When a team is 11-2, undefeated in Commissioner’s Cup play,and off to their best start in franchise history, any criticism can be seen as nit-picking. But with a few days off for the first time in what seems like ages, New York Liberty coach Sandy Brondello can step back and reflect on the first quarter of the WNBA season.
There’s plenty of good to go around, from Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu, and Breanna Stewart’s dominance to the emergence of Leonie Fiebich, and an ability to close-out tight games. After the Liberty beat the winless Washington Mystics on Sunday, Brondello spoke on the team’s most recent stretch, a five-games-in-eight-days marathon that New York ran through unbeaten.
“I thought we took a lot of steps forward,” she said. “After the two losses that we had, it was more of a wake-up call. ‘OK, we have to play better. We have to play more connected.’ Our biggest strength is strength in numbers. But these are professionals and they obviously take pride in what they're doing, this is their jobs. And I thought we just came together, our commitment became better, everything became better.”
There are still some areas for improvement — nothing too alarming, but things to tighten up if the Liberty want to go from Eastern Conference favorites to first-time WNBA champions.
Here are four areas the Liberty must improve as they look to build off their best start in franchise history.
Liberty must command the middle quarters
The Liberty’s most consistent quality has been their own inconsistency within games. They’ve made a habit of jumping out to first-quarter leads before fading in the second and third, then finishing strong.
The quarter-by-quarter numbers tell a jarring story. Over 13 games, the Liberty have outscored opponents by 97 in the first quarter but their opponents have outscored them by 31 in the second. Opponents have also won the third quarter with a seven-point differential. The Liberty then close strong with a +70 in the fourth.
“I think we get a little bored,” Brondello admitted. “It's more like, ‘no, let's continue to play for 40 minutes because that's what we're gonna need and it's about us fulfilling our potential.’”
New York's 3-point shooting
The Liberty went 12-27 from three in their win over the Mystics, somewhat disguising how ineffective they’ve been from long-range this season.
Stewart, a career 36% three-point shooter is only shooting 18% from three this year. Ionescu has recovered from a horrid shooting start to the year, connecting at a 43% clip over her last seven games, bringing her season percentage up to 35% — still well below her 45% that she shot a year ago. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton has also taken a step back (33% this year vs. 39% last year).
“I’ve missed a lot. I know [Ionescu] wants to shoot better,” Stewart said in May at the height of her struggles. “It’s going to work itself out. We’re going to continue to do what we do and take the shots that we take and have confidence.”
Over the course of a season, these things tend to even out and the Liberty’s recent winning streak provides plenty of reasons for hope, even if they haven’t shot the lights out every night.
Liberty must continue to improve spacing
In May, Brondello often bemoaned the team’s shot selection, thinking the team was settling for the first shot, not the best shot. At the same time, players have said their spacing on the court hasn’t been good.
After the Liberty lost to the Lynx, Jones watched tape and called their spacing “terrible.”
“We were on top of each other. Every time someone had an opportunity to go one-on-one, somebody else was right there,” she said. “And so their defense is just congesting everything and then you couple that with the fact that we weren't shooting the ball well, and now it's a game that's kind of out of hand that doesn't feel like, New York Liberty basketball.”
She added that sometimes players have the tendency to want to do too much. That’s especially true on a team with All-Stars at every position. Jones said that sometimes it’s OK to not be in constant motion on offense.
Courtney Vandersloot agreed. After the Liberty slipped by the Mercury at home on May 29, she said, “We’re moving too much. We’re cutting when we shouldn’t cut, and we just need to space sometimes.”
Breanna Stewart stresses getting Downhill
Stewart stresses this point regularly. The Liberty are at their best when their defense translates into offense, either on the fastbreak or creating situations where the best shot actually is the first shot. The team is blessed with a starting five that can run the court, two elite ball handlers in Ionescu and Vandersloot, and a pair of post players in Stewart and Jones that can connect from anywhere.
New York does not force enough live-ball turnovers. They’re third-to-last in the league in opponent turnovers and third-to-last in steals per game. They are, however, one of the best rebounding teams in the WNBA.
“If we have to take the ball out of the basket every single time, it's hard to get downhill,” Stewart said.
The Liberty aren’t the most athletic team in the league, but they have the potential to be the smartest in the open court. Dictating the tempo and making good decisions in the process can turn this team from good to great.
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