The New York Liberty are winning with defense, not just their scoring stars, in the WNBA playoffs

NEW YORK — When Jonquel Jones delivers one of her signature blocked shots, the New York Liberty star forward often likes to add a celebration that basketball fans know well.

Yes, you’ve seen that no-you-don’t finger wag before. And yes, Jones is glad to acknowledge her inspiration for it: Dikembe Mutombo, the longtime fan favorite of the 76ers and basketball worldwide.

“Most definitely,” she said before Tuesday’s Game 2 of the Liberty’s star-studded WNBA playoffs semifinal series against the Las Vegas Aces.

“I met him one time,” Jones recalled. “I think he was at a Hall of Fame induction at Mohegan [Sun Arena in Connecticut], and I spoke to him very shortly. But of course, I grew up watching him.”

» READ MORE: After dominating the WNBA’s regular season, the New York Liberty know it’s time to go win it all

It was a twist of fate that Jones took the court at the Barclays Center a day after Mutombo’s death from brain cancer at age 58. But perhaps he was watching from the suites up in heaven as Jones played a big role in New York’s thrilling 88-84 win: 14 points, four assists, and another night of being the primary defender on Aces superstar A’ja Wilson.

Jones’ talents on both end of the floor point to the way the Liberty would like to win this series. There’s so much scoring brilliance in her, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and their teammates, but they know it will take just as much defense to topple the two-time reigning champs and get revenge for last year’s Finals.

“Our team is so talented and so balanced that sometimes your impact isn’t going to be felt in the stat sheet. It’s going to be in other ways,” Jones said. “I think we have really understood the importance of defense, and that a lot of times, whether we win or whether we lose is going to be on the defensive side of it. Because we don’t really lack in scoring and people that can put the ball in the basket.”

Alas for her, the scoring lacked in the first quarter. Las Vegas threw the house at New York and jumped out to a 27-22 lead behind 10-of-17 shooting. The Liberty dominated the second period, 24-13, and kept their advantage through the third.

The final frame offered outstanding drama. The Aces rallied from a 69-62 deficit at the start and 74-66 after Jones’ big three-pointer with 8 minutes to go to tie the score, 81-81, with 1:31 left.

» READ MORE: Dikembe Mutombo, the most unappreciated Sixers great and Joel Embiid’s role model, dies at 58

But while Wilson scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, Las Vegas never took the lead. Ionescu scored 11 of her 24 in the fourth, the last of them at the free-throw line in the closing seconds.

“I always want to take those shots, make or miss — it’s something that I’ve always done my entire career,” Ionescu said of her big fourth quarter. “Made a lot of big shots, missed a lot of big shots. My teammates are always continuing to just pour into me, and they need me in that moment. They know that I’m built for it.”

Along the way, every shot, rebound, and loose ball anywhere else was contested like this was the deciding game of the Finals, not Game 2 of a semi.

“It was extremely intense,” Jones said. “It’s teams that [are] chasing the championship, both of us, and we’re playing really hard. And it’s playoff basketball: it’s physical, it’s exhausting, and everybody’s trying to get that one possession that will take them over the hump and allow them to win the game.”

» READ MORE: Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty to a statement win in Game 1 against the Aces

Now the scene shifts west for Friday’s Game 3 (9:30 p.m., ESPN2) and Sunday’s Game 4 if necessary (3 p.m., 6abc). It won’t be surprising if the Aces win both games at home — certainly the first one, given the urgency they’ll have to bring.

“Being up, 2-0, is great, but we haven’t won anything — I think everyone knows that,” Ionescu said. “We did what we were supposed to do, which is protect home court … but it’s not like we’re patting ourselves on the back, celebrating, talking about how happy we are.”

That said, as ESPN noted during the game, Las Vegas is now the first defending champion to fall behind, 2-0, in a best-of-five WNBA series. Teams that have taken 2-0 leads, meanwhile, are 18-0 all-time in advancing.

If the Liberty keep that streak alive, they’ll be in their second straight Finals. The No. 2 Minnesota Lynx or the No. 3 Connecticut Sun would await. That series is tied, 1-1, after Minnesota’s 77-70 win at home on Tuesday, with Game 3 at Connecticut also set for Friday (7:30 p.m., ESPN2).

» READ MORE: The Sixers and Mayor Cherelle Parker say they want to bring a WNBA team to Philadelphia

And if this series doesn’t come back to Brooklyn for a Game 5 next Tuesday, Aces coach Becky Hammon might have already authored the epitaph, as much as she doesn’t want to.

“They are the best team, let there be no doubt,” she said. “They’ve played [as] it all year, just like we were last year.”

Now, they’re four wins from a championship.