Emma Meesseman's Simple Reason Why Liberty Was Right Choice
BROOKLYN — Clap along if you feel like the New York Liberty was the move for you.
Such a lyric might not move rhythmically, but New Yorkers are certainly enjoying Emma Meesseman's tune: the accomplished hardwood vet is almost a month into her Brooklyn tenure and has lived up to the instant expectations thrust upon her. The latest example came on Tuesday, when she put up a 13-point, seven-rebound showing in the Liberty's salvaging of their rapid-fire WNBA Finals rematch series with the Minnesota Lynx.
Meesseman briefly, if not emphatically, expressed vindication for her decision to choose defending champion New York in the bidding war for her services, which has created another subplot in the budding rivalry between Brooklyn and Minneapolis.
"Because I'm happy," Meessman mused when asked why New York felt like the right move. "That's the only thing that should matter, I think."
The win came in front of Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve, whose league-leading Lynx also made a play at Meesseman. When Meesseman signed with the Liberty instead, Reeve remarked that the Belgian baller "made the wrong decision," per Madeline Kenney of the New York Post.
Natasha Cloud, Meesseman's teammate from a 2019 WNBA title run with the Washington Mystics (which saw Meesseman herself win MVP), had no intention of keeping things short, happily explaining why New York was the best choice despite some turbulence endured while the team bides its time for the return of injured familiar faces.
"Emma made the right decision coming here because we have everything that we need," Cloud said. "We play the structure of basketball that she wants. We play a selfless brand of basketball that she wants and also have a really encompassing locker room that will love on her and bring her out of her shell. So I think she's fit in perfectly."
"I think she came in when we needed her most, and to kind of balance things out," Cloud continued. "So Emma has done a really good job of just implementing herself, and I don't think people really understand how hard that is, to come in mid-season to a team that's already down numbers, and then to be producing the way that she is. So Emma made the right choice, and we're going to keep trucking away until we prove that to her as well."
Reeve and Co., to their credit, gave Meesseman a glimpse of what she was missing in prior matchups: having made a move of their own by adding Most Improved Player DiJonai Carrington via trade with Dallas, the Lynx won the last two matchups with the Liberty sans presumptive MVP Napheesa Collier, including an 86-80 win over the weekend at Target Center. Minnesota is thus responsible for two of three losses in the Meesseman era, which finally enjoyed a day of practice just before the Lynx came in.
Meesseman and the Liberty, however, saved the last dance, leading for almost all of the final chapter to date. Meesseman was 6-of-8 from the field and helped the Breanna Stewart-less Liberty win the rebounding battle for just the 13th time this season while also contributing to one of the better defensive efforts of the year.
Over her eight games in seafoam, Meesseman has produced one of the more unique stat lines in the history of the WNBA.
In that span, Meesseman has become just the fifth player in league history to average at least 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, and a block and steal each over her first eight games with a new team, joining Stewart (who did it in both New York and Seattle), Indiana stars Tamika Catchings and Caitlin Clark, and Candace Parker in Los Angeles. If one adds the caveat of shooting at least 54 percent from the floor, the list narrows down to only Meesseman and Stewart's first New York chapters.
Meesseman, for her part, is looking only to share the love, which hasn't been hard to come by even without her sterling box scores.
"I'm not looking to score. I think that's why I'm just trying to be go with the team, trying to give them what they need and move and everything," Meesseman said of her early success. "When I don't score more than 10 points or something, I'm totally fine. I just want to win. I think that should be the mindset of the team every single time."
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.