New York Liberty notch statement win vs. Las Vegas Aces, 90-82
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Jonquel Jones set a new career-high as the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces continued on their disparate paths this season. The pain of losing the 2023 WNBA Finals may never truly vanish for the New York Liberty, but in the week before their Saturday afternoon rematch with the Las Vegas Aces, some of the final remnants of that loss were dealt with.
Local media, for the first time since training camp and likely that last time — unless a NY-Vegas rematch unfolds in the 2024 Finals, still an eternity away — asked about the pain of that loss, falling short at the buzzer in a home Game 4.
Breanna Stewart, & Co. gave the answers you’d expect, with last year’s MVP confirming it “still stings” but that 2024 is indeed a “new year” and that team has “all learned from our mistakes, we’ve looked back on it and now we’re having fun this year.”
And yeah, they’re even having more fun than the 6-5 Aces, whose reputation rightfully precedes them but have not played up to the Liberty’s level. To be fair, though, hardly anyone has.
During her halftime interview on Saturday, Aces guard Kelsey Plum admitted as such, calling the Liberty, “a great team, the best in the league right now.”
Entering the locker room, New York was leading 45-43 when Plum offered that praise, perhaps still scarred by a first quarter in which the Libs looked like they might run their budding rival off the floor. Buoyed by the longest rest period of their season to date, the Liberty shot 7-of-8 from three in the opening frame, capped by a signature Sabrina Ionescu pull...
Liberty are 7-of-8 from three, capped off by this Sabrina bomb. Pretty good pic.twitter.com/tHtKcKMOKz— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 15, 2024
It wasn’t Ionescu leading the barrage, though. Rather, it was Jonquel Jones who went 3-of-3 from deep in the first quarter, setting the tone for what would be an arrival into the MVP conversation on national TV.
She credited her 11 points in the first quarter to “just using the spacing. We understand the Aces are a team that likes to congest against penetration, so just letting the guards do what they do and being ready to shoot.”
And while the Liberty stayed ready to shoot, they were mostly ready to miss, going cold again in the second quarter to set the ABC audience up for another nail-biting battle between the league’s two giants.
Vegas opened up the third quarter on a 10-2 run behind a lively home crowd, extending their lead to a game-high six points. A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum led the way as expected, with the latter not missing a shot until midway through the third period.
As for Wilson, the Liberty largely guarded her straight up with Jones, and that 1-on-1 battle turned into the most exciting game within the game. Wilson, as the two-time MVP does, got her own on many possession, but hardly had any easy looks on her way to 21/9/3 on 9-of-16 shooting.
And ultimately, she and Plum (22 points) couldn’t drag an undermanned Aces squad still missing Chelsea Gray to enough offense to extend their lead. Jackie Young never quite got it going, shooting 4-of-12 on the night to finish with ten points, while Jones started winning her share of the battle with Wilson...
I'd say it's been pretty even, but the fact that JJ can credibly guard A'ja and then run the floor like this is so huge pic.twitter.com/VPhgbMKhgv— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 15, 2024
“A’ja had 21, but we still thought we did a really good job on her,” said Sandy Brondello. “And JJ was on her a fair bit, so she’s really impacting in so many areas for us. It’s great, that’s what we need. I mean, she’s so coachable, a pleasure to coach.”
Brondello was never more pleased on Saturday than when New York responded to the six-point deficit with an immediate 14-0 run, a run that they pulled off without hitting a single 3-pointer.
“I think the 14-0 run, that was pretty special too, because it got a little bit tight. But it’s experience. We talked about the chemistry how it’s showing now, that we know how to execute, and we can go to another level at both ends of the floor when we need it.”
During that run, New York didn’t turn the ball over, guarded the paint ferociously, and found open looks inside the arc, principles that would continue for the rest of the game. The visitors turned it over just once in the second half, but continued to turn the Aces over, bothering them greatly with length and activity, particularly off the bench...
this is less about keeping the ball in front, but to Steve's point, there's just a lot of limbs to try and work through, and the Liberty can more easily recover when they gamble/make mistakes https://t.co/YRUe8iSWHO pic.twitter.com/mFomDYqd9Y— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 15, 2024
Leonie Fiebich continued her strong run of play, contributing 23 minutes for New York, hitting two triples on her way to eight points. With Nyara Sabally and Courtney Vandersloot still out, Kayla Thornton remained in the starting lineup, while Kennedy Burke and Ivana Dojkić each played over eight minutes.
