Breanna Stewart is enjoying arguably the best season of her career and has long been the MVP favorite. Holding off the fast-charging reigning MVP A'ja Wilson will not be easy, however, and if Stewart wants to capture that major honor for the second time, she'll need a strong close to the summer.
Her historic effort in the New York Liberty's 95-84 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night was exactly the type of performance required. Stewart finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, and didn't have a single turnover as the Liberty won their fourth game in a row and eighth in their last nine outings.
"Just wanting to really be aggressive, make sure that we set the tone," Stewart said. "We know that we have a back-to-back, and taking it one game at a time. Atlanta had this game circled on their calendar, but so did we."
Stewart did most of her damage in the first half, as she carved up the Dream with a steady stream of pick-and-rolls. Whether she was the ball-handler or the screener, Stewart was creating and making shots over and over again. Often they were wide-open looks for herself or teammates, but she also knocked down a few extremely difficult mid-range attempts. In the process, she became the first player in WNBA history to record at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in one half.
Another one 😤@breannastewart was on a roll, dropping 25 PTS at the half, 18 PTS in the second quarter, and finishing with 33 PTS, 12 REB, and 5 AST to mark her 4th 30+ PT game of the szn ‼#MoreThanGame pic.twitter.com/EYtCwg99H8
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 28, 2023
With Stewart leading the way, the Liberty got out to an early lead they would never surrender. Up by double digits for large poritions of the second half, the Liberty didn't need Stewart's scoring as much after the break, though she did make a 3 to effectively seal the game with just under four minutes to play.
Stewart didn't get to 40 points in this one, but she did put herself into some exclusive clubs:
- She joined Candace Parker (2008), Tina Charles (2021) and Brittney Griner (2021) as the only players with multiple games of at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the same season
- Joined teammate Sabrina Ionescu as the only players to have a 30-point, 10-rebound, five-assist outing without a single turnover
- Recorded her third career game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, which is second only to Candace Parker (seven) all-time
For the season, Stewart is averaging a career-high 23.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks on 47.6% from the field. She's second in the league in scoring, fourth in rebounding and one of two players in the top 10 in both scoring, rebounding and blocks, the other being Wilson.
