One Eastern Conference team is getting healthier after the WNBA All-Star break, and it isn’t the Indiana Fever.
While Indiana expects Caitlin Clark to miss Tuesday’s game, the New York Liberty should have former league MVP Jonquel Jones back in the fold when they host the Fever.
Jones has missed nine games for New York (15-6) since aggravating a right ankle injury on June 19. The Liberty missed the 6-foot-6 center and her averages of 12.1 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.
They initially struggled, losing the game Jones was hurt in and four of the next six after that. But the Liberty pulled out three straight wins entering the All-Star break, capped by a 98-77 home win over the Clark-less Fever last Wednesday.
“I think we were losing some of those games ourselves. We were just not coming out with the right energy, we were not playing Liberty basketball,” Sabrina Ionescu said last week. “There was kind of just this realization of, if we just kind of settle in to doing that, we’re in a really good spot. Obviously (coach) Sandy (Brondello) continued to keep us together, which in a time like that can make or break teams.”
Breanna Stewart racked up 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and four blocks against Indiana. She paces the Liberty with 19.7 points per game.
The Fever (12-11) got 16 points from Kelsey Mitchell and 12 from Sophie Cunningham in that game, but they allowed New York to shoot 57.8 percent from the field and 51.9 percent from 3-point range. The Liberty lead the season series 2-1 entering their final meeting Tuesday.
“The mood of the team is OK,” Fever guard Aari McDonald said after that game. “We were talking before the game and we’re just like, ‘We’re all we got, so we have to stick together.'”
Clark has averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds in her second pro season, but she played in just 13 of the Fever’s 23 regular-season games before the break due to quadriceps and groin injuries. The team said Clark will get other opinions on her latest tweak, a right groin injury, but coach Stephanie White said she is progressing.
Clark missed the WNBA 3-point Contest and All-Star Game in Indianapolis over the weekend. Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx) scored 36 points to lead Team Collier over Team Clark 151-131.
Meanwhile, Ionescu and Liberty teammate Natasha Cloud swept the 3-point contest and skills competition.
–Field Level Media
