Late in the third quarter of Saturday's matinee at Barclays Center, Breanna Stewart missed a 3-pointer and the Los Angeles Sparks took off the other way on a three-on-one fastbreak. They appeared to have an easy bucket on the way, but Stewart had other ideas. The reigning MVP sprinted the length of the court, timed her leap to perfection and stuffed Stephanie Talbot at the rim for one of the best blocks of the season.
"Just not giving up on the play," Stewart said. "Whatever happened on the offensive end, knowing that we want to make every basket difficult for them. Also just the timing. I could see Hamby was about to pass it back to Steph and the way that the fans reacted, it's amazing to have those types of blocks at home."
HUGEEE REJECTION FROM STEW YORK ❌@breannastewart reaches her new career-high of 6 blocks against the Sparks 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Jzh6EtnJ1w
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) June 22, 2024
That was Stewart's sixth block of the day, which set a new career high and helped her start an exclusive club. Stewart finished with a season-high 33 points, three rebounds, seven assists, three steals and six blocks on 12-of-19 from the field to lead the Liberty to a 98-88 win over the Sparks.
While she narrowly missed out on joining Candace Parker as the only player in WNBA history with a 5x5 effort, Stewart did become the first player with 20 points, five assists and five blocks in a half, and the first player with at least 30 points, six assists and six blocks in a game.
She actually got off to a bit of a slow start, but completely took over the game in the second quarter, as the Liberty outscored the Sparks 33-19 in that frame to pull away for good. Despite only playing eight of the 10 minutes, she either scored or assisted on 29 of the Liberty's points in the quarter.
Stewart has long been one of the league's most versatile players, and her performance on Saturday only further emphasized that fact. For the season, she is now averaging 19.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.4 blocks. She is fifth in the league in scoring, ninth in rebounding, 13th in assists, fourth in steals and eighth in blocks. It should come as no surprise that no other player is in the top 15 in all five categories.
Thanks in large part to Stewart, the Liberty improved to 14-3 on the season, which is the best start in franchise history, and now sit percentage points behind the Connecticut Sun for the top spot in the league. Up next is a matchup with the slumping Atlanta Dream on Sunday, then it's back home for the Commissioner's Cup championship versus the Minnesota Lynx.
That game, which is set for Tuesday night, will be played at UBS Arena, home of the NHL's New York Islanders, due to the NBA Draft, which is being held at Barclays Center. The Liberty will have a chance to become the first team to repeat as Commissioner's Cup champions, and Stewart called for a big crowd.
"Please come to UBS, we need you," Stewart told the fans on Saturday. "We want to win this for you guys, so please come."
