Both the Liberty and Atlanta Dream are meeting in a WNBA second-round playoff series after making history.<\/p>\n
For the first time in the league\u2019s 30-year existence, New York became the first-ever\u00a0No. 8 overall seed to eliminate a No. 1<\/a> after sweeping the Minnesota Lynx in the opening round.<\/p>\n And the Dream advanced to the second round of the postseason for the first time since 2018 after taking care of the Washington Mystics in two games.<\/p>\n Both squads are riding that confidence into a five-game series for a shot to advance to the WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n The difference, though, is this Liberty core \u2014 and some reserves too \u2014\u00a0 knows what it takes to make it to the last coveted round.<\/p>\n The Dream doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cExperience in the playoffs definitely matters,\u201d said three-time champion and two-time WNBA Finals MVP Breanna Stewart.<\/p>\n Stewart of course turned an MVP-winning 2023 regular season into a WNBA Finals berth for the Liberty, which resulted in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Las Vegas Aces. She got back there again in 2024 and defeated the Lynx in a thrilling five-game series that needed an overtime period in a Game 5 clincher.<\/p>\n Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu, who made one of New York\u2019s most memorable shots ever in a road Game 3 win at Target Center, were present in those WNBA Finals runs, too.<\/p>\n Jones won WNBA Finals MVP in her efforts to secure the Liberty\u2019s lone title. And she came to Brooklyn already having two WNBA Finals appearances as a member of the Connecticut Sun.<\/p>\n Also, Marine Johannes and Leonie Fiebich were contributors to the Liberty WNBA Finals appearance and have logged time in those high-pressure moments.<\/p>\n