Seeing your rival always snaps you back into formation. When you know the team on the other side is the very best of the best, you know that a poor effort will not get the job done. You’ve got to execute at a high level and hope that you do enough to slow your rival down on the other end. On that front, the New York Liberty went 2-2.
The Libs entered their meeting with the Las Vegas Aces on a bit of a downswing. They lost two games in a row that they honestly should have won. In those losses, their execution
was poor down the stretch and communication breakdowns late did them in.
This time around, the Liberty were able to execute early and punished the Aces for even the slightest mistakes on defense
New York was able to consistently get downhill and generate good looks on offense throughout the night. Although Las Vegas won the points in the paint battle 32-30, New York consistently exploited mismatches and made the Aces pay for it.
“We’re obviously not a finished product,” Chris DeMarco said, “but from day one we’ve been talking about being really hard to guard. And we think whether it’s the inverted pick and rolls, whether it’s the different personalities involved in the ball screens, whether it’s off-ball stuff, we have a lot of weapons, and we want to be hard to game plan for. For us to get downhill it means we have really good players, and so as it continues to come together, there’ll be more and more opportunities, I think, to pick on the right mismatches. But for now, I’m just super proud of the way we’re sharing the ball, punching the paint, getting open shots.”
Breanna Stewart struggled early, but was able to find it throughout the night and scored 12 of her game high 20 points in the deciding fourth quarter. New York’s ball movement and decision making helped them keep the turnovers down and allowed them to get shots up at the rim on just about every possession.
Having Sabrina Ionescu looking like herself helped a great deal as well. Ionescu has struggled since returning from injury, but tonight she scored 16 points and led all players in rebounding with 10. In postgame, Ionescu acknowledged that her body’s feeling better and getting back into the rhythm of competitive basketball. She and Pauline Astier have developed a great chemistry playing alongside one another and as our own Lucas Kaplan notes, can be part of some truly wonderful Liberty lineups
For as much as we’ve been talking about the Liberty offense, their defense deserves special mention. They were able to hold Aces superstar A’ja Wilson to season lows in points (16) and field goal percentage (38.9) as the trio of Han Xu, Stewart, and Jonquel Jones were able to provide enough resistance to slow her down enough. The Liberty’s combination of length, size, and athleticism gave Wilson just enough problems on this night and prevented her from dominating in the ways we’re used to. Styles make fights and New York was able to win this round.
Jackie Young led the Aces in scoring with 19 points, but only went 1-6 from three point range as the Liberty perimeter defense fought to make every shot attempt difficult for her.
New York still has plenty to work on, but they did more than enough to win and get one over their longtime rivals.
Final score: New York Liberty 87, Las Vegas Aces 76
These teams meet up with some higher stakes next week in Brooklyn, but for now, the Liberty walk away feeling good as they continue their road trip.
Bee back on the scene
The Liberty officially welcomed Betnijah Laney-Hamilton back into action tonight. She’s been out with knee management and was cleared for Sunday, but did not appear in that game. She returned tonight and was expected to be on a minutes restriction. However, that plan got thrown off a little bit.
In the second quarter, Satou Sabally got accidentally hit in the face and had to leave the game early. She did not return to action, but in postgame it was revealed that she was not being evaluated for a concussion and will be fine going forward. Laney-Hamilton started in her place and while she didn’t score a point, helped keep things steady on both sides of the ball.
“She was really good,” DeMarco said. “[She] allows us to play some different lineups, like I said, pregame with the versatility. She gave us good minutes.”
Laney-Hamilton is the heartbeat of the Liberty. Throughout her tenure, she’s played through injuries and provided the heart and toughness that is associated with NY basketball. She’s a Liberty icon and someone that fans and teammates have the utmost respect for.
Next up
The road trip continues with another late night affair, this time against the rebuilding Seattle Storm. Tip after 10 PM on Thursday night.
- Boxscore: New York Liberty 87, Las Vegas Aces 76 – WNBA
- Game Highlights: New York Liberty 87, Las Vegas Aces 76 (Video) – WNBA
- Liberty beat Aces, 87-76, behind Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu – AP
- Breanna Stewart takes over in fourth quarter to lead Liberty to important road win over Aces – Madeline Kenney – New York Post
- Geno Auriemma praises Liberty’s Breanna Stewart’s legacy on and off court – Madeline Kenney – New York Post
