Five seasons ago, the No. 6 seed won the WNBA title.
That team was the 2021 Chicago Sky.
After muddling through a .500 regular season that featured both a losing and winning streak of seven games, the Sky found their stride at the right time, defeating the Dallas Wings in the single-elimination first round, besting Minnesota Lynx in the single-elimination second round, winning 3-1 over the Connecticut Sun in the semifinals and triumphing 3-1 over the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA Finals.
That Sky roster
was stacked with tons of familiar WNBA names in Candace Parker, Kahleah Copper, Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Dana Evans, Azurá Stevens and Stefanie Dolson.
Kinda sounds a lot like this season’s New York Liberty, currently the No. 6 seed?
It’s been an up-and-down season for a Liberty team of which much was expected. A run to the Commissioner’s Cup championship flashed the potential of a team that, too frequently, has remained unrealized due to injuries and inconsistencies. The team enjoyed an eight-game winning streak, but also stumbled through three- and four-game losing skids.
Even though Satou Sabally will not return, New York still overflows with talent, headlined by an All-WNBA candidate Breanna Stewart. Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu and Leonie Fiebich remain from the 2024 title team. Marine Johannès and Han Xu have put together their best WNBA seasons. Pauline Astier has been a rookie revelation, and Rebekah Gardner and Rebecca Allen are proven vets.
And maybe, just as happened for the Sky five years ago, everything is coming together for the Liberty at the right moment.
In their first game after the World Cup break, the Liberty might have authored their best win of the season, a 12-point win, 93-81, over the league-leading Minnesota Lynx. New York held Napheesa Collier to 14 points, while inducing an inefficient night from presumptive Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles, whose 20 points came on 5-for-18 shooting; her five assists also were matched by five turnovers.
Offensively, the load was distributed for the Liberty. Stewart led with 24 points, which she complemented with 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Jones contributed an 18-point and 10-rebound double-double and Ionescu hit three 3-pointers on her way to 17 points. Astier was her efficient self with 14 points, and Johannès made four 3s from the bench, finishing with 13 points.
The victory was an actualization of New York’s World Cup break priorities.
As detailed by Jackie Powell at The IX Sports, New York’s staff and non-World Cup players used the hiatus to reflect and refine, holding eight practices where defensive improvement, in particular, was a point of focus.
As head coach Chris DeMarco told reporters after a recent practice:
Any team on this break has a responsibility to look at their strengths and weaknesses, and we love our ability to protect the paint right now. We’re number one in the league in not fouling and defensive rebounding. We’re doing a lot of great things, and then we just want to get better in some other areas.
So that’s sort of been the focus—whether it’s film work around the court, our development, our group work—and it’ll continue to be.
Allen provided a bit more detail when speaking to Powell, noting that working on how players have been closing out on shooters was a priority.
However, both Garnder and assistant coach Addi Walters, the team’s defensive coordinator, suggested to Powell that the Liberty’s path to reaching their potential is not necessarily about schemes, strategies or techniques: It’s mindset.
Gardner pondered, “So like once we hit some adversity, how do we respond? And I feel like that’s been something that we could have done better throughout the season and will be important as we move forward.”
Walters elabotred:
I think really the biggest theme is just like mental fortitude. Don’t let one side of the ball affect the other, and regardless of what happens, we are going to make mistakes, we are going to miss shots, but that shouldn’t affect our mental approach every single possession.
The Minnesota win was proof of concept, yet the Liberty, especially wiith their Commissioner’s Cup run, already have shown the heights of which they’re capable. Sustaining that play is the challenge.
Sunday’s blowout win, 106-69, over a Toronto Tempo team that has turned the page to 2027 is another positive, albeit less significant, data point in the Liberty’s favor.
Two games against the Atlanta Dream, like the game against Minnesota, will carry much more weight.
On Monday night, the Liberty are back in Brooklyn for the back-to-back and the beginning of the two-game set (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
With two wins, New York not only can inspire belief that they’re peaking at the perfect time, but they could also put themselves in better position to turn that peak into a deep playoff run, as a pair of wins over Atlanta could allow the Liberty to jump up to the No. 4 seed, depending on the outcome of other games.
Are you ready to believe in the Liberty? Has this team found their winning formula? Can they follow the example of the 2021 Sky and win it all? Or, is this just a temporary tease, not the start of a title run?
Let us know all your Liberty takes in the comments.
