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After missing most of her rookie season with a knee injury, Sabrina Ionescu wasted no time getting back to her thrilling ways on Friday night, nailing a deep three with less than a second left to lift her Liberty to an opening-night win over the Indiana Fever.
SABRINA FOR THE WIN. ICE COLD pic.twitter.com/XEHFXemqGv
— ESPN (@espn) May 15, 2021
There were so many insane parts to this play. First is that New York clearly did not need a three. They in-bounded the ball with 5.4 seconds left and were tied at 87. Ionescu didn’t care much for any of that, and went ahead and fired anyway.
The other insane thing is that Ionescu was ice cold most of the night. She started the game 5-16 from deep before hitting her first clutch three with 39.7 seconds remaining. And the Liberty went right back to her on the final play of the game, where she promptly delivered with a game-winner with 0.4 left on the clock.
The last insane thing here is that Ionescu’s shot was so sick that even her opponents couldn’t help but smile. Fever wing Victoria Vivians was caught with her jaw dropped in the aftermath of Ionescu’s dagger.
victoria vivians reaction to sabrina’s game winner lmaooo pic.twitter.com/AImY8LOoUm
— whitney medworth (@its_whitney) May 15, 2021
Ionescu is technically eligible for the Rookie of the Year again this season after playing basically two games in 2020, and this is a heck of a start to her campaign. New York has another chance against Indiana on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.
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