The New York Liberty went into last night’s (Wednesday) match up against the Seattle Storm 18-13 and the WNBA’s No. 7 overall. They had won five of their last six, only losing to the defending champion Las Vegas Aces (104-99) on the road last Thursday. The top eight seeds of the league’s 15 teams advance to the postseason.
Star guard Sabrina Ionescu, who had a slow start to the season because of a left foot and ankle injury, and did not score over 20 points in her first eight games of the season, has averaged 21.6 points and 5.4 assists in her last 12 games heading into last night. Unfortunately, Ionescu’s college teammate, forward Satou Sabally, has not played since June 23 when she left the game against the Aces (an 87-76 win) due to a concussion.
Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco has had to navigate player injuries while maintaining high expectations for a squad that remains one of the top betting favorites to reach the finals in October. The Liberty were fourth in the WNBA in scoring at 90 points per game when the league’s schedule tipped-off yesterday, and DeMarco contends the offense is still evolving.
“I think we all know, on the floor and on the bench, what we are looking for, which is just a quality shot,” he said after Monday’s 95-83 victory over the Seattle Storm at the Barclays Center.
“We’ve talked a lot in the last few weeks about going and trying to win games. We’re trying to win games. It doesn’t matter if we have a lead or we are down; we are not trying to protect it and slow it down.
“… Yes, we can respond to adversity,” the Liberty’s first-year coach continued, “and it’s not just a few players, it’s our whole team right now … we have great leadership in the huddles … they have the right messaging, the right leadership, and now that we’re kind of going through this together, we can feel it, like we’re okay. You can just tell.”
Ideally for the Liberty, moving up from seventh place to the top four would afford them home court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. In the current standings, the seventh and eighth seeds would face the league’s two best teams: the Minnesota Lynx (25-6) and Aces (21-9).
The Liberty will host the Aces on Sunday afternoon, then travel to Indiana to play the Fever on Tuesday. The Liberty will host the Los Angeles Sparks at the Barclays Center a week from today.
The post Will the Liberty move up in the tight WNBA standings? appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.
