NY Liberty vs. Seattle Storm preview: Liberty look for their fourth straight win
Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images
The Liberty continue their three game homestand. The Storm come into town on the second night of a back-to-back and third game in four days. That was a great time! The New York Liberty opened up the home portion of their schedule with a matinee affair against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. In a record setting afternoon, the Libs gave the Brooklyn faithful plenty to cheer for as they got third straight win to start the season.
The opponent tonight is a reminder of 2023 Liberty’s past. The Seattle Storm overhauled their roster during the winter and brought in a lot of great new talent. So far, it’s been a bit of a bumpy start. They played yesterday afternoon against the Washington Mystics and won a choppy affair, 84-75. It was their first win of the season and a pretty special one for Noelle Quinn
50 wins at the helm ⛈️Congratulations to @Noey_Quinn on this milestone win! pic.twitter.com/3g65sFfx1c— Seattle Storm (@seattlestorm) May 19, 2024
Where to follow the game
MY9 on TV. YES App and Fox Local on streaming. Tip after 7 PM.
Injuries
Nothing doing for the Liberty.
Nika Muhl is having visa issues and thus is unable to play. Late in Friday night’s double overtime affair vs. the Minnesota Lynx, Nneka Ogwumike sprained her ankle. She was listed as questionable for yesterday’s game, but sat it out. She’s currently listed as questionable and as we draw closer to game time, we’ll see what her status is.
The game
We talk about it in the NBA all the time, and it rings true in the W as well: Night two of a back-to-back and a third game in four days is HELL to deal with. With the season being as compressed as it is, it’s going to be a lot of games and travel in a short time frame. Fortunately, the league’s charter flight policy is set to go into effect tomorrow. That should make the ride home a bit less arduous for teams all across the league.
When you own the paint, you own the game. The Liberty have won the points in the paint battle each time out, and when you’re able to have that success at the rim, it opens up the rest of the court for you. For the Liberty, their success at the rim starts with Jonquel Jones. JJ has been a two way force and collected her 200th career double-double on Saturday. With Ogwumike at less than full strength, Seattle is at less than full strength against the Jones-Breanna Stewart dynamic duo. Ezi Magbegor will be tasked with handling duties at center for Seattle, and she’s been one of the most improved players in recent seasons.
Speaking of Stewart, she continued to find success getting to the rim and in the post area. The Liberty have been intentional about scoring in transition and finding mismatches for her to exploit in the post.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton earned rave reviews for her work defending Caitlin Clark. And tonight, she gets to lock up with the league’s reigning scoring champion. Jewell Loyd led the W in scoring at 24.7 a night last year, however it was a hard 24.7 a night. Defenses loaded up on her and she had shooting splits of .370/.356/.870 in 35 minutes a night. Over at Her Hoop Stats, Matthew Coller wrote about it:
In 2023, a season after Breanna Stewart left for New York, Loyd took six more shots per game than she had ever taken before and nearly nine more shots per game than her highest eFG% season (2020). While her 24.7 points per game during the 2023 campaign ranks second all time, Loyd also posted a career-low eFG% of 44.5%
Seattle has reloaded for 2024 with one of the WNBA’s all-time most efficient players Nneka Ogwumike. The 2016 MVP ranks sixth all-time in eFG% at a remarkable 56.2%. Ogwumike’s presence alone should mirror Stewart’s from years past because they can both get into the paint or stretch the floor. The addition of Skyler Diggins-Smith should also increase Loyd’s fast break opportunities and catch-and-shoot chances like she had with Sue Bird for the majority of her career.
It will likely take some adjusting back to being part of the machine rather than the entire offense but Loyd’s inefficiency was very likely more due to the situation than anything else.
For Laney-Hamilton, Kayla Thornton, and the rest of the Liberty perimeter players, they’re going to look to make things tough on Loyd every possession. Great players always find a way, but if you make it hard on them, mission accomplished.
Player to watch: Skylar Diggins-Smith
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Skylar on the hardwood. Following the 2022 season, she gave birth to her second child in April of 2023. As a result, she was out on maternity leave for all of the ‘23 season. However, it wasn’t a good experience for SDS. She alleged that the Phoenix Mercury barred her from using the team facilities while on maternity leave and did not provide her access to team medical and support staff. The incident between Skylar and the Mercury speaks to the issues for pregnant people and workplace policies. From Frankie De La Cruz’s Out of Your League newsletter:
WNBA players are workers, and the athletes of the W who have children—whether they carry them or not—are part of the same struggle facing working mothers in every industry. It’s well-documented that having children has a negative impact on the earning potential and salary of women, whereas men often see an increase in pay after becoming fathers. From simply a labor perspective, there is no evidence to indicate that motherhood is associated with lower productivity for workers.
As we draw closer to the new collective bargaining agreement, those policies will come into sharper focus and we’ll see what the league does to provide more support for its players.
Back on the court, it’s been a transition for her getting used to a new team and city. It’s been a bit of a slow start for the Storm, but they’re putting things together. It takes time to build chemistry, and she wound up committing six turnovers yesterday afternoon. Even with that, her presence has helped steady things. When we see the Storm again in late August, chances are she’ll be back to her All WNBA form by then.
Courtney Vandersloot has kept things humming along for the Liberty at point guard. The Liberty have been intentional about managing their players’ minutes, and Sloot hasn’t had to push too hard early on. With this season being a compressed dash to the finish line, ensuring everyone is healthy and not overworking themselves takes on even more importance.
From the Vault
Rookie debuts are always fun, so let’s take it back to Stew York’s debut way back in 2016
Also, Grace Jones celebrated her 76th birthday over the weekend. Is it time to Pull Up to the Bumper? Damn right!
More reading: Seattle Times, Swish Appeal, The Strickland, The Local W, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic. Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, SI All Knicks, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, CBS Sports, and The Next
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