After playing three games so far in the young season, the Liberty have their busiest week yet coming up, playing three games in a six-day span from Tuesday through Sunday. Before looking ahead to those games, let’s take a look at the team’s one game from this week, an 81-65 win over the Sun on Saturday.
The First Half Shows Some Concerns for New York
Remember the Mystics game? New York looked pretty lost, which can happen with a team of players that have not spent much time together.
Then, the Fever game made it look like everything had turned around. Breanna Stewart set a team record for scoring, and the Liberty throttled Indiana in a game that was not as close as the final score—and the final score itself was not close! New York won by 17, but it could have been a lot more.
Heading into the third game of the year, it looked like the Liberty had turned things around. But then the first half against Connecticut made it look like that was not true.
The Liberty trailed 38-32 at halftime, which was not ideal when the team Alyssa Thomas to 0-for-3 from the floor.
Defensively, New York’s backcourt struggled. Tiffany Hayes had nine points in the first half, and Natisha Hiedeman had eight. Connecticut saw a weakness and exploited that. The Liberty just seem to be a little out of position early on defensively, which can be another byproduct of a team still getting the feel of playing together.
The offense struggled in the first half, too, with a big part of that being Sabrina Ionescu shooting 2-for-8 from the floor. The team also had eight turnovers before the half.
Still, shooting can be streaky. The main takeaway from the first half was that the Liberty’s perimeter defense seems like the weak point. Courtney Vandersloot and Ionescu are an elite backcourt pairing when it comes to playmaking, but having another guard who can come off the bench and defend at the point-of-attack would be good for this team. Maybe adding Marine Johannès soon helps fix some of that, but she is also a player more known for her playmaking than her defense.
The Second Half Shows Why the Liberty Can Be Dangerous
The biggest adjustment from the second half was that the Liberty offense woke up, scoring 49 points. The defense played well also, but that feels a secondary to the fact that the team shot 47.1% from deep after halftime.
For as much as Ionescu’s shooting struggles in the first half hurt, her shooting successes fueled the second half—she was 4-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-6 from deep. Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Vandersloot combined to make eight threes over the final two quarters.
That’s the biggest thing that should worry the other 11 teams: When everything is clicking, New York’s offense can capitalize in many ways. It can get hot from deep, like it did in this one. The team can win down low as well with Jonquel Jones and Stefanie Dolson, though Jones is not at 100% yet, so fans have not really seen her get all the way unleashed.
Nyara Sabally’s WNBA Debut
Nyara Sabally played her first WNBA game on Saturday, playing 13 minutes and scoring six points on 3-for-6 shooting with three rebounds. Let’s break down her performance.
This was Sabally’s first shot attempt in the WNBA, and I think it really showcases her strengths, which are that she’s a strong player with good footwork who can back opponents down and get to the bucket. Playing on the Liberty should be perfect for Sabally because the amount of scoring threats on the floor at all times is going to mean a a lot of single coverage on her down low—and she can beat that single coverage. Nothing against Leigha Brown, but this is like putting a slot corner on Travis Kelce here—Sabally’s going to get to her position.
On this play, Sabally does not end up getting the bucket, but it is still another impressive showcase of her ability to get to her spot. She did a great job of cutting inside here and getting right under the hoop. She did not manage to finish, but the Liberty will take her getting this shot any day.
I used a football metaphor above, so let’s use another one. The way the defense doubles Vandersloot here and leaves Sabally alone at the top of the arc reminds me of an elite left tackle—Vandersloot in this case—occupying two defenders, opening up a hole for the running back to head upfield. Sabally’s the running back here. No one is on her as she sprints toward the basket, and Vandersloot delivers a perfectly timed pass, which finds Sabally open at the rim. The metaphor breaks down a little since Vandersloot is both offensive lineman and quarterback on this play, but the point is that with so many talented players on this court, Sabally has a lot of space to play around in.
Here is the Liberty’s first example of Sabally being able to move with the ball in her hands outside of post touches. Sabally gets to the top of the paint here, the ball comes her way, she gives a little shot fake and then puts it on the floor. DeWanna Bonner adjusts pretty quickly and has her arms up, but Sabally is able to finish the floater.
Finally, here is what might be the play from Sabally that shows the most promise, even though she misses the shot.
Sabally has the ball at the three-point line and dribbles to the basket. She moves really well for a player that is 6-foot-5, and while Sabally is not able to get the basket, she is quick to adjust and go up to grab the offensive board. Then, with the defense now crowded all over her, she sees Betnijah Laney open behind the arc and Laney kicks it to Vandersloot for the three.
It is early, but fans can already see the makings of a player who can be valuable for this team. The Liberty are going to find themselves in a bit of a cap crunch next offseason, and if they can let Dolson walk and use Sabally as the primary backup big, that would be huge when it comes to making sure the core of the team stays together beyond this year.
Next Week in Seafoam
New York has a busy week on the horizon, with the Liberty playing two road games before heading home Sunday.
May 30: @ Storm, 9 p.m. ET
June 2: @ Sky, 6 p.m. ET
June 4: vs. Sky, 2 p.m. ET
The Storm game has the potential to look a lot like the Fever game. Seattle is 0-2 and has the worst net rating in the league, but the Sky have the third-best net rating and sit at 3-1 so far, so those will be some big tests. Chicago’s only loss was by two to the Mystics, though it has had some easier games againstMinnesota and Phoenix.
Stopping Kahleah Copper and Courtney Williams will pose a problem for this Liberty defense, so those are two important games—not only because every win matters in the battle for the No. 1 seed at the end of the year, but also because fans will get to see how the Liberty make defensive adjustments between games since they play the Sky twice in three days.