The New York Liberty opened up the 2024 WNBA season with an 85-80 win on the road against the Washington Mystics, and up next are two games against the Indiana Fever, with the first being on the road and the second being the home opener. This will be the first time the Liberty face No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark, and the matchup should get a ton of eyes, but Sabrina Ionescu is not treating these games as anything special.

“It's another game for us, to be honest,” Sabrina Ionescu said, via Andrew Crane of the New York Post. “Like every single arena that we're going into this year, and every single team that's coming into ours is gonna be facing record-breaking crowds, and so it's nothing really new to us.”

Thursday's game will be the home opener for the Fever, and Caitlin Clark's home debut in the WNBA. She made her debut on Tuesday on the road against the Connecticut Sun, and scored 20 points on 5-for-15 shooting and 4-for-11 from three in the 92-71 loss. However, Clark did turn the ball over 10 times, which is understandable as she adjusts to the WNBA level.

The Sun are a tough opponent to face in a first game for anyone, especially on the road. With the next two games coming against the Liberty, a team with a legitimate shot at a WNBA title, it will not get any easier for Clark. While the next two games will get a lot of attention due to the star power, the Liberty are not focused on the outside noise.

Liberty start off on the right foot

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Last season, the Liberty lost the opening game, which was on the road against the Mystics. It was the debut for this iteration of New York's roster, which features Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot alongside Ionescu. This time around, the Liberty came out on top and seem ready to go this season.

In the first game, Breanna Stewart took a bit of a back seat, putting up eight points and eight rebounds. The leading scorer was Jonquel Jones with 25, who grabbed eight boards as well. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton put up 20 as well, while Ionescu scored 15 with seven rebounds and eight assists.

The Liberty got contributions from a lot of places, as they outscored the Mystics 26-13 in the fourth quarter to come away with the five point win. It was not a standout game for Stewart or Vandersloot, but the benefit of having a roster as strong as New York does is that others can pick up the slack when they have off nights.

It will be interesting to see how the Liberty fare in the next two games against a younger Fever team that has some talent that is looking to prove itself in the WNBA.