Liberty's Struggles Go Beyond Absences
The New York Liberty are blaming only themselves for what's been a cruel summer.
Manageable injuries and vacations are perhaps staples of an unforgettable summer but they're not working in the Liberty's favor as the WNBA's fireworks start to truly ignite. Leonie Fiebich has been repping her native Germany in the ongoing EuroBasket Women competition while fellow starters Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones have likewise been forced to sit as they recover from injuries.
All that and more has created the first of turbulence on the Liberty's flight back to the WNBA Finals, which endured its bumpiest bit yet in the form of a 106-91 defeat to the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night. It was the Liberty's first loss by such a margin in just over 13 months and their fourth defeat in the last six games after a 9-0 start to their championship defense."
National audiences have mostly been content to note that the Liberty's modern misfortune comes with several architects of their championship project sitting. Head coach Sandy Brondello was in no mood to lean on such a crutch, simultaneously accepting responsibility and warning those who believe the respective returns of Fiebich and Jones will fully restore metropolitan sanity.
"I don't care who's not with us. I don't care. They're not going to save us here," Brondello firmly declared after Friday's loss. "We what we've got, this is it. We've got to find a way to dig deeper. I just think we just got to play tougher. If you don't bring effort, you're going to get exploited."
"We got to get locked in. We got to be mentally engaged," Brondello added. "That starts with me. I've just got to find a way to get more effort from these players."
As it stands, the early summer swoon is bookended by losses to Brondello's former employers from Phoenix. New York previously dropped an 89-81 decision at Barclays Center eight days ago, one where Jones endured a second period ankle injury that will keep her sidelined for at least the next four weeks, the first of which has spent on the road.
The shorthanded Liberty posted respectable efforts despite defeat, notably Sunday's 89-79 loss to Seattle that was missing Ionescu due to a "kink" in her neck. New York then stemmed the bleeding with a narrow three-point over Golden State on Wednesday.
But Friday's fracas against the WNBA's hottest team was hardly ever comfortable, with Phoenix (12-4) building a 19-point lead in the first half that never got smaller than seven thereafter. The Mercury offered the Liberty a taste of their own medicine by throwing threes at the hoop, earning 18 to set a new franchise record. A dozen alone came from the arms of either Satou Sabally or ex-New Yorker Sami Whitcomb.
"A lot of teams have lost EuroBasket players too. Competing is just something that's within. Are you willing to do it or not?" Brondello rhetorically asked. "It's early days, so I'm not going to totally panic. I'm disappointed in the way that we played [tonight]. They were a way better team than us tonight [but] then so it's more how we're going to respond. I kept saying that we're missing two important players, but we can play harder than what we did tonight."
The good news for New York is that a mere first quarter of the season is in the books and that another opportunity to salvage an even record on this road trip resides on Sunday when the Liberty travels to Atlanta (3 p.m. ET, WWOR). Those next to Brondello in the aftermath of the damning in the desert also seemed to immediately heed and concur with their leader's words.
"it's just playing harder, that's really what it is. I don't think there's like a magical thing to do," said forward Nyara Sabally, who career-best night in scoring at 16 provided one of the top silver linings. "It's just being aggressive on the court and just putting in the effort and it has. I mean, it's not just one player. It has to be all five players on the court that are connected, especially on defense."
"The loss sucks regardless of how you lose, but I think Coach has harped on it enough about the disappointment in our effort," Natasha Cloud, who spearheaded a fleeting Liberty comeback in the third, said. "Schemes and X's and O's don't matter. If we're not coming every single night with the mindset of we're going to attack first and punch first and be a championship team, then it's going to be a long night."
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.