team that scored 14 fast-break points.

Leonie Fiebich was the quiet star of the supporting cast, with all 12 of her points coming on 4-of-5 from deep. Jones added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. Marine Johannes scored six and posted the game's best plus-minus at plus-14, while Pauline Astier gave New York seven points and two assists off the bench despite picking up five fouls in 20 minutes.

The Aces got 19 points and seven assists from Jackie Young, though she needed 19 shots to get there. Wilson's stat line is a fantasy manager's dream, with 16 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals, until you reach the 7-of-18 shooting and 0-of-3 from deep. Parker-Tyus was the best thing Vegas had going off the bench, scoring 14 on 5-of-7 shooting, and Gray had 11 points and eight assists. Jewell Loyd managed six points on 2-of-7 in 30 minutes, which won't do when the other side is hitting 42 percent from 3.

The building also had some off-court intrigue. Giannis Antetokounmpo sat courtside one day after his trade from Milwaukee to Miami. He can't formally join the Heat until July 6, so apparently he had a Tuesday free.

Ten Points That Changed the Temperature

A nine-point halftime lead on the road against a team with Wilson, Young and Gray is workable, not comfortable. A 16-point lead going to the fourth is a different conversation entirely. That swing belongs to Han, and that's what makes the third quarter the hinge of this game. She gave New York a scoring punch from an unexpected place, and it meant the Aces spent the entire final period needing everything to go right. Eventually, one Ionescu step-back confirmed it wouldn't.

Stats That Matter

• 13-8: New York's edge in made 3s, 13-of-31 against 8-of-27. That's 15 points in an 11-point game.
• 19-10 and 14-2: Las Vegas won points off turnovers and fast-break points by those margins, and it barely registered.
• 14-of-16 vs. 6-of-8: The Liberty also made eight more free throws while Vegas rarely got to the line.
• 94 percent: The share of the game New York spent in the lead. The Aces led for just 2 percent.

What It Means

New York moves to 12-6 and 6-2 on the road, and the win stops a two-game slide that had followed an eight-game winning streak. Next up is a Thursday trip to Seattle.

Las Vegas drops to 12-5 and is an oddly ordinary 4-3 at home. The Aces had won two straight before this one, and they host Dallas on Thursday. This was the first time these teams had met this season. They'll see each other again on June 30 in New York with the Commissioner's Cup championship on the line.

Trailers Lie All the Time

Tuesday was the trailer, and it made the Liberty look like the better movie. Anyone who has ever bought a ticket knows trailers can lie. Still, Vegas has a week to rewrite its third act, because New York just showed exactly how it plans to end the film.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.