The party rolls on and New York’s next champions are playing this afternoon.
The New York Liberty hit the road for a big time matchup against the Atlanta Dream. NY proved to be too much to handle for ATL and came away with their best win of the season. The Liberty are on a six game winning streak and are in the driver’s seat to represent the Eastern Conference in the Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
The opponent tonight is young and trying to figure it out. The Washington Mystics held a big lead against
the Toronto Tempo on Friday night, but let it slip and found themselves trailing. Fortunately, they had one last chance to get the win…
Where to follow the game
My9 on TV for the locals. Liberty Live on streaming. NBATV and League Pass for the out of towners. Tip after 3:00 p.m. ET.
Injuries
Sabrina Ionescu is back.
Kiki Iriafen missed Friday’s game with a right ankle injury. She’s out today as well.
The game
New York won the first meeting.
With one more win, the Liberty punch their ticket to the Cup finals. They’re undefeated so far in Cup play and have two more games to go.
This game can get out of control in a hurry if the Mystics aren’t careful with the ball. Washington leads the WNBA in turnover percentage and for a young team on the road against elite competition, that spells trouble. The Liberty aren’t much better as they’re 12th in turnover percentage, so they’ll need to be mindful of that as well.
Sonia Citron is the future of Mystics basketball, and she’s continued to shine in her second year. Her field goal percentage is improved from last season, but surprisingly, her three point percentage is down considerably. She’s at 32 percent from three this year, which is something that didn’t happen when she was at Notre Dame. Her shooting should bounce back to her averages and when that does, she’ll be even more dynamic.With Ionescu back, we’ll see how Chris DeMarco manages the rotation. The Liberty have taken their time with Satou Sabally and gradually increased her workload over time. As a result, Sabally has gotten stronger by the game and is resembling her All-WNBA form. We’ll see what restrictions Ionescu has this afternoon.
However long Sab plays, Pauline Astier still figures to be a big part of the rotation. She’s been a revelation this season and is one of New York’s best players in terms of getting to and finishing at the rim. It helps unlock the rest of the offense and when you have guards that consistently create downhill pressure, good things are guaranteed to happen.
Player to watch: Lauren Betts
The tricky part about having good young talent is you have to play your good young talent. That’s the pickle the Mystics find themselves in with Betts and Angela Dugalić. Over at Swish Appeal, Beckett Harrison writes:
“In a perfect world, Washington is able to find more minutes for Betts and Dugalić without sacrificing competitiveness, and can still position themselves towards the middle ranges of the league as the season dwindles down in August and September.
There is no scripture claiming that the Mystics must objectively prioritize development or wins while sacrificing the other. That balance is a challenge for coaching staffs, and there’s a fine line between a productive middle ground and a wasteful gray area. Right now, it’s just hard to tell which side the Mystics are on.“
Betts is coming off the best game of her career so far on Friday and figures to start this afternoon. With Iriafen out, Sydney Johnson will have to trust his rookie to hold her own on the inside against New York.
Speaking of New York’s frontcourt, Jonquel Jones will be tasked with holding things down on the inside. JJ played a season low 24 minutes in the first matchup as she was saddled with foul trouble all game long before eventually fouling out. When she’s not in foul trouble, she’s one of the game’s best two way players. Jones has been initiating the offense a bit more this season and she’s helped keep things steady as the team manages its injury woes. Having a center that does everything at a high level is a God send and allows the coaching staff to try out as many unique combinations as humanly possible.
From the Vault
Love and light to Bill Ritter
And the party is still going on thanks to… you know, so let’s take it back to 1973
More reading: Bullets Forever, Swish Appeal, Breakaway, SB Nation, Women’s Basketball Roundup, The Local W, New York Daily News, No Cap Space, New York Post, Newsday, The Athletic, NY Liberty Fan TV, Fansided, The Stomp, Just Women’s Sports, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, and The IX Basketball
- New York Liberty Game Notes – New York Liberty
- Washington Mystics Game Notes – Washington Mystics
- Sabrina Ionescu finally set to return to Liberty lineup after long injury layoff – Madeline Kenney – New York Post
