Defending league champion New York Liberty’s playoff-opening victory in Phoenix on Sunday night was tempered by an apparent knee injury to All-Star forward Breanna Stewart in overtime.

The Liberty said afterward that Stewart will be evaluated by medical staff for the injury, which occurred with 3:01 left in overtime in New York’s 76-69 win over the Mercury in the best-of-three, first-round series.

Stewart drove for a layup against defense from Satou Sabally and DeWanna Bonner. Stewart made the shot but stayed down on the court after the collision and grabbed her left knee. She stayed in the game to shoot a free throw on Sabally’s shooting foul and missed before exiting at the 2:07 mark.

“She asked me to sub her out there, and she looked uncomfortable, so that was the reason we took her out there,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “We’ll just be hoping that she’ll be OK.”

Stewart, 31, finished with 18 points, six rebounds (all on defense), four assists and two steals in 40 minutes.

The teams play on Wednesday night in New York. Game 3, if necessary, will bring the squads back to Phoenix on Friday.

Stewart, who has been part of three WNBA championship teams including 2024 with New York, missed 13 games this season because of a bone bruise on her right knee.

A two-time league MVP and seven-time All-Star, Stewart led the team in scoring in the regular season with 18.3 points, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game in starting all 31 of the games that she played.

–Field Level Media

Natasha Cloud tied a season high with 23 points, Breanna Stewart added 18 before exiting with a possible left knee injury in overtime and the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty took a 76-69 victory over the host Phoenix Mercury on Sunday in the first game of their playoff series.

Cloud hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring in overtime and the Liberty scored the first eight points to take control and gain home-court advantage in the best-of-three series that continues Wednesday in New York.

Stewart appeared to suffer a leg injury when she scored on a driving layup with three minutes remaining in overtime and grabbed her left knee after landing on the court. She missed the free throw and came out of the game at the 2:07 mark.

A two-time league MVP and seven-time All-Star, Stewart missed 13 games this season because of a bone bruise on her right knee.

Sabrina Ionescu had 18 points for the Liberty, who are 12-1 when their projected starting lineup plays this season.

Kahleah Copper had 15 points and Alyssa Thomas had 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Mercury, who could not overcome a 32.5 field-goal percentage.

The Liberty, who won one of the four regular-season meetings with the Mercury, have now won four in a row. The Mercury have lost four straight overall as the series shifts east.

Thomas and DeWanna Bonner scored to bring Phoenix within four at 73-69 with 1:16 remaining in overtime, but Leonie Fiebich made a 3-pointer with a minute remaining to push the lead back to seven.

Fiebich had 10 points, and starter Jonquel Jones had seven points and 12 rebounds.

Phoenix’s top three scorers — Thomas, Satou Sabally and Copper — shot 14 of 48 from the floor. Sabally, the Mercury’s leading scorer in the regular season, was 2 of 17 overall and 1 of 10 from 3-point range.

New York had a 48-31 rebounding edge but committed 21 turnovers, tying a season high. Phoenix had 15 points off turnovers.

Phoenix missed its first seven shots in the third quarter before Bonner hit a 3-pointer to close the deficit to 53-51. That was part of an 11-2 run that helped the Mercury to a 57-55 lead after three quarters.

Cloud’s layup gave the Liberty a 63-61 lead with 4:17 remaining, and neither team scored again until Copper made two free throws to tie it at 63-63 with 3:02 left.

Copper’s reverse layup on a feed from Thomas made it 65-63 with 1:44 remaining, and Stewart countered within a 6-foot jumper to tie it at 1:31.

Thomas missed a driving layup in the final seconds, and Ionescu’s long, contested 3-pointer hit the rim, sending the game into overtime.

–Field Level Media

Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard scored 20 points apiece on Sunday to lead the Atlanta Dream to an 80-68 victory over the visiting Indiana Dream in the opener of a best-of-three first round playoff series in College Park, Ga.

Naz Hillmon added 16 points and nine rebounds for the third-seeded Dream, who won their first postseason game since 2018. Brionna Jones chipped in 12 points for Atlanta, which can clinch the series on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Kelsey Mitchell had a game-high 27 points for the sixth-seeded Fever, while Odyssey Sims had 10 in the loss. Lexie Hull scored nine points and Aliyah Boston finished with eight points and 12 rebounds for Indiana, which shot just 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) on 3-point attempts. Atlanta went 7 of 22 (31.8 percent) from distance.

Leading by five after three quarters, the Dream scored the first nine points of the fourth. Jones began the run with a layup, before Howard made a 3-pointer and two technical free throws. Fever head coach Stephanie White and Sims were called for consecutive techs for arguing.

Indiana was held scoreless in the fourth until the 6:34 mark, when Aerial Powers split a pair of free throws to pull the Fever within 13.

Hillmon’s triple and layup put the Dream ahead by 16 with less than two minutes left, icing Atlanta’s win.

Trailing by seven at halftime, Indiana began the second half on a 7-0 run, including Hull’s personal 5-0 spurt, to pull even at 40.

Jones and Gray’s layups were then followed with Howard’s 3-pointer to give Atlanta a 47-40 edge.

Mitchell’s layup cut Indiana’s deficit to three, but Hillmon then scored six straight points as part of an 8-2 Atlanta run. Hull’s layup and Mitchell’s free throws trimmed Atlanta’s lead to 58-53 entering the fourth.

After Indiana jumped out to a 15-6 lead, Atlanta cut its deficit to three entering the second quarter.

Behind 26-22, the Dream went on an 8-2 spurt — capped with Brittney Griner’s layup — midway through the second quarter to grab their first lead since the game’s opening minutes.

Mitchell’s layup knotted the score at 30 with 4:35 left in the first half, before Atlanta finished the first half on a 10-3 run, including Maya Caldwell’s layup to give the Dream a seven-point halftime lead.

–Field Level Media

The Minnesota Lynx showed why they are the class of the WNBA, rolling to a 101-72 victory over the Golden State Valkyries on Sunday at Minneapolis in the opener of a best-of-three playoff series.

MVP candidate Napheesa Collier led the top-seeded Lynx with 20 points and six rebounds. Kayla McBride added 17 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range and Natisha Hiedeman scored 18 points with four assists off the bench for last season’s WNBA runner-up.

Cecilia Zandalasini and Veronica Burton each scored 14 points for the expansion Valkyries, who were playing in their first-ever playoff game. Janelle Salaun had 13 points and Temi Fagbenle added 12.

Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase earned a technical foul arguing with officials with 7:53 remaining as frustration boiled while the Valkyries trailed 85-58.

Leading 94-61 with 4:18 remaining, the Lynx pulled their starters and cruised to the victory after recovering in style from a slow start to the game.

Minnesota trailed 17-7 with 4:15 remaining in the first quarter before a 24-14 run tied the game 31-all with 5:54 remaining before halftime. In the second quarter, the Minnesota defense held the Golden State Valkyries to 12 points on 29.4 percent shooting and built a 47-40 lead at halftime.

After missing four games with a left shoulder injury, Minnesota’s DiJonai Carrington made her return in the third quarter and scored six points in 11 minutes of her first playoff game with Minnesota after a midseason trade from the Dallas Wings.

Salaun led the Valkyries with eight points in the first quarter as Golden State led 28-20 after the opening 10 minutes. After shooting a season-low 11.1 percent from 3-point range in the final game of the regular season, Golden State was 9 of 31 (29.0 percent) from deep, while the Lynx were 10 of 24 (41.7 percent) from distance.

–Field Level Media