The New York Liberty are losing ground in the WNBA standings. The Liberty have lost four of their last six games, though they turned things around against the Sun on Monday. New York just got some troubling injury news before Thursday's huge game against Washington.
Liberty guard Natasha Cloud was ruled out and will not play against the Mystics, per Madeline Kenney of New York Post. Cloud suffered a nose fracture during Monday's win against Connecticut.
The Liberty planned on having Cloud back in action for Thursday's game. But it appears that she is behind schedule in her recovery.
Kenney also added that point guard Sabrina Ionescu was downgraded to “questionable” with a toe injury. The injury is reportedly on the same foot that caused Ionescu to miss Saturday's game against Atlanta.
Ionescu's downgraded status suggests that New York may consider benching Ionescu for Thursday night's game. Or at least limiting her minutes so that she does not reaggravate her foot injury.
This puts New York in a difficult position.
On one hand, the Liberty may want to be cautious with their star players ahead of the playoffs. But they also need to tally some wins for playoff positioning.
Especially when you factor in their recent performance slump.
Emma Meesseman is not happy with how the Liberty have performed since she joined the team. She knows the team needs to hold themselves to a higher standard.
“I’m just looking at the result, and it’s always a tough game. I feel like we’re making it very hard on ourselves sometimes. So I don’t think we should be too happy with just having a win,” Meesseman said following Monday's win. “I’m not going to give grades because it doesn’t matter because I think we can do better.”
New York only has six games left during the regular season. The Liberty are currently ranked fifth in the WNBA and sit at second place in the Eastern Conference.
It would be shocking to see the Liberty miss the playoffs. But they still need to continue stacking wins to give themselves the best seed possible in the postseason.
The Liberty host the Mystics on Thursday night at 7PM ET.
