Say what you will about the 2025 New York Liberty — and there’s plenty to say. But no one will say they've had it easy.
The 2024 WNBA champions started 9-0 but have battled inconsistency ever since, as injuries have plagued the roster. It has further exacerbated their spate of self-inflicted wounds, including puzzling turnovers, a lack of rebounding and poor communication on the court.
New York beat a projected playoff team for just the second time since July 25 on Friday, taking down the Seattle Storm, 84-76, at Climate Pledge Arena. One win isn’t going to define a season-turnaround, but Breanna Stewart was able to reflect after the game on the journey the Liberty have taken to what is, as of now, a 25-17 record.
“The resiliency of this team is probably the most important part of the entire season, just the fact that it's been up and down, players in and out, roster changes, all the things you could imagine have happened to this team, but we don't want our runs to be easy,” she said.
Stewart finished the game with 24 points and seven rebounds, going 13-14 from the line. It was her highest-scoring output in her five games since returning from a month-long absence with a knee injury.
“We just want it to be really, really worth it,” she continued, “so I think we're embracing the hard and showing up every day, ready for whatever challenge we're gonna have and whoever we're gonna have with us.”
Friday night's game was a microcosm of exactly that. Similar to Tuesday against the Golden State Valkyries, New York played a fine first quarter before letting the game slip away in the second. The Storm outscored the Liberty 31-17 in the second frame as New York allowed them to shoot 12-16 from the field.
The Liberty’s comeback started on defense
On Friday, the game turned in the third quarter — a stark difference from Tuesday, when the Liberty didn’t punch back until it was too late.
This time, the Liberty held the Storm to just 29 total points in the second half. The Storm shot 32% in that time and went 1-10 from three.
“I feel like in the first half, we didn't really congest the paint enough to make it hard for them to go downhill and find easy passes,” Leonie Fiebich explained. “So we just made everything a little bit harder, we were more physical, we were rebounding better, and we were just congesting the paint a lot better.”
The Liberty outrebounded the Storm 36-26 for the game and 21-12 in the second half. Seattle had just six offensive rebounds after opponents had made a living getting extra chances against New York.
“We’re locking in on the things that are important,” Stewart added. “Controlling the boards is one of our non-negotiables, the turnovers probably could be a little bit less, but probably better than what it's been as of late, but just really happy with this game.”
It’s something to build on for New York. Of course, one could have said the same after their epic win over the Minnesota Lynx on August 19. Instead, the Liberty followed that up with a home loss to the woeful Chicago Sky.
“Now it's [about] compiling them, it's making this happen multiple times and getting back to a rhythm and a feel that we all want to be at,” Stewart said.
The playoff-bound Liberty will close out the regular season with two games against teams with nothing to play for. They host the Washington Mystics on Tuesday then visit the Sky next Thursday.
