The New York Liberty are healthy at the right time. The Liberty will begin defense of their WNBA title in a first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday with a full complement of players, a rarity this season.
Breanna Stewart, the 2023 MVP in her first season in New York, missed 13 games, as did 2024 Finals MVP Jonquel Jones. Emma Meesseman played only 17 after signing in midseason, and Sabrina Ionescu missed six before returning for the last two.
“It’s the resiliency thing,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “What doesn’t break you makes you stronger. We faced a lot of adversity, and there are a lot games where we felt we could have played better. We know when the bright lights go on, we trust the players we have out there with everyone being back.”
The Liberty started 9-0 before losing the Commissioner’s Cup final to Indiana, after which injuries and illness struck. Brondello used 18 different starting lineups. The regular group, together again for the playoffs, was 11-1.
New York and Phoenix tied for fourth in the standings at 27-17, but the Mercury have home-court advantage in the best-of-three series by winning three of the four regular season matchups. The Liberty, which will host Game 2 on Wednesday, did not have a full roster in any of them.
The teams enter on opposite paths. The Liberty won their last three and the Mercury lost their last three while resting most of their regulars in the final two as their playoff seed was known.
“We’re seeing the defending champs, and they’re the champs until somebody else beats them,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “We’ll be rested and ready to go.
“These are the moments that players live for, right?”
Stewart (18.3 points) and Ionescu (18.2) are the Liberty’s leading scorers, and top reserve Meesseman (13.4) adds a strong presence off the bench. Starters Jones (13.6) and Natasha Cloud (10.1) also average in double figures.
Ionesco had 11 points and 11 assists in the Liberty’s 91-86 victory over Chicago in the final game of the regular-season Thursday, her second back after missing time with a toe injury. She has 11 double-doubles.
“She loves the moment,” Brondello said. “The bigger the game, the better she is.”
The Mercury is led by MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas, who has 23 double-doubles and eight triple-doubles. She is averaging 15.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and a league-best 9.2 assists while operating from the high post.
Thomas averaged 17.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 9.8 assists against the Liberty this season, one assist short of averaging a triple-double. Perimeter players Satou Sabally (16.3 points) and Kahleah Copper (15.6) have been the primary beneficiaries of Thomas’ ability to read the floor.
Scoring has not been an issue in the season series. The Mercury beat the Liberty 106-91 on June 27, the most points allowed by New York and the second-most scored by Phoenix. Sabally had 25 points and seven 3-pointers and the Mercury shot a season-high 52.6 percent from the field with a season-high 18 threes.
Stewart had 35 points in the Mercury’s 89-81 victory in the first meeting June 19.
The top-seeded Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx in the final game of a best-of-five series to win their first title last season.
–Field Level Media
