Liberty Leap Into All-Star Break on High Note
BROOKLYN— Leap-less vs. Seattle, the New York Liberty are putting out a new script as their summer blockbuster rolls on.
The Liberty have created some distance between their All-Star celebrations and an early summer swoon, creating a three-game winning streak going into the exhibition break. The latest landed on Wednesday night when the Liberty disposed of the Indiana Fever by a 98-77 final at Barclays Center.
With the victory, New York (15-6) has won four of five at the start of a season-long eight-game homestand and moved back into second place on the WNBA leaderboard.
Wedged in the otherwise victorious homestand is a 79-70 defeat to the Seattle Storm on July 6, one that saw the Liberty lose control in a third quarter that featured only six metropolitan points. They've won three in a row since, the longest active tally in the W as it stages its All-Star showcase in Indianapolis. Prior to the active streak, New York had lost six of nine while dealing with numerous medical interruptions.
Bound for Indianapolis to take the floor in both the All-Star Game and its preceding 3-Point Contest, Sabrina Ionescu partly credited coach Sandy Brondello, set to coach her All-Star squad at Saturday's main event, for helping the Liberty stay composed amidst the early chaos.
"There was just this understanding of, we've got to just find a way and stay together and we have what we need in the locker room," Ionescu said. "I think we were losing some of those games ourselves, like we were just not coming out with the right energy. We were not playing Liberty basketball. There was kind of just this realization of, if we just kind of settle into doing that, we're in a really good spot."
"Sandy continued to keep us together, which in a time like that, can make or break teams, especially when you know we want to go out there and kind of be at that point how we started the season, which was kind of wheeling and dealing. I felt like everything was so smooth and easy, but you're going to hit adversity at adversity at some point in the season, and we hit it really early on, and I think that's obviously going to just continue to help us as we chip away at this season, as we know how to kind of deal with those adverse situations. We just went through it, and we were able to weather the storm."
New York put up perhaps its most complete effort of the season in Wednesday's win: they led from the get-go beyond Natasha Howard's opening double and established a lasting double-figure lead at the midway mark of the second quarter.
Breanna Stewart was the statistical headliner, falling three assists short of her first career triple-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds. The Liberty shot over 57 percent from the field, had assists on all but seven of their 37 successful sinks from the field, and rejected nine Indiana tries to tie their season-high.
One could easily chalk up the Liberty's success to the departure of Caitlin Clark, as the sophomore sensation and face of the WNBA was a late scratch due to a groin ailment. The Liberty, however, were still missing reigning WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones, who missed her eighth straight game with an ankle issue.
Following a return home to The Bahamas during the break, Jones plans to return to the New York lineup when they face the Fever again on Tuesday. But the Liberty's recent work without Jones served as sterling vindication to the New Yorkers, who frequently stressed that there was "no panic" despite the Jones-less struggles.
"To go off with the bang and to finish really strong and have a good win over an Indy squad [is huge]," Cloud said. "Obviously, Caitlin wasn't in the game today, but Indy has proven that they can win also without her, like that Commissioner's Cup game. So [they're] still very dangerous, a team with a lot of arsenal. So this is a great win for us to feel confident going into the All-Star break and just to kind of get ourselves flowing."
Since the Liberty won the first nine games of their first postseason championship defense, starters Cloud, Ionescu, Jones, and Leonie Fiebich have all missed at least one game. The remaining headliners rose to the occasion in their absence: Stewart's flirtation with history came after Ionescu earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors and the latter had 15 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday's win.
Cloud made sure that Stewart truthers were put on watch on Wednesday, expressing disappointment that anyone could doubt her and the fact that the two-time MVP fell just short of the three categories with double-figures.
"I know that I'm probably the only one on this team that will say something about it, but I'm happy for Stewie, man, because people are really trying to count her out coming into the season," Cloud, clad in a shirt depicting Stewart and her wife Marta Xargay in a romantic moment, said.
"I think Stewie is one of the best players in the entire world. I've had the luxury to play with a lot of great franchise players, and Stewie is probably the most versatile out of all of them, and I think that just makes her special."
Depth stars, however, have proven to be equally formidable in this stretch: Fiebich, often more regarded for her defensive work, has embraced Brondello's challenge to get more involved in the offensive game, putting up a career-best 26 attempts from the field and hitting just over 69 percent of those tries.
The Liberty has also enjoyed sterling second unit contributions for Isabelle Harrison, Marine Johannes, and Nyara Sabally: Johannes' 4-of-5 outing from deep on Wednesday night produced some of the most joyful reactions from the Liberty bench while New York is a plus-36 in the last five games where Harrison plays at least 10 minutes.
New York may be one of the few WNBA teams ruing the break that could interrupt their momentum, though there will be plenty of seafoam representation on the Indianapolis hardwood: Ionescu will be on a team coached by Brondello at the main event on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC), which will see them do battle against one featuring Stewart.
On Friday, Ionescu will also shoot for her second 3-Point Contest title while Cloud partakes in the Skills Challenge. All the while, Liberty reps will hold a formidable role in the ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the league as both sides seek fair shares in the W's recent windfall.
New York has always known that it was going to face the league's best once it hoisted in WNBA Finals trophy but seeing and engaging in its playing out was another exercise entirely. Holding their own as they inch back to full strength, the group shows no signs of rejecting the ongoing challenge.
"We've been down a few people in different stretches," Jones noted before she returned home.
"We said at the beginning of the season that pressure is a privilege and that teams are going to give us their best shot. I think we've done a good job of staying together as a team, just understanding that we had to weather the storm until we were back with everybody back in."
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.