Betnijah Laney-Hamilton fights through injury for huge game to help Liberty hold on in Game 2

To Sandy Brondello, it wasn’t difficult to see that Betnijah Laney-Hamilton couldn’t operate at full-strength.

“You don’t have to be Einstein,” Brondello joked just over two hours before Game 2 began.

Laney-Hamilton’s season had been defined — and upended — by a right knee injury, keeping her out of the lineup for 12 regular-season games and prompting a minor clean-up procedure ahead of the Olympic break that kept her out of the lineup even longer.

But Sunday, with the Liberty attempting to avoid a 2-0 deficit in the WNBA Finals, Laney-Hamilton fought through whatever pain still lingers to finish with 20 points, tying her season high on 8-for-14 shooting in the Liberty’s 80-66 win.

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“That’s what we’re used to,” Breanna Stewart said. “We know she can do this, and really happy to kinda see her get into a good rhythm with everything that’s kind of been up and down this season and know that she’s a big factor in everything we do.”

Laney-Hamilton didn’t want to place a percentage on how healthy she has been, but she also said that it was good to “see a glimpse of what I’m capable of.” She has tried to focus on stacking the days until she finally started to feel “pretty good.”

“The team, they’ve been doing a great job with everything,” Laney-Hamilton said of her treatment. “We’ve been doing a little bit of everything to try and get me feeling good.”

Breanna Stewart puts Game 1 errors behind her with do-it-all effort as Liberty even WNBA Finals

She opened with seven points in the first quarter, including a jumper and a layup, but with how the Lynx kept going under screens, the Liberty encouraged Laney-Hamilton to keep shooting 3-pointers. And with just over three minutes left, her 3-pointer followed a basket from Minnesota that cut the Liberty lead to two and ranked as one of her best moments, she said.

They entered the season wanting her to play-make more, Brondello said, but that became difficult when she’s “hobbling around with her knee.” During the Liberty’s Finals run last year, Laney-Hamilton emerged as one of their most consistent options on offense while the stars around her, who clouded her role on offense during the year, struggled at times. Her defense — as the Liberty’s anchor — had always been her strength.

It materialized again Sunday when she slid over and helped on Lynx star Napheesa Collier in the second quarter to force a turnover, along with the scoring burst the Liberty needed.

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After shooting just 8-for-26 from the field in Game 1, Sabrina Ionescu erupted for 12 points in the first quarter before managing just two the rest of the game. She finished with a 5-for-9 shooting line while adding five assists.

“Ten of them were in the fast break,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “So what changed: She wasn’t able to get it in fast-break, and we had her in the half-court.”

Stewart set a WNBA Finals record with seven steals. … Brondello moved into a tie with Bill Laimbeer for second place with her 37th career playoff win.

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