The two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces are one loss away from elimination after losing Game 2, 88-84, to the New York Liberty in Tuesday's WNBA semifinals at Barclays Center. No WNBA team has overcome a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-five series, and no defending champions have been in that position.

This series is a rematch of the 2023 Finals, which the Aces won 3-1. Since the 70-69 Game 4 victory in Brooklyn that clinched the championship, Las Vegas has lost five straight games to New York. The Skid sets a franchise record for consecutive losses to the same opponent.

The top-seeded Liberty have never won a championship but have been to the finals five times. WNBA teams are 18-0 in playoff history when leading 2-0 in a best-of-five series.

On the other hand, the Minnesota Lynx evened their series with the Connecticut Sun with a 77-70 win at Target Center.

The playoffs continue Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) as the semifinal series moves to Las Vegas and Connecticut.

ESPN looks at how the Liberty came one win away from defeating the Aces and how the Lynx performed against the Sun on Tuesday.

Liberty leads the best-of-five series 2-0

Don't write off the aces

It's worth remembering that the sample of WNBA series that started 2-0 is small and reflects many that weren't that close. New York won those first two games by a total of 14 points, and only four of the previous 18 had such a small overall margin – including the only time a team combined to force a Game 5, when the Phoenix Mercury took the series against the USA shut out Seattle Storm during the 2018 semifinals.

When the NBA hosted the best-of-five series, there were six 2-0 comebacks, according to ESPN Research. With this win rate of 5.6% (6-102), a similar WNBA comeback is overdue. We'll see if Las Vegas can be that team. — Kevin Pelton

Have the Liberty officially become Sabrina Ionescu's team?

As New York's superteam assembled ahead of the 2023 season, the arrival of three high-profile rookies – Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot – in Brooklyn made headlines.

However, Ionescu has emerged as a dominant offensive force in the 2024 postseason. She led the Liberty with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists on Tuesday, becoming the only player in Liberty history to have multiple postseason games with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. What stood out Ionescu's performance in Game 2 (besides the crowded stat line) was her impact in the fourth quarter, when she scored or assisted on 16 of New York's 19 points. The freedom looked told her to lead them and she delivered. — Katie Barnes

Game 2 was more competitive than the series opener. What was the difference?

When asked what she liked about her team's play in the first half of Game 2, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said, “I liked the second quarter.” She should have. Then New York won the game. The Aces were the better team for the remaining 30 minutes, but in the second quarter New York showed why they were the best team of the regular season. The Liberty defeated Las Vegas 24-13. Stewart scored or assisted on 13 of those points, with the strategy of making the two-time MVP the facilitator paying off. (She finished the game with eight assists.) Five New York players scored, and Ionescu came alive with two huge three-pointers in the final 1:45 of the half.

The Liberty defense also committed eight Las Vegas turnovers and allowed just five field goals in the second quarter. — Charlie Cream

The best-of-five series is tied 1-1

Can the Sun get Brionna Jones going?

Last year, the Suns entered the postseason without a core piece of their identity after Brionna Jones suffered an Achilles tendon injury in June. The return of their interior presence this season and the signing of Marina Mabrey gave the Suns confidence that they could finally win a championship.

And yet Jones was not present in this series. In Game 1, she contributed six points and two rebounds in 18 minutes; In Game 2, she played 13 minutes and sat the entire fourth quarter.

The Suns are at their best when Jones can excel on both ends, and we saw what that looks like in September when she scored at least 17 points in seven straight games. Minnesota's interior defense of Collier, Alanna Smith and Myisha Hines-Allen can be incredibly difficult to deal with, but if the Sun can find ways to keep the Lynx low on offense, it will bring attention to the Sun elsewhere on the court . — Alexa Philippou

Did Connecticut miss a golden opportunity?

If Stephanie White had been told before Game 2 that her team would hold Napheesa Collier, the league MVP runner-up who averaged 33.0 points in her first three playoff games, to 3 of 14 shooting, the coach of Connecticut probably expected their team would win. White had several defenders on Collier, whose nine points were a season-low. But Connecticut's offensive performance didn't match its defensive performance, and the Lynx managed to overcome their star's night.

Maybe winning one game away from home is enough to start a best-of-five series. However, it still feels like the Sun – given the work they did to slow Collier down – passed up the chance to take control of the series. — cream

Is Minnesota's strength the key to another championship run?

On a night where Collier struggled offensively, Charlie noted, she got the help she needed. Three Minnesota starters reached double figures and everyone who played for the Lynx scored at least four points in at least 12 minutes. Courtney Williams, who spent most of her career in a Suns uniform, was particularly impressive. She led the Lynx with a team-high 17 points and also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal.

Minnesota won four championships in seven years, most recently in 2017, with rosters full of future Hall of Famers. This version of the Lynx is built differently, but is just two wins away from returning to the finals. — Barnes