NY Liberty vs. Chicago Sky preview: The homestand ends
Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
The Liberty wrap up their three game homestand with a matchup against the rebuilding Chicago Sky. One more on the good side. The New York Liberty have been home for the past few days, and things have been looking good. They faced the Seattle Storm on Monday night and led wire-to-wire as they improved to a WNBA best 4-0.
The opponent tonight is trying to figure things out. The Chicago Sky are in a new era and are looking to lay down the foundation for a brighter future. They took on the Dallas Wings Saturday night and came away with their first win of the season.
Where to follow the game
For the locals, MY9, the YES App and Fox Local. For everyone else, Amazon Prime. Tip after 7 PM.
Injuries
All clear for the Liberty.
Kamilla Cardoso is out with a shoulder injury, but is slated to return on June 1. Isabelle Harrison is listed as questionable with a knee injury. Diamond DeShields did not participate in shootaround this morning. She had an MRI on her foot and will miss tonight’s game.
The game
It didn’t count last time, but the last time the Liberty saw the Sky, they lost by 50 points. Granted it was the preseason, but something like that tends to linger. The Liberty players and coaching staff remember what that feeling was like and at practice yesterday, they talked about being prepared for a Sky team that plays with tons of energy. Every game is a challenge, and tonight should be a fun one.
It’ll also be fun to see an old friend! Teresa Weatherspoon is getting her first shot at being head coach, and the Liberty legend has already endeared herself to her team and the city of Chicago. T-Spoon has a young roster that is looking to grow and find itself, and her experiences as a player and coach will provide valuable lessons for her players.
Without DeShields, the Sky have one less scoring option to turn to. Marina Mabrey leads the team and will be the focal point of the Sky offense. She leads the team in shot attempts and is still adjusting to life as lead option in the WNBA. She and the Sky will have to deal with Sabrina Ionescu tonight. The three point shot hasn’t shown up yet for Ionescu, but she’s been driving to the basket more often and has found plenty of success there. Sandy Brondello talks a lot about going from “paint to great” and if Ionescu is able to continue to find her way into the painted area, she will give the Liberty another dimension to work with.
The Sky will have a tough time dealing with Jonquel Jones. JJ has been a force on both sides of the ball and has continued her dominant run from the second half of last season. As Lucas wrote earlier today:
“Her worst games still turn tides; New York’s defense can never break down into a layup-line with Jones waiting down low, and if defenses can cover all the perimeter shooters in sea foam, they often don’t have enough left to keep Jones off the glass. This is not unprecedented of course, a paint presence whose impact on both ends hardly wavers from game-to-game.
But Jones can do everything. She has the freedom to trap ball-screens in part because Stewie is waiting down low, but in late-clock situations, the Liberty will just switch her outright, and watching a woman of Jones’ size slide her feet like this and then run the break is almost sickening...”
When you have a big that can do everything like Jones does, it makes a great team just a bit more special.
Player to watch: Angel Reese
We’ve talked a lot about the WNBA growing and making their cultural moment count. Last weekend in Barclays was huge as Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever were in town to face the Libs and bring in a record $2 million gate. The other big star of the 2024 Draft is in town as we get to see Angel Reese tonight. She’s been literally everywhere imaginable as she’s making the adjustment from LSU to the pros. How big of a reach has she had? Our pal Dan Mataya explains:
Long #WNBA message (chart is from Google Trends):Lot of points about league growth before this year. It’s a fact. But it’s impossible to ignore the massive impact the rookie class, specifically Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, has had on the #WNBA in less than a month. It’s a… pic.twitter.com/sLToNY2de7— Dano Mataya (@drmataya) May 23, 2024
Business is booming and the league is trending upward. It’s been a team process getting to this point and it’s exciting to see where the game goes from here.
On the court, Reese is finding her way. She’s 12th in the league in rebounding at close to nine per game, but her offense is still in development. Her shooting numbers aren’t there yet and she hasn’t had much success at the rim. At the same time, she’s been wreaking havoc on the offensive glass and when you can get extra possessions, things will break your way eventually.
Reese will get a chance to match up with Breanna Stewart at full speed. Stew York has shaken off some opening night rust and is back to looking like herself. The Liberty have worked to find her baskets at the rim, and those easy baskets take pressure off of her and make things more challenging for defenses. The team has also been mindful of her workload and have kept her around 30 minutes per game. Doing that works in the present as we get to see more of the Liberty’s depth and in the future when they’ll need the MVP to do a lot of heavy lifting when the stakes become higher.
From the Vault
T-spoon’s back home, so you know where we’re going
More reading: Swish Appeal, Chicago Sun Times, 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
Liberty face the Sky on 4-game win streak - AP
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