Liberty vs. Sparks: Ionescu Scores 20 as New York Survives a 40-Point Fourth and Rae Burrell's Career-High 28

With 9:35 left on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Sparks trailed the New York Liberty 69-41 at Barclays Center, having just finished a third quarter in which they scored nine points. Nobody in the building was budgeting for drama. Then Los Angeles scored 21 in a row.

New York hung on, 85-81, behind 20 points from Sabrina Ionescu, and dodged what the AP described as one of the biggest collapses in WNBA history. Rae Burrell, who scored a career-high 28 with 20 of them in the fourth, turned what should have been garbage time into the most stressful 10 minutes of the Liberty's month.

Thirty Minutes of Nothing, Then Everything

For three quarters this was a Liberty showcase. A 9-0 run in the first set up a 21-16 lead, and New York went into the half up 49-32 after bullying Los Angeles inside. The team says its 32 paint points and 11 offensive rebounds were both season highs for a half. Jonquel Jones already had 10 points and 12 rebounds by the break.

The third quarter was worse for the visitors. Los Angeles shot 4 of 18 and scored nine, and the Liberty say no opponent has managed fewer in a quarter against them this season. It was 67-41 going to the fourth. New York's only real worry came when Ionescu went down awkwardly on defense, grabbed her foot and headed up the tunnel. She was back about four game minutes later to a nice hand from the crowd, and the night seemed headed for a quiet finish.

It wasn't. From 9:35 to 6:12 of the fourth, the Sparks ripped off 21 straight points, turning 69-41 into 69-62. They did it while losing Cameron Brink, who helped spark the surge by drawing an offensive foul on Breanna Stewart, took a shot to the stomach area on the play and needed help getting back to the locker room. Coach Lynne Roberts said afterward that Brink was being evaluated by doctors after a "brutal hit to the ribs."

New York stayed just far enough ahead for the rest of the way, and it needed every inch. Ionescu's three-point play at 3:39 and her 14-foot pull-up at 3:01 kept the Sparks at arm's length. Stewart hit a pull-up at 1:59. Ariel Atkins answered with a step-back three that made it 80-77, Marine Johannes scored off a Jones pass, Dearica Hamby scored inside, and Burrell's reverse layup with about 22 seconds left made it 82-81.

Burrell Went Nuclear, Ionescu Got to the Line

Burrell's line reads like a typo: 28 points on 10 of 19 shooting, 5 of 10 from three, and 20 of it in a single quarter. Through three periods she had eight points on a team getting embarrassed. In the fourth she was the best scorer in Brooklyn. Hamby added 16, and Nneka Ogwumike gave the Sparks 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Ionescu's night was uglier and more useful. She shot 6 of 17 and 1 of 9 from three, but she scored 12 in the fourth by the team's count, went 7 of 9 at the line and took over the ball when a 28-point cushion was evaporating. Sometimes the star job is simply refusing to let the other team's run become the whole story.

Jones was the reason the lead existed in the first place. She finished with 11 points, four assists and a season-high 18 rebounds, six on the offensive end. The team counts six games of 17-plus rebounds for her in a Liberty uniform, double the total of anyone else in franchise history. Stewart added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists and passed Cappie Pondexter for fourth on the Liberty's scoring list, while Rebecca Allen's 13 points carried her to 1,000 in a Liberty uniform.

Seven Seconds From a Very Different Headline

Ionescu's two free throws with 14.8 seconds left restored a three-point lead, and Los Angeles got one last swing at it. Atkins took the shot, a three from the wing with seven seconds left, and it missed. Ionescu added one more at the line with 3.2 seconds to go.

Had that shot dropped, the Sparks would have been staring at overtime and a shot at matching history. The AP noted that Chicago's rally from 28 down to beat Las Vegas in 2022 stands as the biggest comeback in league history. Los Angeles got within a single possession of joining the Sky and came up one make short.

The Stats That Explain the Mess

• 9 and 40: Los Angeles' points in the third and fourth quarters. Same team, same opponent, same arena, one intermission apart.
• 50-36: New York's edge in the paint, with an 18-7 advantage on second-chance points to match.
• 12: Liberty steals, a season high. They turned Los Angeles' 15 turnovers into 21 points.
• 7 of 13: The Sparks at the foul line. In a four-point game, that one's going to sting all the way to Washington.

A Win Is a Win, Allegedly

New York moved to 21-14, 12-5 at home, and took the season series from Los Angeles 2-1 after losing 98-97 in June and winning 113-109 in July. It also got back in the win column after Tuesday's 106-92 loss in Indiana. The concern is obvious, though. The Liberty are still without Leonie Fiebich and Satou Sabally, and Ionescu's scare in the third gives them one more thing to monitor before visiting Connecticut on Saturday.

Los Angeles fell to 12-21, 7-10 on the road, and has lost three straight. The Aces' recap notes that this loss, paired with their own win that night, helped clinch a playoff spot for Las Vegas. The Sparks head to Washington on Saturday, with Brink's status the first thing they'll want answered.

Three Bad Episodes, One Wild Finale

Everybody has watched a streaming show like this. Three episodes of pure nothing, you're scrolling on your phone, you've mentally canceled it, and then the finale is so unhinged that you text your friends about it for a week. That was Los Angeles on Thursday. It still lost, and the record says 12-21. But nobody who saw Burrell in that fourth quarter is going to remember the first three episodes.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game notes from the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces. Postgame comments and context as reported by the Associated Press.