Liberty strive for five in a row at Barclays
New York shoots for best start in 17 years vs. Chicago
Liberty coach Sandy Brondello gave her team a little breather after matching the best four-game start in franchise history during the first week of the season.
New York will shoot for its fifth straight victory Thursday night against the better-rested Chicago Sky at Downtown’s Barclays Center.
“They’re off tomorrow. They need to go home and get some rest. It’s grueling,” Brondello ceded after her fatigued unit held off Seattle, 74-63, Monday night on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.
The Liberty (4-0) won five in a row to begin the 2007 campaign and a franchise-best seven straight to kick off the WNBA’s inaugural season in 1997.
After opening in Washington, D.C., on May 14, New York swept a home-and-home series from rookie phenom Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever before beating the Storm, who fell behind 27-15 after one quarter and never seriously challenged thereafter.
Brondello, who saw her team struggle through an ugly 9-9 quarter Monday after its quick start, knows that defense can compensate for tired legs and spotty offense.
“You can control what you do on defense. … The ball might not always go in the hole,” she said.
Stacked with a roster that can feature a different superstar in any given game, the Liberty rode All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu’s 20 points and eight rebounds to victory Monday.
Reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart, who put up 55 points in her previous two contests, had 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds against her former team.
She and Ionescu appear to be more in sync than they were last year, when Stewart grabbed her second career MVP.
“I think just having a year together. We don’t nearly have to communicate as much on the court anymore,” Ionescu said of her hardwood kinship with Stewart.
“We can just play off each other,” she added. “People are getting used to my passes, I’m getting used to how people are playing as well.”
The league’s most lethal 3-point shooter a season ago, Ionescu has struggled from long range thus far this season, going 8-for-42 outside the arc.
However, her ability to drive to the hole and deft passing touch both continue to improve.
“(My inside game) is something I took into the offseason and really worked on,” said Ionescu, who went 6-of-11 from inside the 3-point line Monday. “Understanding that sometimes the 3-point shot is not going to go in.”
In a stretch where they will play six of seven games at Barclays, the Liberty will travel to Minnesota on Saturday for a nationally televised 1 p.m. tip-off against the Lynx.
The Sky (1-1) haven’t been nearly as busy in the early season, splitting their first two contests in Dallas, including Saturday’s 83-74 triumph over the Wings.
Diamond DeShields paced six scorers in double figures for Chicago with 16 points and Marina Mabrey added 14 as the Sky recovered from a season-opening loss in Dallas.
Rookie forward Angel Reese, the seventh overall pick in last month’s WNBA Draft at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, had 11 points and nine rebounds, though she continued to struggle with her shooting touch.
Through her first two games, Reese is 8-for-22 from the floor. She will likely be matched up against Stewart throughout Thursday’s game.
New York took three of four meetings from Chicago last year en route to the most wins in franchise history and its first Finals appearance since 2002. The Sky did pull out an 86-82 win at Barclays on June 4.
With her players finally rested and ready to play after a shootaround on Wednesday, Brondello isn’t concerned about anything but “one-game seasons” these days.
“It’s a long season. We’re already four games in,” she noted. “We just need to focus on Chicago. We’ll be ready.”
Tip-off for Thursday’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. It will be televised on Prime Video.
GIVE ME LIBERTY: Former Sky point guard Courtney Vandersloot has yet to register more than six assists in any contest this year despite leading the league with 8.1 helpers per game last season. She spent her first dozen WNBA seasons in Chicago, winning her lone championship there in 2021. … Rookie Marquesha Davis, the Liberty’s first-round draft pick, is still looking for her first career WNBA points. She has only taken one shot thus far in seven minutes of action. … The Liberty haven’t listed any injuries for Thursday’s game.
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