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A quarter of the way through the 2024 WNBA season, it’s become clear that as Jonquel Jones goes, so go the New York Liberty.
Through their first nine games, Jones averaged 18 points in New York’s seven wins. In their two loses, she's only averaged six points.
In their 88-75 road win over the Chicago Sky on Tuesday, her impact was mostly on the other end. Jones was an impact player on defense in the first and fourth quarters, making life a terror for Sky rookie Angel Reese. In the middle quarters, she battled foul trouble as the Liberty’s 17-point lead evaporated. Chicago entered the fourth with a one-point advantage.
That’s when Jones re-entered the game and head coach Sandy Brondello had her team switch to a zone.
“[Jones] knew how she could help when she got back out on the court,” Brondello said. “The rebounding was fantastic. She really anchored that zone in the fourth quarter and that’s what you gotta do some days. You’re not sure what they're gonna be calling you for. It takes you out a bit of a rhythm, but you can still contribute to the team and I thought she did that well.”
On offense, Jones set the tone 21 seconds into the final quarter, making a jump shot to put the Liberty up for good. She only managed five points for the game, but still had 12 rebounds and four assists.
“We all know that JJ is a scorer and the fact that through it all today, through the foul trouble, some looks of hers weren't going in, she continued to be a force for us defensively and then offensively finding one another,” said Breanna Stewart, who carried the Liberty offense for most of the night, finishing with a season-high 33 points.
Jonquel Jones handles the ‘ebbs and flows’ for the Liberty
The win must have been extra sweet for Jones, who was upset with the defense she played on Reese when these teams first met in May — a 90-81 Chicago win.
In the first meeting against Chicago, Jones said she didn’t follow the scout closely enough, allowing Reese to get by her and go into her body. She said she also wanted to be smarter, and even on a night where she got a rough whistle, she was.
“That’s just what a season is, right? It’s highs and lows, ebbs and flows,” she said after a recent practice. “I haven't been through any season where it's been all high or low.”
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That happens within the game as well, as she spent some time frustrated with what Brondello called “tough calls” but made the most of her minutes.
Reese finished the game with 13 points, but it took her 3-of-12 shooting to do it, and eight of those points came in the middle quarters with Jones sitting for long stretches.
The Sky shot only 32% for the game and 29% from three, both way below their season averages.
“That's one of the things we talked about: What are our foundational truths on defense? What are things that we're going to every night, regardless of who we're playing against, that are going to give us our defensive identity?” Jones said.
Jones’ defensive identity may be in the post, but Brondello noted her versatility makes her especially dangerous.
“She can guard any of those players, but it's her verticality, how she changes shots at the rim, and be able to rebound. The versatility helps for us,” the Liberty tactician explained. “So we went to a zone, that certainly helped us, and she was able to move around and then stay between the basket and the player and wall up.”
While she did that, Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton went to work on the other end, combining for 17 of the team’s 23 points in the final frame.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was a win that avenged their defeat in Brooklyn from May and a 48-point embarrassment in the preseason. The Liberty also matched their best start in franchise history at 8-2, which puts them second in the league behind only the Connecticut Sun. After a game against Atlanta on Thursday, New York heads to Uncasville for a showdown of the best two teams in the WNBA so far.
