It seems as if the Chicago Sky is riding its basketball luck high as the reigning champion and No. 2 seed. On Tuesday, they defeated the New York Liberty, the No. 7 seed, at Barclays Center. In the crucial winner-take-all Game 3, the Chicago Sky dominated with a 90-72 victory against the New York Liberty on the basketball court. This decisive match determined which team would advance to the WNBA playoff semifinals.

Following a devastating setback in Game 1 on their home soil, the Sky utilized two convincing victories to fulfill their dream of retaining their championship. Before them, it was in 2001 and 2002 that when Los Angeles Sparks dominated the game.

The No.3 seed Connecticut Sun and No. 6 seed Dallas wing will play the tournament’s third game. The winner of the Game 3 will face the Sky. It will be a best-of-five semifinal series, hosting Games 1, 2, and 5, if required.

According to guard Allie Quigley, the veteran Sky team treated Game 1 like a regular-season game. However, maintaining urgency while playing was not much of an issue for Chicago.

In Game 2, the Sky scored 38 points in the WNBA playoff, destroying the Liberty. The Sky then dominated Game 3 on Tuesday, except for a brief period in which New York shortly made it a game of one possession during the initial stages of the fourth quarter. After Liberty’s late flurry, a 20-3 fourth-quarter rally with 16 straight points proved crucial.

Quigley said, “I think Game 2 was a reminder of how hard it is to get a playoff win and what we have to bring in order to win. Sucks that we didn’t have that reminder for the first game, but we had it now and we know how hard it’s going to be to continue getting wins.”

Chicago outscored Liberty 27-5 in transition, forced 16 turnovers, and six Sky players scored in double digits. Candace Parker, the two-time MVP, almost had a triple-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists. Courtney Vandersloot had a double-double of 14 points and 10 assists, and Quigley made four 3s on 50% shooting.

“I believe we woke them up a little bit, to be honest,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. She added, “Because they’ve advanced to a higher level.”

2021 Finals MVP Kahleah Copper said, “I believe we saw a version of ourselves that we fell in love with and want to develop into. And there is no turning back. We set the tone. Anything less than that is just unacceptable.”

The Liberty, headed by Betnijah Laney (15 points), Sabrina Ionescu (14), and Natasha Howard (14), finish their season with a poor defeat. Brondello, on the other hand, said entering the playoffs – which they accomplished on the last day of the regular season – was an achievement in and of itself, particularly given their dismal 1-7 start and a litany of injuries, including All-Star Laney.

The Liberty’s Game 1 win against the Sky was their first postseason victory since 2015. It enabled them to host their first home playoff game since 2017 which was a sellout.

It was also the Liberty’s first playoff game at Barclays Center, where they had played full-time for the previous two seasons after two years at the Westchester County Center in White Plains.

Brondello said, “I thought we did a lot of good things this year. We faced a lot of adversity. It’s a what if — what if [Laney was] healthy all season long. … New coach, new system, some new players coming in. It takes time, and with our injury toll, it took probably a little longer than we thought for the chemistry to get where we wanted it to go. But I thought we showed a lot of signs of that.”