Breanna Stewart making WNBA playoff history is no surprise — and gives Liberty reason to dream

Read the original at New York Post ↗
New York Post · collected 2026-09-28 · by Madeline Kenney

Quick Summary

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Story summary

The New York Liberty secured a shocking 91-75 victory over the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in Game 1 of their best-of-three WNBA playoff series on Sunday, April 23, 2026. Despite finishing as the eighth seed with a record of 26-18, the Liberty's star player Breanna Stewart led the charge with an impressive performance of 34 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists. The win puts the Liberty one game away from eliminating the previously undefeated Lynx, who must now win Game 2 to avoid being the first top-seeded team in history to fail to advance past the first round since a format change in 2022.

Stewart's clutch play was pivotal, as she scored crucial points and made key defensive plays against her former college teammate Napheesa Collier. The Liberty capitalized on multiple Lynx turnovers and foul trouble, with Collier and All-Star center Natasha Howard each fouling out of the game. Rookie Olivia Miles struggled in her first playoff appearance, scoring just 11 points.

With Game 2 scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, at home, the Liberty now hold a narrow advantage but remain wary of a potential Lynx comeback, as they narrowly escaped a similar situation last year against Phoenix. The Liberty’s defense was instrumental in limiting the Lynx's scoring opportunities and forcing turnovers that kept the game close until the final quarter when New York pulled away. Despite their historic lead, Stewart emphasized the need for continued focus to avoid being caught off guard by Minnesota's resilience.

Written for “Liberty-Lynx WNBA Playoff Matchup” on 2026-10-05, grounded in this article and the 13 other(s) covering the same event.

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
6
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
17%
1 of 6 hedged
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Correction & hedging signals
64.3
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
14
Sports
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-28 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Liberty-Lynx WNBA Playoff Matchup
Sports · 14 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 17% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 36 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe Breanna Stewart's playoff game where she played a crucial role in the Liberty's victory over the Lynx on the same date and place.”
Toronto Star · 0.91 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 11% hedged 1 of 9 📰 publisher trust 63
“Both articles describe Breanna Stewart's performance and the game outcome in the same playoff game between New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx on September 27, 2026.”
The Guardian · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 11% hedged 1 of 9 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe Breanna Stewart's performance and key plays in the New York Liberty's victory over the Minnesota Lynx in Game 1 of their best-of-three WNBA playoff series.”
Toronto Star
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 37 📰 publisher trust 63
“The articles describe different parts of the WNBA postseason, with Article A focusing on upcoming playoff debuts and matchups, while Article B covers a specific moment in an ongoing game involving Breanna Stewart.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 24 📰 publisher trust 64
“The articles describe different moments in time, one discussing the status of players before Game 1 and the other detailing an incident during a game.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 45 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe the same game between Liberty and Lynx on September 27, 2026.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 35 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe the same WNBA playoff game where the Liberty upset the top-seeded Lynx, with detailed context and timing information matching.”
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 24 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles describe different stages of a playoff series, with Article A focusing on an incident during Game 1 and Article B summarizing Game 2's outcome.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 33 📰 publisher trust 64
“The articles describe different stages of the Liberty's playoff run; Article A discusses a specific play in their game against Minnesota, while Article B covers co-owner Joe Tsai's post-game comments after the Liberty swept the top-seeded team.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 28 📰 publisher trust 64
“The articles cover different aspects of the same game but describe distinct moments and players (Stewart vs. Ionescu), indicating they are not describing the exact same incident.”

Publisher

New York Post · 6819 article(s) · 23 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 23 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Madeline Kenney
32 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The Liberty may have waltzed through the first round by beating the Minnesota Lynx by an average of 16 points.
🔮 But they appeared to forget the one thing they could least afford against the Dream.
🔮 The No. 4 Atlanta Dream might be the higher seed in their semifinal matchup against the eighth-seeded Liberty, which begins Sunday.
🔮 It is being billed as a physically demanding series, where speed and size will matter greatly.
🔮 “And Breanna Stewart probably plays in the playoffs as good as anybody I’ve ever seen, except maybe [Diana Taurasi] in terms of winning when you have to win, winning in knockout games.”
🔮 The Libs, led by their big three, looked for two games like the team projected in the preseason to seriously contend for the WNBA title.
🔮 Liberty are set to meet the red-hot Atlanta Dream in a best-of-five semifinal series, starting Sunday, after the Dream finished off the Washington Mystics in a sweep with a 93-75 win Wednesday.
🔮 The Lynx trio of Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams shared an extended embrace on the court as the final seconds ticked off their stunning loss.
🔮 Many had doubted what the Liberty would be capable of doing this postseason.
🔮 We’re thrilled that she will continue to be such an important part of what we’re building.”
Also by Madeline Kenney
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 32 articles by Madeline Kenney →

Topics

Liberty MINNEAPOLIS

Subjects

Liberty ORG · 4× Collier GPE · 2× Stewart PERSON · 2× Breanna Stewart PERSON · 1× MINNEAPOLIS GPE · 1× Madeline Kenney PERSON · 1× Napheesa Collier PERSON · 1×

Narrative

SIGN UP NOWSo Stewart took a leap of faith, extended her massive 7-foot-1 wingspan and somehow managed to redirect Collier’s shot.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-28
🔮 Collier was ready to fire off a 3, which could’ve trimmed the Liberty’s five-point lead to two entering the fourth. We've got you covered on the Liberty beat Text with Madeline Kenney as she follows the Liberty — she’s sharing behind-the-scenes info and insights with Sports+ subscribers.

Claims (6 extracted, 1 hedged)

MINNEAPOLIS — Roughly 8 feet separated Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier Sunday with 1.8 seconds left in the third quarter. asserted
feet → separate → quarter
Collier was ready to fire off a 3, which could’ve trimmed the Liberty’s five-point lead to two entering the fourth. We've got you covered on the Liberty beat Text with Madeline Kenney as she follows the Liberty — she’s sharing behind-the-scenes info and insights with Sports+ subscribers. uncertain
she → fire → subscribers
SIGN UP NOWSo Stewart took a leap of faith, extended her massive 7-foot-1 wingspan and somehow managed to redirect Collier’s shot. asserted
Stewart → sign → shot
The backboard lit up. asserted
backboard → light → ?
The horn sounded. asserted
horn → sound → ?
Stewart’s relentless fight ensured the Liberty’s five-point lead remained intact. asserted
lead → ensure → ?
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