New York Liberty have swept the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx out of the WNBA playoffs, winning 87-71 in Brooklyn on Tuesday night to complete a 2-0 first-round series. Jonquel Jones supplied 21 points and 13 rebounds, Breanna Stewart scored 21 and Sabrina Ionescu added 18. The No. 8 seed now advances to the semifinals, while the side with the league's best regular-season record is out after two defeats by the same 16-point margin.
It is the first time an eighth seed has eliminated a first seed under the WNBA's current best-of-three opening-round format, introduced in 2022. The distinction needs that qualification: older playoff formats did not always permit the top and bottom qualifiers to meet at this stage. It is nevertheless a startling outcome for a Minnesota team that finished 33-11, compared with New York's 26-18, and entered the series with home-court advantage.
The five-point lead that became twelve
The decisive passage came before half-time rather than in a final frantic minute. New York led 40-35 with 2:39 left in the second quarter, then scored nine of the final 11 points of the half to take a 49-37 advantage into the break. That stretch turned a contest still within a couple of possessions into one Minnesota had to chase. The Lynx did not get closer than seven points thereafter.
Jones' double-double gave the Liberty a centre of gravity inside. Stewart's 21 points meant Minnesota could not solve the problem simply by shifting attention towards Jones, and Ionescu's 18 completed a leading trio responsible for 60 of New York's 87 points. That is roughly 69% of the team's scoring, a concentration that illustrates why the Lynx needed more than a single defensive adjustment. It does not, on its own, prove which matchup decided the game; the official recap does not provide the possession-level evidence for that claim.
There was a worrying moment for New York in the third quarter when Stewart was struck in the face as Olivia Miles challenged her drive. The officials reviewed the incident and assessed a Flagrant 1 foul. Stewart made both resulting free throws. The episode did not derail the Liberty's control of the scoreboard, and there is no basis here to infer a lasting injury from it.
Minnesota's Courtney Williams scored 18 points and Napheesa Collier 14. Miles, named the league's unanimous Rookie of the Year on Monday, was held to five points on one successful shot from eight attempts in 17 minutes. Those numbers matter because the Lynx needed another effective attacking route once New York established its lead. They do not reduce a 33-win regular season to one rookie's difficult evening: Minnesota was beaten over two games by a team that repeatedly found ways to build and protect meaningful margins.
An eighth seed that never looked ordinary
Seeding tells an important story, but not the entire one. Before the playoffs, the league's series preview noted that New York had won two of its three regular-season meetings with Minnesota. The Liberty had also been the WNBA champions in 2024. The eighth seed reflected New York's 2026 league finish, not a lack of players with major postseason experience. The result is historically notable without needing to portray the Liberty as an unknown outsider.
Game 1 had already exposed how dangerous that distinction could be. At Minnesota on Sunday, Stewart scored 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as New York won 91-75. The Liberty shot 13 of 25 from three-point range in that opener, according to the official game account. That level of outside shooting offered one explanation for the road victory, but Game 2 did not have to replicate Stewart's individual scoring peak. Jones and Ionescu made substantial contributions alongside her, and New York again won by 16.
The symmetry is useful because it separates an isolated upset from a sustained series performance. A single hot shooting night can overturn a seed's advantage in a short format; following it with another clear win at a different venue is stronger evidence that New York had the better two-game answer. That is analysis of the observed results, not a prediction that the Liberty will carry the same edge into the next round.
The 2024 championship connection adds another layer. The Liberty beat the Lynx in that year's Finals, so the pairing was familiar even though their 2026 seeds were far apart. Minnesota's regular-season record made it a legitimate No. 1, and New York's record made it a legitimate No. 8. Both can be true at once. The postseason compressed those distinctions into a best-of-three series, in which New York took both opportunities and gave Minnesota none of the recovery room a longer series might have offered.
What comes next
New York will face the winner of Atlanta Dream against Washington Mystics in the semifinals. Atlanta led that first-round series 1-0 when the Liberty-Lynx result was confirmed, with its second game due in Washington on Wednesday. The league says the semifinals begin on Sunday. Until the remaining series is settled, naming a definite opponent would be premature.
For readers following the wider US Sports hub, this is a reminder to distinguish a regular-season ranking from a guarantee about a knockout matchup. Our earlier report on Indiana's WNBA scoring record captured a different side of the playoff race, while the News archive tracks the wider postseason. None of those results supplies a certain betting outcome. Anyone choosing to bet should treat short playoff series as volatile, set a limit they can afford, and use our responsible gambling guidance if play stops being enjoyable.