Liberty's Nightmare Continues vs. Dream
Things were anything but peachy for the New York Liberty on Sunday in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Dream set an early tone in the first half before withstanding a respectable rally from their metropolitan visitors to earn a 90-81 victory over the Liberty at Gateway Center Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Brionna Jones and Allisha Gray respectively put in 21 and 20 points for the Dream (11-6), which avenged the Liberty's comeback victory at Barclays Center on June 17. The defeat doomed New York to an assured losing record on its four-game road trip, which also included losses in Seattle and Phoenix.
New York's fourth loss in the last five games was foretold by another slow start, one that saw them fall behind by 20 in the opening half. Though the Liberty managed to curb Atlanta's three-point prowess after letting up 72 tries over the last six games (Sunday's hosts were 0-of-10 in the first half), the Dream dominated the interior to the tune of scoring all but seven of their 47 first half points in the paint.
Despite the three-point shutdown, the Dream continued to build the lead on the inside, maintaining a mostly-permanent double-figure lead despite several metropolitan attempts to get back into the game. Such efforts were led by Breanna Stewart and Natasha Cloud, who matched Atlanta's leading scorers on the afternoon.
Having managed to lice the double-decade lead to 13 he Liberty (11-5) made several spirited attempts to cut into the lead headlined by an adjustment to the starting lineup still missing Leonie Fiebich and Jonquel Jones at the top of the second half: Kennedy Burke and Isabelle Harrison stepped into the opening rotation and they got several defensive stops to set the early tone.
Unfortunately, with shooting struggles permeating the non-Cloud and Stewart portions of the box score, as those beyond that duo were 17-of-45 from the field (with Sabrina Ionescu still 5-of-15 while dealing with a lingering neck ailment), putting a wrench in the comeback.
Once Naz Hillmon finally broke the Dream's three-point cover, they held a fairly consistent lead throughout the remainder, holding the Liberty at bay just long enough before they finally got the deficit back down to single digits in the penultimate minute, doing so with a Marine Johannes three.
A well-timed three-day break lingers on the Liberty's schedule before an eight-game homestand tips off on Thursday against the Los Angeles Sparks (7 p.m. ET, WNYW).
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.