Liberty look to recover from ‘punch’

League-best New York still searching for No. 1 seed

September 17, 2024 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

New York stars Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart were unable to wrap up the No. 1 seed in the playoffs Sunday in Downtown Brooklyn. Photo by Brandon Todd/New York Liberty

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All-Star Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu likened it to a “punch in the mouth”.

Reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart said afterward that the league-leading Liberty just “aren’t good enough”.

New York coach Sandy Brondello ever went so far as to admit that her team got “smacked in the head” by Minnesota Sunday.

Following a humbling and sobering loss to the second-place Lynx at Barclays Center, the two All-Stars and their coach will try to make a quick recovery and take another shot at securing the No. 1 seed in the playoffs Tuesday night in Washington, D.C.

“I think it’s good,” Ionescu noted after the Lynx spoiled the Liberty’s clinch party by running out of Downtown Brooklyn with an 88-79 win that kept them in contention for home-court advantage throughout the postseason.

“It’s always kind of a blessing in disguise sometime to get punched in the mouth and have to be able to respond and understand what it takes to be a team that’s as good as they are,” Ionescu added.

The Liberty (31-7) had reeled off five straight wins and were on the precipice of giving the sellout crowd of 14,246 on the corner of Atlantic and Barclays what it came to see: New York grabbing the No. 1 seed and taking the season series from Minnesota.

Instead, Stewart and her teammates were down by 13 points after 10 minutes, and fell behind by as many as 26 before trying in vain to reel in the Lynx (29-9).

Stewart certainly did her best, scoring 17 of her season-high 38 points in the fourth quarter. But the Liberty failed to draw closer than 80-72 with 4:39 to play after she drained a 25-footer.

Minnesota’s Kayla McBridge answered with a 30-footer to quell any hope of a New York rally, leaving Liberty fans to wait until Tuesday’s game at the playoff-hopeful Mystics (13-25) to sew up the top seed.

“Right now we’re not good enough,” Stewart huffed. “And we know that we have two regular-seasons games left. We know we want to clinch one to seal home-court advantage.”

While Stewart went 12-of-27 from the floor, including a trio of 3-pointers, and 11-of-13 from the line while grabbing 18 rebounds, her fellow All-Star was enduring a brutal night.

Despite putting up a season-high 38 points, reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart couldn’t drive New York past Minnesota Sunday. Photo by Brandon Todd/New York Liberty

Ionescu, who led the Liberty with 20 points in their win at Dallas last Thursday, was flummoxed by Minnesota’s defense.

She finished with 13 points on 4-of-21 shooting, including 2-of-12 from beyond the arc, and committed three turnovers.

“I can’t show up and play like this for us to win,” Ionescu admitted.

Neither can the rest of the Liberty if they hope to win the organization’s first-ever WNBA title this fall.

Minnesota’s victory left it two games behind New York with two to play. However, by virtue of Sunday’s triumph, the Lynx hold the tiebreaker advantage if the squads wind up deadlocked after Thursday’s season finale.

The Lynx will visit Connecticut Tuesday night before closing out their campaign vs. Los Angeles on Thursday.

The Liberty dropped three of four to Minnesota this year, including the Commissioner’s Cup Final on June 25.

Bridget Carleton scored 19 points and Napheesa Collier added 18 and 13 rebounds in a game the Lynx had to have to remain in contention for the top overall seed.

“We’re the number two team in the league and we just played the number one team, and we’re really prideful about that,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Our belief to be successful every game that we play. It’s a hell of a win.”

And potentially a daunting defeat for New York, which was all set to enjoy a two-game tune-up into the postseason.

Instead, the Liberty have to buckle down and find a way not to let the race for No. 1 go down to their home finale Thursday vs. Atlanta.

“You know, we never give up,” Stewart insisted. “I mean, we’re still on top, so I would start with that. I think that this is exactly kind of what, like Sabrina said, what you need to happen.

“But I think with our team, we have the experience, we have the mindset, the mentality to kind of look at this, like take this one on the chin, see what we can do better and then go from there.” she added.

Brondello addressed the defeat to the Lynx in the Liberty locker room Sunday.

And she certainly didn’t pull any punches herself.

“Sometimes, yeah, we got smacked in the head, so how are we going to respond?” she pondered. “So we have to, you know, hopefully we get another chance to play them in the playoffs, but we weren’t our best today.

“So let’s learn and be ready for the next two games to finish the season.”

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Washington’s Entertainment & Sports Arena.

Jonquel Jones and the Liberty couldn’t keep up with Napheesa Collier and the Lynx at Barclays Center last weekend. Photo by Brandon Todd/New York Liberty

GIVE ME LIBERTY: The Mystics, coming off Sunday’s 76-73 overtime loss vs. Atlanta, arrive in Brooklyn in a three-way tie with Chicago and the Dream for the No. 8 seed in the playoffs. Washington had won seven of its previous nine contests to climb back into the postseason hunt. … Including last year’s two-game sweep in the opening round of the playoffs, the Liberty have won five straight meetings with the Mystics, including the first three encounters this season. The teams last met here on June 9, when New York secured home-court advantage for the Commissioner’s Cup title game by beating Washington, 93-88, behind 29 points from Jonquel Jones. … Thursday’s regular-season and home finale vs. the Dream will be a 7 p.m. tip.