Liberty Thankful for Preseason 'Reality Check'
BROOKLYN—Unlike the prior New York Liberty game at Barclays Center, no parades, rings, or banners will be yielded from Friday night's game ... and the seafoam savants are perfectly okay with that.
New York's first postseason title defense unofficially tipped off with a visit from the Connecticut Sun, who walked off Atlantic Avenue with a 94-86 victory over the shorthanded Brooklynites. Liberty legend and all-time leading scorer Tina Charles led the way with 17 points on a night where fellow UConn champion and WNBA standout Breanna Stewart rested.
Despite the loss, smiles lingered in the metropolitan aftermath, which spun the game as a positive reality check.
"Reality check doesn't have to mean in a bad way. There's no one in this locker room hanging their heads," Natasha Cloud said after her first minutes in seafoam. "We know that not how you start, it's how you finish, and it's about the progression, we want to peak at the right moment."
"There's a lot of good things," Cloud continued. "These preseason games are really important to really just let us know where we are, let us know where we have to have a little bit of a reality check, but also to remind us that we still did a lot of good things tonight. But there's a lot of things that are staple of us, like our rebounding, our defense, that we just need to be better in."
Head coach Sandy Brondello took it a step further, calling Friday's events "exactly what [New York] needed."
"These are the games you learn the most from, what you put in and where you need to go," Brondello said. "We got a little clunky, and some of the stuff we did at both ends of the floor and a little uncharacteristic, but that's why these games really are important for us. We wanted to get a little flow here, not overplan it too much, but to evaluate what we need to do as we move forward."
A beaming Cloud, the Liberty's headlining import from this past offseason, noted that the postgame aftermath marked the first time she had stepped foot in Barclays Center's main press conference room since her epic battle with new backcourt companion Sabrina Ionescu in the opening round of the 2023 playoffs. At the time, Cloud was a member of the Washington Mystics, the Liberty's first victim on a prior run to the Finals.
Cloud and Ionescu were collaborators this time around, continuing a working relationship that got rolling on the South Floridian floors of Stewart's Unrivaled league. There were both growing pains and instant gratification, as the two united for nine assists and seven turnovers. Cloud sank her only attempt from the field while Ionescu had eight points on 3-of-4.
"We're going to continue to grow," Cloud said of the "tough" tandem she has formed with Ionescu. "I want her job to be easier. I want her to be off the ball and be able to make some big plays and easy shots. So we're just going to continue to get better. I thought tonight was a good first outing for us. But we do have to be better when teams are going to press us full court of getting that ball out and still facilitating our offense, whether the ball is in their hand or not."
Cloud owned up to her role in the Liberty's turnover problem, saying that she spotlight her trio when head coach Sandy Brondello mentioned it in the immediate aftermath. New York lost 18 turnovers that produced nearly a third of the Connecticut points at 29. The Sun also scored 15 via fastbreak compared to four for the hosting Liberty.
Brondello was also peeved by the Liberty's lacking in the "discipline" portions of the game: the Sun took eight more free throws than the Liberty and beat them 12-3 on the offensive glass.
But the Liberty managed to please a crowd of 8,395 gathered for consequence-free basketball and championship reminiscing on several occasions: Ionescu hooked up with Jonquel Jones on a needle-threading pass for the first points of the game, part of a shot chart that saw New York starters shoot 15-of-22 from the field (including 12-of-13 from two-point range).
The first Liberty preseason game within Empire State borders since 2019 produced plenty of other informal milestones beyond Cloud's participation, as Friday's exhibition was one of many happy returns beyond New York's first Brooklyn showing since Game 5 of the WNBA Finals. That contest, of course, saw the Liberty come back from a dozen down to secure an elusive championship in overtime.
Marine Johannes was the Liberty's leading scorer with 12 points, earning each of them through acrobatic triples that reminded Brooklyn of her wizardry after she took last year off to focus on international work. Johannes also hinted at new tricks, making several attempts to penetrate the paint amidst the action. While her infiltration was rudely rejected by Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Johannes hinted that the expansion of her famed offensive game won't be limited to Friday.
"I think I'm more comfortable with the team and the way we are playing," Johannes said. "Right now I'm feeling good, I'm playing with confidence. We'll try to keep the same confidence on court."
The starting five was rounded out by Kennedy Burke (a depth star re-signed over the offseason) and Rebekah Gardner, a former Chicagoan returning to WNBA action after almost two full years off. Both reached double-figures with Gardner leading all starters with 11. Homecoming weekend was rounded out by Leaonna Odom, a leftover from the Liberty's 2020 endeavor in the Bradenton bubble. Odom scored six points and had a block and assist each in her first professional action in three years.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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.