The New York Liberty were exploited by the Las Vegas Aces in the first matchup of two WNBA titans, losing the game 98-81 at the Michelob ULTRA Arena Thursday night.
Despite the 17-point deficit, New York was able to keep up with the defending champions’ offensive power in the first half, trailing by seven points at the break.
Starting in the third quarter, however, the Liberty lost control of the game. The team constantly made mistakes on both ends, and paid dearly for it. Las Vegas took advantage of New York’s turnovers and extended its lead to 20 points at the end of the third. The quarter included two scoring runs (9-0 and 12-3) that established the Aces’ dominance, and ultimately decided the game.
“I think we got frustrated and we’ve got to play tougher. Things were too easy [for the Aces]. That’s what I was disappointed [by],” coach Sandy Brondello said. “We didn’t have enough fight individually and collectively as a team, and that can’t happen because you’re going to get scored on. But we can’t get scored on the way that we got scored on. And it just went away from what our identity is.”
As the W’s two most hyped teams, the Liberty went all-in during the offseason by adding multiple stars like Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot. The Aces were also able to sign Candace Parker and Alysha Clark following their first championship in franchise history.
With two super-stacked rosters, the expectations skyrocketed for both organizations—and heading into this game, they have delivered, holding the top two spots in the league standings. More convincingly, they were ranked in the top two in the following categories:
- Points
- Assists
- Blocks
- Field goal percentage
- Three-point percentage
However, one team had to lose, and this time it was the Liberty. The defending champions proved that they are the superteam with better execution and chemistry. They will meet again in August.
What issues plagued the Liberty?
Any game would be highly different for a team if its best player was struggling on the court, and that was exactly the case for Stewart and New York in this loss.
Stewart had started hot against the Aces in the first period, dropping 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including two layups and one three-pointer. However, Aces coach Becky Hammon decided to limit Stewart’s offensive impact through quick double-teams, or even triple-teams.
The Aces’ weak side defense came immediately every time Stewart got the ball. The strategy worked to force her into making decisions between taking tough shots over the defense or throwing cross-court passes. That, to some extent, disrupted the Liberty’s offensive strategy, and they were not able to address the issue throughout the game.
“They crowded her, they switched. They did a lot of switching. It jumped us up a little bit, took us out of our rhythm. Every time she caught the ball, there were two people. We’ve got to do a better job,” Brondello explained about Stewart’s struggles after the first quarter.
However, the blame does not fall on one player. The Aces’ aggressive approach to disrupt the Liberty’s ball movement put a lot of pressure on the league’s leading assist team. New York turned the ball over 17 times against a physical and experienced Las Vegas team. Nine of the 17 turnovers came from their starting backcourt, and the team gave up 22 points on those mistakes.
“I think they just crowded it. They made us make extra passes after they made their rotations. Things that would normally be open were taken away. And they forced us to make the long passes and were able to recover,” Jones said. “And then I think a lot of our turnovers were also things that were unforced as well. When you’re playing against a team like that, the margin of error is pretty small.”
The Aces are a versatile offensive team with dynamic weapons in Jackie Young, A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray. The core four average a combined 70.3 points per game, and due to the high volume of turnovers, the Liberty were not able to slow them down in transition.
Meanwhile, the Aces exploited the Liberty in half-court offense with post-ups and mismatches in rotations. They were in the right place at the right time and achieved 32 assists on 40 made field goals. Each Aces starter scored in double figures and four of them had at least five assists.
“Credit to Vegas, they were really on point tonight and exploited us in many areas. For us, we’ve got to take a little bit more pride in the defensive end and be better than what we were tonight. But it will be a great learning experience,” Brondello said.
This loss against the defending champion might be a disappointment for the Liberty, but surely a valuable lesson as New York looks to improve.
Up next, the Liberty will close out its three-game road trip against the Seattle Storm on Sunday.