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Are the New York Liberty in position to win another WNBA championship? There’s no arguing the early results.
Sure, the season is only a few days old, but the defending champs already have the look and feel of true title contender. That shouldn’t be surprising considering the Liberty brought back their big guns from last season.
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An early-season look at takeaways by ESPN described New York as “Different supporting cast, same championship-caliber Liberty.” New York handled the Las Vegas Aces, 92-78, in its season opener.
The Liberty comfortably took care of the visiting Aces on Saturday, scoring 56 paint points and assisting 27 of 35 field goals. Breanna Stewart (25 points, 10-for-14 shooting) didn’t show any signs of rust coming off a minor scope on her meniscus.
But perhaps the biggest takeaway was Natasha Cloud (22 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds) demonstrating exactly why the Liberty were so keen on adding her to the mix. Her defensive presence (three steals, two blocks), ability to get into the paint and trademark grit are proving early to be a huge boon for New York as it looks to repeat with a slightly different supporting cast.
It wasn’t an entirely flawless performance for New York, but between the championship festivities pregame and the convincing start to the season on court, the vibes were high in Brooklyn on Saturday. — Alexa Philippou, ESPN.com
The Liberty (1-0) are back in action Thursday against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky (0-1). The Sky were blowing out in their opener, 93-58, by Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
