Liberty Annoyed Yet Undeterred After Snapping Historic Streak
There was no fleeing the interview in Minnesota for the New York Liberty, who dropped an 84-67 decision to the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday's loss made the wrong kind of history for the Liberty, who are engaged in their first losing streak in the regular season since August 2022. It's also the first time they've dropped consecutive games since assembling the group of All-Stars that pushed them into their first WNBA Finals appearance in two decades.
"I think both teams are really trying to blow up any of our actions and making it tough for us," Breanna Stewart, the Liberty's leading scorer, said. "They're really playing on a string together. I think that, for whatever reason in the last two games, as we've been scrambling out, there's been a moment of hesitation. When one person hesitates, the other person follows in suit."
The Liberty (4-2) have fallen behind early in each of their last two games, necessitating comebacks from double-figure deficits. New York generated several ties in Minnesota but could never get back an early lead, the affair bottoming out in the fourth quarter when the Liberty was outscored 18-9 to re-estabish Minnesota's big lead.
If New York could muster any positives from Saturday's game (beyond coming home on a charter flight and a breakout performance from Leonie Fiebich), it was perhaps the continued expansion of its interior scoring: the Liberty currently ranks fifth in points in the paint per game after their first six, up two spots from last year. The most prominent seafoam surge on Saturday came when Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot's penetration narrowed a 21-point gap to four. Closer scoring has also become a necessity at the Liberty try to re-discover their outside spark, as their 30.4 percent success rate ranks 10th among the W's dozen.
Despite that, the Liberty have had some trouble in the paint thanks to the increased attention on Jonquel Jones. The center's health has been a major difference in the early portions of this season but she has been frustrated by foul trouble over the past two games. Sophomore Nyara Sabally has been a pleasant surprise in the early going but the Liberty are carefully monitoring her minutes with her expansive international work in mind.
"Obviously, we need JJ. She's a key piece of what we're trying to do," head coach Sandy Brondello said. "But I think they played her really phyiscal. They didn't allow her to get the ball. There's three people around her every time she caught it. I thought Minnesota's defense was extremely good with their activity and their pressure and their physicality. But, in the end, we need to work out how we get her more open looks and how we get her into the game. If we can get her scoring, it'll help the rest of us."
Turnovers also continue to be an issue: while the Liberty are averaging over 16 a game, they were able to mostly get by with solid recovery, allowing just over 15 points off of the losses. That number ballooned to 25 on Saturday and helped Minnesota pull away.
Yet, perplexion yet relative, if not twisted, satisfaction is thus the theme of the past two games' aftermath: perfection is a pipe dream in a 40-game WNBA season but morale remains relatively high in the interim. New York will exit May and enter June with a solid opportunity in the form of a three-game homestand at Barclays Center. The trio opens on Wednesday night against Phoenix (7 p.m. ET, CBSSN) and closes with a rematch against the Indiana Fever next Sunday night, which will serve as the opener of the Liberty's five-game Commissioner's Cup slate.
"Luckily we have two practice days to kind of get it back together, be exactly where we want," Stewart, having played in each of the Liberty's first six games over the past dozen days, said. "Our fans will definitely help us get into a good rhythm."
"I believe in this team. We're facing some adversity now, but, probably, that's not a bad thing for us," Brondello said. "It'll help us grow."
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks