Classic trap game. The New York Liberty had just convincingly beaten the Las Vegas Aces before playing the 3-15 Seattle Storm, the penultimate game on this West Coast road trip that’ll end against the Golden State Valkyries. And they fell into the trap.
New York’s defense was rancid in the first quarter. Sabrina Ionescu led the charge…
Ionescu played 29 minutes and forced the issue
a bit on offense, shooting 5-of-14 with five assists, so I’m not buying any injury excuse here. She wasn’t the only culprit early, but Seattle scored 21 points in the first six minutes, and poor Ionescu’s plays directly led to a dozen of those points. The Storm caught a groove and some confidence early, and the young team rode that high for 40 minutes, a tale as old as time.
Here, Ionescu actually makes a heads-up rotation, but it doesn’t matter…
New York wants to keep plenty of actions out of the middle of the floor, even “icing” some ball-screens, so that’s what Marine Johannès is thinking here. But the ball-screen isn’t close to being set, Jonquel Jones is nowhere near help, and that’s a wide open paint. The Liberty couldn’t keep drives in front on an individual level (including bona fide Liberty killer Jade Melbourne, big surprise), but their defensive teamwork, so to speak, wasn’t great either.
This was a bad game defensive game for just about everybody; Breanna Stewart would have plugged a few leaks, but we’ve seen the sea foam have these issues with or without her. It was only fitting that they had to play from behind for virtually the whole game.
I’m worried about Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. The best-case scenario is this: When a true two-guard lineup — i.e. Sabrina plus one of the Frenchies — is porous on defense as was the case vs. Seattle , Betnijah slots right in, which we saw during the 2024 championship run. Ideally, she can handle pick-and-roll, post-up smaller players, and thereby allow Sabrina Ionescu to operate off the ball while cementing the Liberty’s size/strength advantage on the other end.
Sabrina needs to be the best version of her on-ball self to unlock this backcourt, which she mostly was in 2024, but Betnijah is the more worrisome player right now. Time isn’t yet running out for the player returning from a lost season and knee issues, but she has no burst right now…
Now look at this clip, look at her bounce…
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton is not going to see many playoff minutes unless she gets some of that juice back. Not if Satou Sabally is healthy and Pauline Astier continues to provide that secondary ball-handling/rim-pressure New York desperately needs.
Betnijah could have taken 7 or 8 threes in Seattle, passing up a couple early — then the staff clearly got in her ear, as she took three triples in the span of a couple minutes. Either way, in the second half, she was back to passing up these kinda looks…
Look, it’s a tough situation. She doesn’t have a lot of confidence or burst right now, and the only way she’s gonna get either back is by playing through it. But the regular season always passes by quicker than you think.
This might sound crazy considering Jonquel Jones shot 10-of-17 for 26 points, but I think Chris DeMarco and the staff could have run even more for her in the second half. That’s how effective and varied her usage has been lately — the Liberty run pindowns for her, post-ups of course, and ball-screening actions…
With Awa Fam + Dom Malonga switching every 4-5 action, Jonquel would’ve had plenty of opportunities to play the 4-5 pick-and-roll with Stewie. Alas, she was out with some well-deserved rest. Though it’s not like there weren’t positives in the front-court: Raquel Carerra’s minutes were decent, I thought, as Chris DeMarco trusted her with 17 of them. Han Xu as well.
I still want to see Sabrina Ionescu get more opportunities off the catch, particularly as a spacer around pick-and-roll actions. That’s why I’m bullish on her + Astier in the backcourt, though Marine has thrown plenty of passes to 3-point shooters this season in her own right (her issue is more making interior reads). The Valkyries will present a huge test for all the guards, but specifically Astier, if she gets another start.
Next Up
Valkyries vs. Liberty, in the Bay Area. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.
