NEW YORK — Welcome to Basketball Insider, presented by The BIG EAST Conference. As the assembled media gathered to speak with New York Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco, an observer dropped into the room would have been forgiven for thinking DeMarco’s team was not about to host a championship game with a trophy on the line as overwhelming favorites.
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To be clear, when the home team enters having lost two straight, including by double digits to the rebuilding Seattle Storm, and Breanna Stewart herself called for her team to play with more heart, a negative tinge to questions naturally follows.
“I just think it’s important whether or not shots are falling, that we’re competing, that we’re staying on offensive glass and defending, we’re still doing our jobs and following the game plan,” DeMarco said pregame. “I think we will.”
And yet: it has been hard to figure out what the Liberty can do to reassure those questioning their current position in the WNBA standings and whether the highest expectations in the league are being met.
A trophy, theoretically, against the defending champs would seem to be the key. On Tuesday, June 30, the Liberty captured such a victory, 93-85, delighting a capacity crowd at Barclays Center.
But the Las Vegas Aces were playing without A’ja Wilson, effectively putting the Liberty in a no-win position. Win, and it is expected. Lose to the Aces without Wilson, a third straight defeat, and the questions would only grow among those who see last season’s No. 5 playoff seed as a floor, not a ceiling.
On a night when a signature match-up between Wilson and Stewart would have been a useful change-of-pace for the WNBA from the continuing Alyssa Thomas-Caitlin Clark story, it was left to Aces head coach Becky Hammon to decide if she should prioritize replacing Wilson’s offense or defense.
“I think I’m going to need some scoring,” Hammon said with a wry smile. “We got, we got 33 points out of the line up when we start adding up points and assists and impact, so we’re going to need to score some points.” She paused, briefly, to consider. “We’re also going to need to play some defense, you know.”
It was left to Jackie Young to carry the offense, and she very nearly did. But the Liberty, especially the version where Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones are all healthy, were simply too much to overcome.
Concerns over the two-game losing streak mask a larger truth about the first 20 games of DeMarco’s tenure. The Liberty are not in anything like a poor position. They’re a game out in the loss column from the No. 3 seed, with plenty of time to catch even the league-leading Minnesota Lynx, who come to town on Friday night. They’re second in the league in rebounding percentage, fourth in defensive rating. They’re playing like a contending team.
But there’s a drift we’re continuing to see, even during games where the Liberty lead. Wilson was out, yet Jonquel Jones got shockingly few touches, with only one made field goal on six attempts, despite an active night on the boards. A 17-point lead disappeared by early in the fourth quarter, Hammon making adjustments, the Liberty slow to respond.
As Pauline Astier continued to show herself as a better fit for this roster than Natasha Cloud was, Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu took over in the fourth quarter. The reason no one I spoke to around the league seems concerned about New York’s sluggish start is the sheer level of talent on the roster, even with Satou Sabally missing and no guarantee she’ll return anytime soon, given the non-linear healing associated with concussions.
But on Tuesday, Ionescu looked the most like herself yet, punctuating her dagger three with a celebration. She told me afterwards what the difference is between when she’s healthy and when she isn’t:
“it’s when you stop thinking about what you can and can’t do, you know, especially overcoming two injuries within a month,” Ionescu said postgame, goggles on her forehead. “… you’re always trying to troubleshoot, and maybe be a little bit tentative, because you’re scared to have to go back into that place. And I think there comes a time where you kind of get that nod from your body, mentally, physically, of I’m good, and my teammates continue to pour into me through the entire process, understanding belief that they had, knowing I will get back to the point where I’m healthy.”
Ultimately, winning cures everything. So when it was over and the Liberty gathered on their practice court, players and coaches alike celebrated but with a caveat: this is a win, but they are building to something bigger.
“To be honest with you, I feel like when we play against these teams that we know there’s a high chance of seeing them later on in the playoffs,” a relaxed Jones said about what that should look like. “I think we’re getting up for those teams. I think our area of growth right now is when we’re playing teams that might not necessarily be the best on paper, is being able to get up for those games.”
So a win over Minnesota might not measure it. Perhaps there’s no way to measure it outside of winning the championship or not.
But having a pair of ten-year veterans in Jones and Stewart leading the way cures a lot of day-to-day problems like figuring out rotations and navigating injuries. Ionescu, too, has a championship pedigree.
And so as I walked away from the celebration scene, watching Stewart balance her Commissioner’s Cup MVP with the team’s trophy, it was easy, for one night, to imagine everything coming up Ellie this season for New York.
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Five at The IX: Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Chris DeMarco
Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer
