Liberty Calm After Shocking Loss
A shocking loss to the Connecticut Sun seemed to convince the New York Liberty that dawn may soon be coming.
The defending champion Liberty's latest loss is perhaps their most shocking yet, as they dropped a 78-62 decision to the cellar-dwelling Sun on Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. In its fourth consecutive loss, New York (17-10) trailed steadily after losing an early nine-point lead and was kept off the board in the final five-plus minutes.
Falling by an ugly margin to the WNBA's last-place team might not even be the shorthanded Liberty's most shocking loss this week: New York previously dropped a 92-82 game to the Dallas Wings on Monday, a score only beautified by a futile comeback from 30 points down. Sandwiching these bizarre showings is one of the most respectable outings of the year, a relatively narrow defeat to the league-leading, full-strength Minnesota Lynx.
Monday's loss saw New York lament the loss of "Liberty basketball" amidst a perceived lack of effort in North Texas. Liberty reps speaking for Friday's defeat were confident that their brand was still present, believing that progress was made despite several missing links.
"I actually don't think we did refer back to the way that we had been in Dallas. I'd say this was Liberty basketball," Sabrina Ionescu said. "The score might not depict it, but I would say the effort, the energy, the intention ... there's no complaints on that. I think everyone is out there trying their best, getting hit in the eye, getting back up, playing through it, we just didn't have enough."
"We're just going through a test, a tough stretch of games, like every other day, and we just got to dig really deep and push through fatigue, push through tiredness, and find a way to be able to execute. But there's no complaints on that end, of us reverting back to that team in Dallas."
The four straight losses make up the longest Liberty losing streak since 2022. Missing from the carnage is All-Star starter Breanna Stewart and champion depth stars Kennedy Burke and Nyara Sabally, though the ailments are not a crutch New York has been willing to lean on. New York had another injury scare on Friday: Leonie Fiebich, as mentioned by Ionescu, was unintentionally poked in the eye by defending Liberty legend Tina Charles.
Accepting Friday's fate was a stark contrast to what transpired after the loss to the Wings, where the Liberty spent a half-hour after the final buzzer discussing how such an outing was unacceptable for a championship-hunting group, no matter who was absent.
Though no doubt perturbed by the final score, New York was a little more content with what transpired on Friday, reasoning that signs of the traditional Liberty were on display before they were done in by their own mistakes.
The Liberty led by as much as nine before things went awry, leading after the first quarter despite eight turnovers. New York took responsibility in being unable to match a physical brand of basketball that Connecticut, playing with a sense of healthy reckless abandon, one raised throughout the game.
"I think we took our foot off the gas just a little bit," center/forward Jonquel Jones said. "That gave them some confidence, I think. They started blowing up a lot of our actions, especially trying to get the ball in the dribble handoff actions, they were really physical with us ... It kind of helped them turn the game around."
"I think we had a good start there and Connecticut got really aggressive," head coach Sandy Brondello said. "I think we got a little tentative, turned the ball over and I think we got we lacked a little confidence ... We have to stay aggressive. We have to stay in our front foot."
That might not be a satisfying explanation for an antsy fanbase eager for another championship parade, but New York fully acknowledged its shortcomings in defeat. The Liberty lost 23 turnovers that stifled the momentum of generating anything remotely familiar to fans, enduring their worst such output since May 2022.
Such losses will only contribute further verbal ammunition for an already unsympathetic national audience that views the defending champions as de facto villainesses, a reputation that will only gain further credence in their eyes after the Liberty officially signed hyped free agent Emma Meesseman. The fact that the Liberty's issues lie in their own hands, and their hands only, New York has an instant chance at vengeance on Sunday, as they'll be back in Uncasville to face the same Sun in the afternoon (1 p.m. ET, My9).
"I think we just got to take better care of the ball. It's not an excuse, but it's just a situation that we're in," Jones said. "We're just down people right now, and people are given what they got and playing really hard. Sometimes with the situation that we're in right now, the chips just don't fall in our favor. I think in the next game, what we have to do is make sure we do a better job of taking care of the basketball and keeping them off the boards, and I think it'll be a different outcome."
"We did get off to a good start, and we talked about how [Connecticut] was going to come out," Brondello said. "This can be aggressive. You've got different players than last time we played ... We got a little more passive, but they got a little more aggressive, and it took away our assertiveness with what we want to do ... Now it's an opportunity to try and go back and win on Sunday."
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.