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No one can convince the reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty to take a loss as a moral victory, and that includes their 100-93 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday.
But listening to how the team spoke after the game shows that even in the loss, they proved something to themselves.
“If there’s ever a good loss, this is one of those losses you can live with,” Sabrina Ionescu said. “Everyone played as hard as they could, Natasha [Cloud] was sick and played through it, just really proud of the way that we were able to fight back and that's the standard. That's the standard we have to come out with every night.”
Two days after a road loss to the Dallas Wings that Jonquel Jones called “embarrassing” and “frustrating,” the Liberty hung with the first-place Lynx for 40 minutes, cutting a 15-point deficit to four in the final minutes. They did that without Breanna Stewart, Kennedy Burke and Nyara Sabally, and as Ionescu said, with Cloud fighting illness.
Head coach Sandy Brondello has often criticized her team’s effort and energy after losses, but this time there was a different intangible that stood out. While Ionescu called her team “passive” against Dallas, “aggressive” was the word of the night against Minnesota.
“Marine [Johannès] comes in and is super aggressive, and it's like every single night there's a different player that steps up that we believe in and we continue to pour into,” Ionescu said.
Johannès, who got her second start of the season Wednesday, scored 14 points on four made threes, attempting 10-or-more shots for the first time in over a month.
The Wiz knocks it down for 👌@MarineJ5 💦 | #LIGHTITUPNYL🗽 pic.twitter.com/2HiiBC7kHj
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) July 31, 2025
Isabelle Harrison, who scored a season-high 15 and hit double figures for the third time in four games, had a similar message.
“I just think the pace that Sab and Tash started off with just really got us going, and just made us very aggressive,” she said. “I always play aggressive and I know when I get around the rim, I just take my time to finish.”
The Liberty struck first after letdown vs. Wings
Compare the Liberty’s comments on Wednesday to what Ionescu said after the Dallas loss.
“We were just kind of passive, waiting to see what they were gonna do instead of being able to be on our front foot in attack mode,” she said on Monday.
Going into their most recent game, New York knew it was facing an uphill battle. Even healthy, it could lose at Minnesota, and it wouldn’t mean much. The team’s first goal was simple: to make the Lynx take the first timeout. They did that, even if it was simply because Minnesota couldn’t get the ball inbounds.
Brondello, however, counted that goal as accomplished. New York led 11-6 at the time, building an eight-point lead before a healthier Lynx team stormed back to lead by nine at halftime.
“It was a good performance after a terrible game that we had to come out there and, yes, we got down, but we stayed in the game and we started making shots,” Brondello said.
Even with Stewart out indefinitely and Burke set to miss 2-4 weeks, the Liberty have something to look forward to. Up next, it’s two straight games in Connecticut against the Sun, who are 4-21 on the season. Emma Meesseman is finally stateside and could be with the team as early as Friday.
Assuming no further injuries — and that’s a big assumption — things may be about to turn around for a Liberty team that has lost three straight.
