Liberty Finally Get a Practice in as Lynx Loom
BROOKLYN—For the first time in quite a while, the New York Liberty are — with apologies to Allen Iverson — talking about practice.
New York traversed to the practice courts in Barclays Center's basement for the first time as a team in over a month on Monday, getting a much-needed session in before the Minnesota Lynx visit for the last of four WNBA Finals rematches the following day (7 p.m. ET, My9). The Liberty will also be playing consecutive games Brooklyn for the first time since an eight-game homestand that sandwiched the All-Star break ended last month.
"It's been a long month on the road, and for us to get back home in front of our crowd. We owe them from the last game that we played, the Lynx at home," point guard Sabrina Ionescu said. "Hopefully we can get a great crowd kind of giving us some good energy, and continuing to grow and build."
In that span, the weary Liberty (21-13) played 14 games and welcomed in two new faces in Emma Meesseman and Stephanie Talbot, both of whom have been thrust into major minutes despite their relative lack of seafoam savvy. Familiar faces from prior stops have helped ease the transition, but a personalized session featuring the full group was long-awaited.
"We just talked a lot of through a lot of things and details, what we want to fix and still, like for me, getting to know the habits a little bit better," new forward Emma Meesseman, who worked through her first New York practice on Monday after signing with the team in-season, said. "I'm also asking a lot of questions, just to be sure, because my habit is something else from theirs. So from the first day they've been really helping me a lot. I think that's what helped me through these games. It looks like I was just thrown in there, in off court, like we've really talked a lot."
It was a day of happy returns for New York, which saw the injured Breanna Stewart (knee) serve as a partial participant and the also-ailing Nyara Sabally (knee) don practice gear prior to an awaited medical evaluation. Even the long-lost Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, out for the year due to offseason surgery, put shots up after practice in one of her first glimpses of on-court action since her medically-induced seasons suspension.
Both Stewart and Sabally (as well as Isabelle Harrison, who remains in concussion protocol) are still listed as out for Tuesday's game but head coach Sandy Brondello was pleased with Stewart's progress, remarking that her target return date of before her Aug. 27 birthday is still a goal.
Monday's return afforded the Liberty a chance at further self-reflection from their most recent showing, an 86-80 defeat to the same Lynx that slipped through their grasp thanks in part to a dire final stretch that saw Minnesota end the game on an 11-2 run. The Lynx (28-5) has won all three Finals rematches to date against the Liberty to date. None have featured Stewart but Minnesota has won the last two without presumptive MVP Napheesa Collier.
"We've had the effort, which was what we've always been preaching recently, we had real resiliency. But then we have pockets where we just go, it's a two minute thing, and it's like, whoa, what are we doing?" Brondello said of this stretch which has seen the Liberty drop three of four and seven of 11. "We had a longer video today, and a walkthrough about executing and what we need to run, and making sure everyone's in their right spot before we start the action. So I think it was a really good day."
"We control our own destiny. We know that. We know we need to finish games better, and then that's on all of us, and that's what we worked on. So it's a good day."
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.