Said Brondello of the reserves: “They brought great energy. Ivana too; she hasn’t had many opportunities, but we keep reminding her that she can help us and to stay ready, I thought she did an excellent job tonight and that’s what we need, Kennedy as well.”
The bench winning their minutes at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth after losing them in the second was the difference, allowing Jones to get just enough rest to return midway through the final frame, hitting her fourth 3-pointer of the night to bring the lead to 18 points.
Jones added a couple buckets after the ensuing timeout, but with the game officially on ice, that three served as the cherry on top of her dominant 34-point performance, a new career-high. It was an official arrival to the early MVP conversation that’s rightfully been dominated by Wilson, as well as a couple other excellent forwards in Alyssa Thomas and Napheesa Collier.
Still, Jones kept it characteristically humble after the game: “I think it feels good. Lke I said, I’m just playing the game. If I’m open, I’m shooting, if someone rotates to me, I’m passing the ball, but I’m really not overthinking it. I think it shows when you play the right way, it definitely does feel good.”
Not that it was a one-woman show, of course. Breanna Stewart didn’t light the world on fire with 14 points on 7-of-15 shooting, but as the Liberty found ways to get her involved in the second quarter, she saved their offense from a total flat-line when the threes didn’t fall. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton played a prototypical Betnijah game, chipping in here and there but somehow ending up with 12/7/3 and three steals, winning her minutes by 15 points...
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton sequence, gonna quietly end up with a real nice stat-line today: pic.twitter.com/9bBaH1kIXd— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 15, 2024
Sabrina Ionescu didn’t have her best shooting day, finishing 5-of-14, but racked up an impressive double-double with 15 points and 12 assists to only one turnover. It was the culmination of her necessary improvements this season, the team’s primary ball-handler with Vandersloot out. And on Saturday, dealing with the monstrous A’ja Wilson on switches and hedges, Ionescu proved that she could control the offense like a true general, keeping her dribble alive to direct the ball to the right player...
So A'ja has been cutting off Sabrina's water in these situations...but this is a very creative solution from Sabrina and JJ, who is very very talented pic.twitter.com/PtTwwAucND— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 15, 2024
“I kind of just took what the defense gave me,” said Ionescu. “I wasn’t sure if they were going to trap, I wasn’t sure if they were going to come out and hard-hedge, so I think it was just staying patient. But every time I was able to get down to the paint, I was able to create for someone else or get a good look at the rim ... It was really nice to be able to see how many you know players I was able to get open just by attacking downhill and attacking the hedge.”
For the first time in two weeks, the Liberty played a regular-season game without Commissioner’s Cup incentives. That matchup against the Minnesota Lynx on June 25 is all set, after blazing through the fire with a 5-0 run last week.
Surely, there was extra motivation on Saturday, but was it solely about last year’s Finals appearance, or was it just the result of putting ten of the W’s best athletes on the court together and rolling the ball out? We were hardly thinking about last October while watching the Libs try to contain Wilson, seeing if their length could bother Plum and Young, or watching Ionescu show off the newest layer to her game.
The past is in the past, and these two teams are at markedly different places in their journey than eight months ago. The Aces are now 6-6, banking on the return of Chelsea Gray and the continued improvement of Tiffany Hayes off her short-lived retirement. They’ll likely be fine, but you know, they need to get fine. And in doing so, they’re far past reflecting on their back-to-back titles.
The Liberty are far past that too, but only because they’re having more fun than ever, even as they await the returns of Vandersloot and Sabally. Now at 12-2, it’d be hard to argue they haven’t been the W’s best team so far, that Jones isn’t playing at an MVP level.
But if the sting of 2023’s loss to the Aces hasn’t gone away, it’s not because it’s dimming their smiles...
.@KingJames congratulating the @nyliberty on their big win pic.twitter.com/GsSGYLf5Mk— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) June 15, 2024
Rather, it’s reminding them that the fight isn’t over, that they are still many mountains away from their ultimate goal.
But I do hope they have a great time in Las Vegas on Saturday night. They sure as hell earned it.
Final Score: New York Liberty 90, Las Vegas Aces 82
Next Up
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
After a couple days off, the Liberty will continue their time out West with a matchup against the Phoenix Mercury, who have regained Rebecca Allen and Britney Griner since their matchup in New York. Tip-off is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.
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