Sandy Brondello reveals silver lining of shocking loss to Sparks
Three hours before the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks squared off at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night, few would have thought Nyara Sabally would be one of the most impactful players in the game for New York.
But with Jonquel Jones feeling sick, Sabally had her chance to shine. On a night in which the first-place Liberty suffered a shocking 94-88 loss to the team with the worst record in the WNBA, Sabally recorded her first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
“It’s great to see Nyara out there and playing so well. We just think she has this amazing potential and it’s going to keep getting better,” head coach Sandy Brondello said. “She’s very reliable, she can do things at both ends of the floor and adds another dimension to our team.”
Sabally herself added that she’s getting more comfortable on the court after missing more than a month in the first half of the season.
“The more games you play, the more comfortable you get,” Sabally said. “I have great teammates around me who always know where I am and pass me the ball, which makes it easy for me.”
With the Liberty still claiming a stranglehold on the No. 1 seed in the WNBA playoffs, leading the Connecticut Sun (who also lost on Wednesday) by three games with eight to play, Sabally’s emergence could ultimately be more important than the loss.
And while it’s hard to tell from her stats, it’s a performance she was building up to. She’s logged double-digit minutes in six of the Liberty’s seven games since the Olympic break and has made her mark defensively in each. The offense followed on Wednesday as Sabally’s teammates found her for easy looks.
Big Nyny getting it done right at the buzzer! @nyarasabally | #LIGHTITUPNYL pic.twitter.com/MHD494aoxJ
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) August 29, 2024
“Luckily I made my layups today,” Sabally joked.
Sabally has had a great teacher to help put her in this position, having watched Jones play since before they were teammates. Now, she can practice with and against the former MVP, which has provided an invaluable learning experience.
“I’ve been watching her forever, not just since I’ve been in the league, but before that,” Sabally said. “Obviously, she’s always been a big role model and just being able to practice with her, practice against her, and just watching her. I shoot with her a lot and just being able to pick her brain means a lot because she’s one of the best post players in this league.”
Kennedy Burke got the start in Jones’ place, and she had a solid game as well, scoring seven on 3-5 shooting. It’s been a theme of the second half of the Liberty’s season. The same bench players who were nearly invisible early on are suddenly showcasing the team’s actual depth.
The Liberty have hit a late season stumbling block
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
New York’s loss on Wednesday was its second in three games.
After the Liberty lost to the Connecticut Sun last Saturday, Sabrina Ionescu promised the team wouldn’t lose a game that way again. The Liberty shot poorly and let the Sun dictate how the game was played on both ends.
To be fair, this wasn’t the same sort of loss. The Liberty committed 19 turnovers and Los Angeles converted them into 29 points. Ionescu shooting 3-14 from three and Jones’ illness didn’t help matters.
Credit where it’s due on the other end as well. Rookie Rickea Jackson was electric in the first half, scoring 15 of her 19 points on 6-8 shooting. Rae Burrell came off the bench to shoot 7-8 from the field and 3-3 from three to account for her 18 points with 13 coming in the second half.
It’s easy to say these things happen over a 40-game season and it’s possible that this bump in the road is nothing more than that. But at minimum, the game presented plenty of correctable mistakes.
“I think we can come out a little bit more aggressive but also smarter,” Breanna Stewart said. “We’re trying to make the home run play or looking to score on the first side and putting ourselves in a bad position. It’s on the starters, on myself to make sure we’re ready to come out and know where the ball is going to go.”
We’ll get to see how the Liberty’s approach changes in two days when they take on the Storm in Seattle. It’ll be the final challenge in a brutal stretch of six games in 11 days. After that, the team flies home with five days to rest before the Aces come to town next Thursday.
The post Sandy Brondello reveals silver lining of shocking loss to Sparks appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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