If the New York Liberty suffer an unceremonious early exit from the playoffs, it won’t be because of their 78-62 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Saturday.
Instead, they’ll have a trio of inexplicable losses to the three worst teams in the league, including a shocking home defeat to the Chicago Sky just two days after they knocked off the mighty Minnesota Lynx.
As of Saturday afternoon, the standings show the Liberty in fifth place, but just two games behind the Dream for second with eight remaining. When the league is that bunched together, you can’t afford those letdown games.
But it is fair to ask now if they really are letdown games — or if this is just the team that the Liberty are. New York started the season 9-0 and is two games under .500 since then. That’s a 28-game stretch, or just under 2/3 of the entire schedule. Yes, the Liberty have had horrid injury luck and that has played a huge role. But in those three losses in particular, the Liberty still sent significantly more talent onto the court. And those games are the difference between the 5 seed and the 2 seed right now. That’s two rounds worth of home-court advantage.
After Saturday’s game, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said all that she really could. The team was bad in the first half, plagued by unforced turnovers and horrific rebounding. The effort was better in the second as New York cut a 26-point deficit to 11. If this was May or June, that would be a promising half to build on.
But it’s not. Instead, it’s yet another game where New York couldn’t bring it for a full 40 minutes.
The injuries were a factor again. This time, as Breanna Stewart, Isabelle Harrison and Nyara Sabally remained out, Sabrina Ionescu joined them after suffering a foot injury against the Sky. It would be unfair to bash the Liberty without acknowledging that the eight available players suddenly thrust into larger roles were put in an impossible situation.
“We didn’t have the execution part down,” Brondello said of the first half. “We had too many turnovers and offensive rebounds, something that we keep talking about. I thought the second half was way, way better.”
Turnovers and offensive rebounds. Both have been a problem all year and reared their head again on Saturday. Their 13 turnovers aren’t atrocious, but they led to 18 Dream points — and many were unforced. Jonquel Jones used the example after the game of a pass she simply wasn’t ready for on the perimeter that skipped off her hands and out of bounds.
It wasn’t much prettier in the rebounding column. The Dream out-rebounded the Liberty 42-33, including 17-4 on the offensive glass.
The Liberty still have opportunities in front of them
The recent string of Liberty losses is by no means a sign that they should pack it in. They’ve shown they can beat the top teams in the W, and as long as that’s the case, there’s no reason to shoot for anything less than hanging another banner at Barclays Center.
“We’re on the struggle bus. We know that,” Brondello said. “We’re getting some really good players back, and we know it doesn't mean things will just automatically change. We have to bring the appropriate effort and energy and trust and talk and everything and be connected.”
Fans and reporters may no longer believe in the Liberty, but they don’t have to. The only players who have to believe are the ones who put that jersey on every night. And despite everything, they still do.
“We have to go on to the next eight games with the mindset to win every single one of them,” Burke said. “We have to really just stick together and really want to win.”
Their next chance to prove it is Monday night at home against the Connecticut Sun.
