A festival. Marine Johannès shone brightly during the first period of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals last night at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. 14 points on 5/6 shots, including 4/5 from three points, in 11 minutes coming off the bench: simply brilliant. Enough to allow his team, the New York Liberty, to lead by three points at the break against the Aces. Alas, the French international from Asvel did not score again after the break. Led by Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum (26 points each), Chelsea Gray (20 pts) and A’ja Wilson (19 pts), the defending champions made the difference during the second period (53-33 in 2nd MT ) to win 99-82. On the New York side, MVP Breanna Stewart scored 19 points, she is the top scorer for Liberty, who will try to equalize at 1-1 on Wednesday, still in Nevada, during the second round of this final.
Arriving at the room with a San Antonio Spurs jersey flocked “Victor Wembanyama”, Marine Johannès finished with 14 points on 5/9 shots, including 4/7 from distance, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 3 turnovers in 20 minutes of playing time. La Normande finished the 2023 season with 7.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Since the start of the play-offs, with the New York Liberty, she had only scored 5 points… in total (5 matches).
