Jonquel Jones didn’t need to tell reporters that going into the game, head coach Sandy Brondello's word of the night was “grit.” It wasn’t obvious for all 40 minutes of the New York Liberty’s 85-80 season-opening win over the Washington Mystics, but it showed up on both ends of the court when it counted.
New York raced out to a 10-point lead, only to cede the final 13 points of the first half to the Mystics and go into the locker room down three. It didn’t get much better from there either, as their defense faltered in the third quarter and the Mystics were able to extend to an eight-point advantage going into the fourth.
That’s when a switch flipped. The Liberty tightened their defense, found better shots, and took care of the ball. In the end, they had just enough.
“It wasn’t perfect, we knew that there were going to be a lot of things that we still need to work on,” Jones said. “But at the end of the day when, you know, when it gets tough what type of player are you, what type of team are you, are you going to shy away or are you going to step into the moment?”
Even if on paper the Liberty are the superior team, history showed that New York would probably need to grit this one out. Yes, New York swept Washington in two playoff games last year, but the teams split in the regular season and out of six total games, two needed overtime and another was decided by just one possession.
While the Mystics won the season opener between these teams last year, the Liberty were able to rewrite the script in 2024. Here's how it happened.
The Liberty were as good as their defense
Shakira Austin was always going to be a matchup problem for the Liberty because of her versatility. Breanna Stewart struggled against her, as Austin scored nine in the first half to help the Mystics overcome their deficit.
“I think her moving to the 4 actually helps her game,” Brondello said of Austin. “Last year, she probably played more at the 5 when she did play alongside [Elena] Delle Donne. She was driving right, finishing, she blocked Nyara [Sabally] really good and she did a lot of good things.”
There were times throughout the middle quarters where Austin and Ariel Atkins were a step quicker than their Liberty defenders, allowing the Mystics to get better looks while New York often settled for threes on the other end, much to Brondello’s frustration.
The tide turned in the fourth quarter, however, as the Liberty tightened things up and let their defense feed into their offense. They started winning battles to loose balls, found a few rebounds that would have gone the other way in the opening three quarters, and didn’t allow the Mystics’ wings to penetrate. It resulted in visible frustration from Washington and bought the Liberty time while their shooting stayed erratic.
Jonquel Jones is all the way back
Jones was the 2021 WNBA MVP with the Connecticut Sun. Still, on a team with Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, people can forget about her. Especially after a first season in New York that took her a while to get going.
There were no such early-season struggles for Jones in the 2024 opener. She set the tone early with 12 points in the first quarter on 5-6 shooting and kept the Liberty in it in the fourth, first with a nifty fastbreak layup, then with an open three on the ensuing possession.
“You go overseas and you work on your game and you kind of use that time to really work. and so to come back and see everything kind of come to fruition, it does feel good,” said Jones, who played for Inner Mongolia in the offseason.
Jones finished the game with 25 points on 10-17 shooting with eight rebounds.
“Where I was last year versus where I am this year, I don’t take that for granted.”
The Liberty were the tougher team
Nothing was more apparent when New York made its fourth-quarter comeback and Jones was the centerpiece. Whether it was defending her position or stepping out and swarming the ball to frustrate guards like Julie Vanloo, she was adaptable to a Mystics offense that has more weapons than it gets credit for. On offense, it shined through with a key offensive rebound and a putback, plus the foul, to extend the Liberty lead.
But it was also Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, taking an offensive foul against Miysha Hines-Allen then muscling her way into the lane and sending Atkins to the floor looking for an offensive foul. A minute later, she came up with a lightning-quick steal and score to place momentum firmly on the Liberty’s end.
“I went into the fourth quarter and it’s not about panic,” Brondello said. “It was more like now we've been into these different moments before and now we know what we need to do. So we've gotta get down and get dirty and we've gotta execute better.”
As the game got more physical, Jones says Laney-Hamilton summed it up best to the team.
She came to me, she was like, ‘you know, we can't control it at the end of the day. The only thing we can do is focus on the things that we can control and be able to kind of help that to alter the outcome.'”
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