New York Liberty, riding a seven-game win streak, look special enough to win a WNBA title
Breanna Stewart of the Liberty scores a basket during a WNBA game against the Dallas Wings at Barclays Center on Tuesday. Credit: Errol Anderson/Errol Anderson
The Barclays Center could very well have the distinction of being the home to both the worst and best teams in basketball this year.
While the Nets, its NBA tenant, have been projected by major sportsbooks to win a league-low 19.5 games this season, the WNBA’s Liberty have already passed that win total.
With less than a month remaining in the WNBA’s 40-game regular season, the Liberty have the league’s best record of 24-4.
Their 94-74 victory over Dallas Tuesday night at the Barclay Center was their seventh straight win and signaled to the rest of the league that they are the team to beat.
That’s great news for title-hungry New York fans, because the Liberty have a solid shot at becoming the first New York professional basketball team to win a title since the Nets won the ABA in 1976. (The Knicks won their last title 51 years ago.)
Of course, the Liberty had that chance last season too. And they fell short as the Las Vegas Aces won their second straight title by defeating them, 3-1, in the WNBA Finals.
This team has the same core as the one that was visibly heartbroken last year the Aces closed out the series in Brooklyn. Yet, it is far from the same team.
That was clear this past Saturday when the Liberty became the first team to clinch a playoff berth with a 79-67 win over the Aces. After the game, Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon lit into her team and also had some pretty hefty praise for her team’s East Coast rivals.
“I think Becky gave us a really good compliment after we played them,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said Tuesday. “[She said] we played selfless basketball. That’s the greatest feedback any coach could give an opposing coach. So that means we’re playing the right way.”
The play of the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu may be the biggest difference between the team that beat the Aces on Saturday and the one that lost to them in the Finals. The Aces guards attacked Ionescu relentlessly in the playoffs and her lack of defensive prowess showed.
Ionescu, who sat out Tuesday’s game with a sore neck, has raised her game this season on both sides of the ball, so much so that she’s a legitimate candidate for the league’s most improved player.
Ionescu, who scored 23 in Saturday’s win over the Aces, is not only shooting threes, she’s attacking the basket. Her average of 19.9 points per game is a career-high and nearly three points more per game than she averaged last year.
It’s on defense, however, where she’s really improved. Though no candidate for defensive player of the year, Ionescu is no longer a liability on the perimeter. With her improvement, the Liberty’s defensive rating of 94.7 was the best in the league entering Tuesday night’s play, edging out Connecticut which has a rating of 94.8.
“It’s all about understanding that we need everybody to be locked-in defensively. We’re only as good as the weakest link is,” said Jonquel Jones before notching 23 points and 12 rebounds in Tuesday’s game. “I think last year teams did want to exploit Sabrina defensively. But this year she’s really made up her mind to be better in that area. And it helps us be better as a team.”
Brondello likes that after the Olympic break, her team picked up right where they left off.
The Liberty, who came together last year when Breanna Stewart and Jones were added to the roster, are much more comfortable with one another this season. Stewart led the Liberty on Tuesday with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Brondello said that there are aspects of this Liberty team that remind her of the Phoenix team she coached to a championship in 2014.
“We have great leadership. We have great talent,” she said. “Sometimes it’s about the pieces around your main players and I think that’s critical. Everyone’s buying in and sacrificing for the betterment of the team and that makes us special.”
Special enough to win a title? That is the goal, though no one is ready to make a prediction yet.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.