The New York Liberty limped out of the gate against the Chicago Sky on Saturday afternoon. That their slow start wasn’t surprising doesn’t reflect well on the Liberty, who are now simply aiming to avoid the #8 seed and a sure defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Lynx in the first round of the WNBA playoffs following their loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday.
Their third and final game against the Valks was a big, exciting test. The Liberty failed it. Suddenly, their thrilling win over the Indiana
Fever is miles in the rearview. I broke down the loss and answered some big-picture questions here:
Now a 1 p.m. ET tip-off, 36 hours after their worst shooting performance of the season, against a feisty Sky team that’s largely outplayed them in the three previous matchups? With half the roster departing for the FIBA World Cup right after the final buzzer? New York trailed Chicago 7-2 after four sluggish minutes, and it seemed that they had fallen into the trap.
But, credit to the Liberty, and this is admittedly a low bar to clear: They self-corrected. Breanna Stewart shot just 4-of-11 on the day but finished with a healthy 13/9/1/2/2 line. She picked up her energy, flying around on defense and getting active in the paint and her teammates followed.
New York’s point-of-attack defense was much better than it was in their road loss to Chicago earlier this month. Leonie Fiebich does make all the difference, but Pauline Astier applied ball pressure as well, and in search for more of that energy, Chris DeMarco made sure Rebekah Gardner was the game’s first sub. Gardner led all reserves with 21 minutes, scoring nine points. She hit a three and stole the rock twice, at the center of many more scrappy defensive possessions.
“I think the second unit was really great at just giving us our energy,” said Stewart. “You know, they were kind of our boost today, and that’s what we always need. But the way they came in, we’re confident and really starting it defensively, protecting the paint, and having each other’s back.”
Han Xu was the instant offense the Liberty needed, ensuring that they would not repeat Thursday’s horrific shooting performance. She led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, hitting threes and posting up and getting to the line and, yeah, the most pleasant thing about this Liberty team is that Han can put the ball in the hoop. No questions asked.
“She’s a really good player,” said Head Coach Chris DeMarco. “She can change the game, she’s an X-factor for us. And then, you know, JJ in foul trouble, and also JJ going down in the last Chicago game, Han stepped up in a major way. And she continues to.”
Sabrina Ionescu? Not so much. Donut. She shot 0-of-10 on Saturday, scoring two points on a pair of free-throws. None of the big three dominated offensively — Jonquel Jones shot 3-of-9 while her teammates could not get her a deep seal in the paint, again — but Ionescu was damn near worrisome. At one point, she came off a screen on the right wing, seemingly squared herself, and missed the rim by a foot. She’s shooting under 30% from the floor over her last six games.
She looked like a Chicago Sky player, really. Excluding Natasha Cloud and Courtney Vandersloot, who once again found some slight revenge against their former team, the Sky shot 15-of-51 on Saturday. New York played strong defense — they blocked eight shots! — but Chicago never threatened them with shot-making, missing the few open jumpers they did have. A measly 4-of-18 from three wasn’t gonna get it done, even in a sloppy game.
And so, the Liberty enter the break at 24-16, tied with the Washington Mystics and potentially the Dallas Wings, pending the result of their game on Sunday. Is anybody not looking forward to the break?
“You’re scheduling a lot and you remind can be elsewhere, but we all came and showed up today to get this win, which is huge.” — Sabrina Ionescu
Final Score: New York Liberty 85, Chicago Sky 66
