WNBA: Sabrina Ionescu is on fire for league-leading Liberty

It’s been a minute since our last Liberty update, huh? Well, like many people this summer, I (Chelsea) have fled to Europe, so we are going international with this update. Not going to lie, I unplugged for a few days, and was pleasantly surprised to open my phone to see the New York Liberty were sitting comfortably on top of the WNBA standings.

If you, like myself, are living your best Euro Girl Summer (being in Europe isn’t explicitly necessary), and haven’t been keeping the closest eye on the Liberty’s attempt to return to the WNBA Finals this season, let’s dive into it.

New York’s dominance is (mostly) a breeze…

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With a record of 21-4 on the season, the Liberty have been playing quite well in all situations. Over the past few weeks, they’ve gone 6-1, while beating powerhouse teams like the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx along the way.

In their last game before the month-long Olympic break on Tuesday night, the Liberty won their third game of the season over the Sun. The Sun started their season HOT on a 10-game winning streak, but with the Liberty now winning the season series between the two teams, New York has the advantage in the battle for playoff positioning. That had to be a huge relief for this Liberty team.

While the team as a whole has been playing great, Sabrina Ionescu has been on another level heading into the Olympics. She will represent Team USA at the Games for the first time this month, and her place on the team has been rightfully earned as she’s made a huge jump since the 2021 Olympics—helped along by the fact that she’s been mostly healthy since then. She’s scored more than 20 points in the Liberty’s last five games, and shot 57.1 percent from 3 in the team’s victory over Chicago on July 11.

Yet, New York’s success has not come completely stress-free; there were a few losses that the team could have lived without. The first was more about pride than anything, when New York failed to win the Commissioner’s Cup Championship against Minnesota. While that game does not affect the regular season record of the team, it still wasn’t fun to lose both the trophy and the money that comes along with it.

The other bad loss was to the Indiana Fever on July 6, when the Liberty fell 83-78 to the young team. While there is certainly a lot of undeniable talent on Indiana’s roster, the experience and pedigree of New York had them as the heavy favorites to win. Still, losses happen, and the Liberty couldn’t dwell on the bad night too much before moving on.

Regardless, they still top the league as we head into the All-Star and Olympic break.

Injuries are hurting the Liberty’s depth

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Depth and experience are two reasons why New York is able to win games, yet injuries unfortunately are bound to happen throughout the season. Breanna Stewart missed the last two game with a hamstring strain, but her injury does not seem to be a long-term issue. It is Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s knee injury that will impact the team more. She underwent a minor procedure this week and will be out for over a month rehabbing. But, the injury timeline suggests she will be back before the playoffs are set to begin.

With a member of the starting lineup being sidelined, head coach Sandy Brondello will have to continue to dig into her bench to replace Laney-Hamilton’s impact. That’s no easy task though, as Laney-Hamilton has a huge two-way impact within the Liberty’s system. She is a big defender on the perimeter and can help shut down the plethora of talented shooters in the league. She also adds an offensive pop with her strength on drives.

As we head into the Olympic break, it will also be a question of who returns healthy. The Liberty have Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu heading to represent Team USA, and the team will likely play deep into the Olympics. While many other teams’ players will get multiple weeks of rest, these Olympic athletes will get virtually none. It will be interesting to see if that helps or hinders them upon returning.

Where does New York stand?

Well, on top, basically. The Liberty are now first overall in the standings at 21-4, with the Sun in second at 18-6—a very nice gap if you’re a Liberty supporter.

The Olympic break has also officially started and WNBA action won’t resume for another month. Once we get back into it, there will only be one month left of the regular season before the playoffs are set to begin. A lot of teams will be in do-or-die mode for playoff placement and it’s already looking like a tough race. While New York has the advantage of being in first, in addition to being a few games ahead of the other top teams, they can’t slow down. Connecticut, Las Vegas, Seattle and Minnesota will all be fighting hard to get into those top spots and secure homecourt advantage for the playoffs.

The Liberty are in a good spot, but they’ll have to keep it up through injury, fatigue and a lack of rest if they want to keep their top spot ahead of the playoffs.