New York Liberty lose ugly game to Connecticut Sun, 72-64
Photo by Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images
The New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun reversed roles on Saturday night, as Connecticut walked into the Barclays Center and handled business, their way This iteration of the New York Liberty have owned the Connecticut Sun. Since the start of last season, Jonquel Jones’ new team is 10-1 against her old team, including a four-game series victory in the 2023 semifinals.
Many of the games have been close, but few have ever felt truly in doubt. The Marina Mabrey acquisition undoubtedly gives Connecticut more of the 3-point shooting they’ve been lacking, but their New York problem feels institutional given how many times the same game has played out.
Sandy Brondello, though, intended to keep her foot on the gas on Saturday night: “[It is] a potential Finals matchup. We’ve won three of these games. It’s like, we don’t want to give them any hope.”
Brondello did just that at the start of the night when she re-inserted Sabrina Ionescu into the lineup after the likely All-WNBA first teamer missed the last two games with neck soreness. All the ingredients were there for the kind of lopsided win that New York has been racking up lately, miss only Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and facing a Connecticut team playing the second game of a back-to-back after a down-to-the-wire win over the Chicago Sky.
This is the Liberty and Sun, though, so even as New York put up 25 in the first quarter on Saturday night, their offense quickly came crashing back to Earth. Even with Ionescu back, New York shot just 2-of-15 from deep in the first half; at least she made her first make count...
Sabrina was 0-of-6 from three before this shot to end the half, lmao pic.twitter.com/z55STt7kTT— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 24, 2024
Despite her struggles up to that point, that Ionescu bomb felt destined to fall as soon as it left her hands. Of course she’d turn the home crowd up going into halftime, and of course the Liberty would ride that wave to another hard-fought win over an opponent only formidable on paper. Surely the Liberty wouldn’t shoot that poorly in the second half, surely Connecticut’s swarming defense would lose a step.
CT kinda stumbles into this but it's fun to watch them shrink the floor and apply pressure on a closeout...tough ask for KT to see Leo at the top of the key, but pic.twitter.com/bB2bNhtxTu— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 24, 2024
Ionescu hit a three early in the second half, and it felt like New York was on their way. But it turned out to be an aberration, as a Barclays crowd that was lively to start the evening seemed stunned by how little they had to cheer for after the first quarter.
New York didn’t just miss shots, but got enveloped by the visitors’ length and activity to the tune of 19 turnovers, directly leading to 32 Sun points. Mabrey clearly didn’t overhaul the typically stagnant half-court Sun offense, but on Saturday, she didn’t have to.
lemme try this again...Liberty allow 21 points off 19 turnovers.- CT on possessions following an NY turnover: 1.11 PPP- CT on all other possessions: 0.81 PPP— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 25, 2024
“We let Connecticut do what they do,” said Breanna Stewart, and she was right.
The Sun scored a whopping 46 points in the paint, and were the deeper team to boot. Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Veronica Burton, and Mabrey all won their minutes by double-digits, and combined for 29 points compared to just six off New York’s bench.
“I think they controlled the whole game,” said Brondello. “I didn’t think we had come out and played with the urgency and the toughness that we needed to play with against a really good team. They were very physical with it, you could see that they were all connected.”
Leonie Fiebich and Stewart did what they could in the third quarter, momentarily turning the tide as Fiebich scored ten straight with Stewie on her way to an all-encompassing 15/15/4/2/3 stat-line, but they didn’t get the requisite support.
The Ionescu and Jonquel Jones pick-and-roll partnership fell on its face vs. a Connecticut defense that was hellbent on not giving up two-pointers. Ionescu turned it over four times and made three field goals; Jones turned it over five times and made four shots.
Courtney Vandersloot turned it over four times, Kayla Thornton didn’t make a single shot, the list goes on. The lines between individual lack of production and team-wide malaise blurred from possession to possession, and Brondello summed it up best.
“We talk about 0.5 [second mentality]. Our decision-making wasn’t quick, we weren’t getting to the next action quick ... we got to get back to what our true identity is, and that’s moving the ball and creating for each other.”
Connecticut built a double-digit lead in midway through the fourth, and it stayed around there until the game’s anti-climatic end. Okay, slightly climatic...
Jaylyn Sherrod fouls DiJonai Carrington, and the two get into it as DiJonai stands over her. On Unity Night! pic.twitter.com/V4NbvotHNo— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 25, 2024
The hunter had become the hunted, and though Connecticut was playing their second game in 24 hours, New York just looked done. DiJonai Carrington, one of five double-digit scorers for the guests, stood over rookie Jaylyn Sherrod, and was hardly confronted. Thornton escorted her away from the action, and that was it.
Carrington shot free-throws for the common foul, missed the second, and the Liberty elected to dribble out the clock with a whole 30 seconds left, down just eight. Did it really matter? Probably not. But it felt like the sort of thing Connecticut would have done in the prior 11 matchups.
“I promise you we won’t have a game like that again this season,” said Sabrina Ionescu following the final buzzer.
If she’s right, it wouldn’t be surprising. The Liberty hadn’t had a game like that yet.
Final Score: Connecticut Sun 72, New York Liberty 64
Jaylyn Sherrod signed through season
After an inspiring performance on Thursday against the Dallas Wings, rookie Jaylyn Sherrod kicked off her weekend with a bang by signing a rest-of-season contract with the Liberty. A training camp standout, Sherrod later signed the maximum of three 7-day contracts during the season, leading up to this.
She reacted to the news on social media:
tears from being undrafted to tears of joy.. can’t write the script no better than this ❤️. https://t.co/7N5zzSCyDm— Jaylyn Sherrod (@JaylynSherrod) August 24, 2024
Laney-Hamilton awaits
Two days after saying the “expectation” was for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton to play within the next week, Sandy Brondello confirmed that Laney-Hamilton will likely return from right knee surgery and a six-week absence in New York’s next game, said Brondello.
Though she didn’t play on Saturday Liberty wing went through a full warm-up on Saturday night, and was greeted warmly from the early-arriving New York faithful...
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton warms up for the first time since injury (questionable to play tonight), and the early-arriving fans applaud her return to the court. B smiles through her first couple warmup shots. Such an awesome moment. pic.twitter.com/AKAKmqmCTz— Myles (@MylesEhrlich) August 24, 2024
Pretty cool.
Next Up
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
After getting back from the West Coast less than a week ago, the Liberty will board a plane and do it all over again, starting with a contest against the Phoenix Mercury, where Laney-Hamilton is likely to play. Tip-off is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET on Monday evening.
Boxscore: Connecticut Sun 72, New York Liberty 64 - WNBA
Game Highlights: Connecticut Sun 72, New York Liberty 64 (Video) - WNBA
Mabrey helps Sun end Liberty’s 8-game winning streak with 72-64 victory, clinch spot in playoffs - Doug Feinberg - AP
Liberty fall to new-look Sun as eight-game win streak is snapped - Andrew Crane - New York Post
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