Second-place Liberty set to face surging Dream

Sabrina Ionescu experienced a difficult night getting shots to fall and still wound up with a triple-double on Tuesday.

For three quarters, Ionescu's teammates also were encountering difficulties, but the New York Liberty used a 32-point eruption in the fourth quarter to earn an 86-82 victory over the Seattle Storm.

Coming off that stirring comeback, the Liberty attempt to continue the best start in team history Thursday night when they host the Atlanta Dream.

At 17-5, the Liberty are percentage points ahead of the Connecticut Sun for the second-best record in the league.

The Liberty won their third straight game when Ionescu shot 2 of 14 from the field but finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists for her fourth career triple-double. Ionescu's rough night making shots occurred on a night the Liberty overcame an 18-point deficit for their biggest comeback of the season.

Breanna Stewart scored a team-high 22 points to lead the Liberty, who outscored Seattle 49-27 over the final 15:55.

"Going through that game, especially in the second half, and how we dug ourselves out is who we are as a team," Ionescu said. "Just the grit that we have and the belief that we have in one another, that's really what's important to me."

Atlanta (13-10) is attempting to match its win total from last year when it finished 14-22. Since losing eight of their first 13 games, the Dream are 8-2 over their past 10.

The Dream won seven straight before taking back-to-back losses to Connecticut last week but bounced back with a 78-65 home win over the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday when they allowed 35.8-percent shooting. It marked the seventh time Atlanta held an opponent under 40 percent.

"It felt good," Atlanta's Asia Durr said. "I'm just trying to get better on both sides of the floor, not just with scoring, but defense too."