Back home and hopefully back to something resembling success. The New York Liberty closed out their three game western road trip with a win against the Seattle Storm on Friday night.
The opponent tonight is out of the playoff picture, but they’ve got an especially bright future ahead of them. The Washington Mystics closed out their home schedule with a tough loss to the Indiana Fever in Baltimore. I didn’t realize it until a moment ago, but the Mystics are on a nine game losing streak. Ouch.
Where to follow the game
FOX 5
on TV. Liberty Live and FOX Local on streaming. League Pass for the out-of-towners. Tip after 7 PM.
Injuries
For the first time since May 22, the injury report is completely empty.
Jacy Sheldon and Georgia Amoore are out.
The game
New York won the first ,second, and third meetings. This is the last meeting between the two teams in 2025.
The whole team is back, and it’ll be interesting to see how the team manages rotations. At practice yesterday, Sandy Brondello mentioned that she wants to get the key players and lineups minutes while not overburdening them too much. The Liberty are officially locked into the five seed and will start the playoffs on the road this Sunday. In all likelihood, they will match up with the Phoenix Mercury and have started doing some early prep. As we draw closer to the postseason, we’ll have more on the first round matchup.
Having Sabrina Ionescu back will help the offense out a great deal. Sab gives spacing, another person that can drive to the rim, and another player that can coordinate the offense. We haven’t gotten to see the full starting five in a good while, so getting a chance to get real live reps on the court will be a godsend for this group.
On the other side, we’ll get to watch a stealth Rookie of the Year candidate. Sonia Citron has fit in perfectly on the Mystics as she was named to the All Star Team and has built a solid ROY case along the way
It’s a great start to what should be an incredibly promising career in the W.
It’s Fan Appreciation Night at the ‘clays!
Liberty fans have consistently brought the energy and passion to the arena every single night and have made it the best homecourt advantage in the WNBA. The champs will be on the road to start the playoffs, but they’ll be back home in front of the hometown audience sooner than we know it.
Player to watch: Shakira Austin
The Mystics have an intriguing future, and Austin figures to be a key part of it. Austin forms the second half of a fun dynamic duo between her and Kiki Iriafen. Austin has had injury woes in her career, but has always battled back. She’s reached a career high in games played this season, and if she’s able to stay on the court, she’ll help the Mystics build their foundation as they work to get back into contention. As they enter the great unknown of the WNBA off-season, a core of herself, Citron, and Iriafen is a nice place to be.
It’s been a rough few games for Jonquel Jones. Foul trouble doomed her in Seattle and she was working her way back after being under the weather in Golden State. When JJ is on her game, she makes the Liberty impossible to handle on both sides of the ball. Leonie Fiebich spoke with us at practice yesterday and noted that the defense isn’t switching as much, which should help Jones out. JJ has had to take switches a lot, which has made things a bit easier for rollers diving to the rim. The goal for the week is staying healthy and getting enough reps in to be comfortable when the playoffs start.
From the Vault
Amazingly, the MTV Video Music Awards were on Sunday night. It didn’t feel like a big deal, which is a byproduct of MTV’s declining influence in popular culture over the past few decades. It didn’t used to be like that, so let’s take you back to 9-9-99
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, Just Women’s Sports, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, and The Next
