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With international players across the WNBA headed overseas to participate in the EuroBasket tournament, the New York Liberty got off comparatively easy.
Leonie Fiebich is away, but her Team Germany teammate Nyara Sabally stuck around (so too did Marine Johannès).
Sabally, whose young career has been disrupted too often by injury over the past four years, opted to stay with the reigning champs as she continues to reintegrate into the lineup after another six-game absence.
That decision has helped the Liberty to at least one win as she was instrumental to New York’s thrilling 86-81 come-from-behind win over the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night.
Starting alongside fellow post player Jonquel Jones, Sabally was one of the defensive forces that held Atlanta to just 13 points in the fourth quarter.
“Her ceiling is so high and it's just about keeping her healthy,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “We believe in her and she’s got this big, physical body.”
Brondello employed her differently against the Dream than she had in the past, inserting her into the starting lineup alongside Jones. The added post presence was necessary as the Liberty have struggled to rebound all season and were facing, statistically, the best rebounding team in the WNBA.
“It’s just a lot of length, honestly,” Sabally said of the new lineup. “Being able to have somebody like [Breanna Stewart] that can guard guards is really beneficial for us and just being able to have that size.. that way you don’t need to have Stewie guard [Brittney Griner] or Brionna Jones — it always helps having that length on the floor.”
Brondello also pointed to a play early in the fourth quarter when Sabally recovered from a defensive lapse. As Brondello put it, they were trying to defend a side pick-and-roll but Sabally rotated over late. She still managed to block a layup attempt from Naz Hillmon.
Offensively, her stat line against the Dream was solid, but not awe-inspiring (8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks). Her best moment, however, came when she stole an inbounds pass and converted on a fast-break layup late in the third quarter to pull the Liberty to within six. Not surprisingly, it was created by defense.
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Nyara Sabally explains how the Liberty can be elite defensively
Against the Dream, the Liberty gave viewers the full gamut of their defensive potential. In the first half, the same problems that plagued them in the first half of their loss against the Indiana Fever continued. New York was late on rotations — or just didn’t rotate at all. The Liberty also didn’t close out on three-point shooters and went under too many screens.
Late in the third quarter, the team seemed to wake up. The Liberty kept Atlanta off the scoreboard for the final 3:58 of the period, and it carried over into the fourth where the Dream shot 29 percent from the field.
As Sabally put it, they started to make the Dream uncomfortable.
“I feel like it's a disruption, just being able to disrupt their players,” she said of the Liberty defense at its best. “They were way too comfortable in the first half when they were scoring. They were just getting to their spots whenever they want, so taking them out of that. And just disrupting plays, getting into passing lanes, picking up full court, it's the little things that really matter on defense, so we need to really home in on that.”
The Liberty host the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday night. With Fiebich still away from the team, it’s possible Sabally could get the start alongside Jones again.
