New York Liberty pull away from Phoenix Mercury late, win 84-70
Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images
It wasn’t the high-scoring barnburner the two teams played last time, but it was a resounding win for the New York Liberty. They’ll take it. The New York Liberty didn’t pick the most convenient time to snap their eight-game winning streak. Their Saturday night loss to the Connecticut Sun shrunk the gap in the loss-column to two — though New York still owns the tie-breaker and the W’s #1 seed — and marked the end of a brief three-game homestand, which started after a flight home from the West Coast.
Well, the Liberty had to fly right back out there and play the Phoenix Mercury on Monday night. The last time they did, the teams combined for a WNBA-record 33 threes in a fast-paced Liberty loss where the team’s three stars all played 36 minutes.
But, as Breanna Stewart pointed out on Saturday night, “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us.”
Certainly not with Betnijah Laney-Hamilton back in the lineup after a six-week recovery from right-knee surgery, meaning the league’s best team was once again whole.
But New York and Phoenix weren’t going to repeat their last performance in the desert, not after the Liberty won an ugly first quarter just 18-9. The teams would produce 37 turnovers in all, many unforced. Some, though, were the result of an excellent defensive game-plan from the Liberty.
Britney Griner scored 22 points and 11-of-16 shooting, but racked up seven turnovers without an assist. Sandy Brondello often sent help or outright double-teams at the center she used to coach, and even when Griner got it out of he hands, the Liberty rotated beautifully...
Libs doubling BG and it's worked out the first couple times, forcing a turnover here: pic.twitter.com/D65ZUOhXp3— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 27, 2024
“I mean, she still had 22 and that was when we left her in single coverage, because she’s a great player,” said Brondello. “But I thought when we were blitzing, we brought our bigger post players, and I thought Stewie did a really good job, and we rotated well out of it. Then, it’s relying on your scramble defense.”
Brondello couldn’t clean up everything though, and the Mercury were able to tie the game up by half-time as a result of New York’s porous perimeter defense. Sabrina Ionescu and others went underneath on Natasha Cloud and got punished by four triples from Cloud, all pull-ups. And on the last play of the half, the Liberty butchered Diana Taurasi’s bread-and-butter, as the legend slipped on by for a wide open three...
at some point the Liberty need to recognize Diana is going to ghost all of these guard-to-guard screening actions...not sure whose fault this is but Stewie is rightfully pissed pic.twitter.com/3hGxrTo31A— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 27, 2024
Said Brondello: “I mean, obviously we weren’t happy. I wasn’t happy, [the players] weren’t happy. We didn’t execute well, we had no physicality. We weren’t intentional with how we’re playing.”
Then, they were. Cloud hit a 3-pointer in the second half and that was it, Phoenix wound up shooting 5-of-22 from deep, and though they shot well inside the arc, 22 turnovers negated most of that efficiency.
Meanwhile, New York’s offense came and went, but when Jonquel Jones hit a go-ahead three early in the third quarter, that was it. The Liberty would not relinquish the lead again, the Mercury unable to string together long stretches of productive offense.
Sabrina Ionescu struggled again in her second game back after missing two with a neck injury; her decision-making with the ball wasn't quite as crisp as it’s been this season, and she shot just 5-of-17 on the night, but her co-stars were there for her. Breanna Stewart led the Libs with 21/6/4/1/1, and curiously, the Mercury weren’t overly invested in stopping her. They rarely sent extra bodies to her, despite being guarded by the much shorter Cloud. Perhaps it’s because when they did, unlike the Liberty, their scramble rotations left something to be desired...
Sloot on that 1st person shooter typa time ⏰ @Sloot22 | #LIGHTITUPNYL pic.twitter.com/sfjccwZMwa— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) August 27, 2024
That brings us to Courtney Vandersloot, who put forth who best scoring game of the season: 16/6/4 on 5-of-8 and 3-of-4 from deep.
Then, the supporting cast stepped up. Leonie Fiebich’s lone three came at a pivotal juncture, Jonquel Jones made three long-balls of her own despite struggling inside the paint, while Ionescu and Laney-Hamitlon had their moments too...
Betnijah -> Sabrina, doing what they do pic.twitter.com/zJaf7jsaee— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 27, 2024
That Ionescu three took the form of a dagger, capping off a 10-0 run that looked a whole lot like true Liberty hoops, the kind that have given them the best defensive and offensive ratings in the WNBA. After a slow start, New York finished 12-of-29 from deep.
Sandy Brondello wasn’t surprised: “I thought in the second half, we moved the ball like we’re supposed to, and I think that allowed us to get downhill and attack closeouts on the second and third side, and when we play like that, that’s when, obviously, we generate more points.”
A game that was frequently frustrating, and likely more tiring given New York’s packed schedule, turned into a good-vibes-fest. Laney-Hamilton scored five quick ones at the end to finish with 9/3/3 in 27 minutes off the bench in her return, and Nyara Sabally looked awesome in her minutes as well, owning Natasha Mack in the battle of backup bigs...
NYL continues to struggle at the level...but what a block from Nyara pic.twitter.com/LgsDEZLwuj— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) August 27, 2024
Toward the end of the night, Vandersloot was spotted on the broadcast chatting with bench guards Ivana Dojkić and Jaylyn Sherrod. Sharing her wisdom, or just enjoying the moment?
“We were just shooting the ****,” she said with a laugh. “It wasn’t anything, I wish I had a better answer for you.”
Eh. That’s a pretty good answer, fitting for a pretty good win.
Final Score: New York Liberty 84, Phoenix Mercury 70
Next Up
Photo by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images
After hanging a 40-piece on them after the Olympic break, the New York Liberty will face the Los Angeles Sparks on the road again. Tip-off is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.
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