Why the Liberty's OT win over Mystics showed progress in super-team chemistry
NEW YORK — For all the little moments when the New York Liberty thought they were going to come back and win, they could have easily faltered. It has happened before and Breanna Stewart can tick them off, loss by early loss.
There was the season opener against the more seasoned Washington Mystics, who were in town on Sunday for a matinee rematch of top-four teams. At home against Chicago when the Liberty blew a 19-point lead to a team that similarly is rebuilding a roster, but without the star-studded talent. And two weeks ago when the Atlanta Dream, a 2023 lottery team, visited Barclays Center and rattled off an upset.
“I think the struggle in those three losses was the ability to kind of come together,” Stewart said in the halls of Barclays after a hard, and often ugly, 89-88 overtime win against Washington on Sunday. “And when things get tough, we get tougher.”
They also get more vocal, more supportive, more collaborative. It’s what any team goes through to build a winner with so many new pieces. The Mystics, who roster much of their 2019 title-winning core, know it’s a process to communicate quickly and effectively about what each other likes and doesn’t. They’ve been there.
“Most of us that have been a part of this team [it’s about] not being afraid to say or have the hard conversation that I think has been really helpful for us,” sixth-year Mystics veteran Ariel Atkins said. “Big way to build chemistry quickly is to open your mouth. I think that’s something that we’ve tried to have.”
The Liberty (9-3) are still working through that approach after adding two former MVPs and a six-time assists leader to their starting lineup in one offseason. More than a quarter of the way into the newly expanded 40-game season, there are signs the chemistry of so many offensive vocal points is coming together. Sabrina Ionescu, the team’s No. 1 overall pick in 2020, has seen it in how they’re able to “handle adversity and handle teams’ runs.”
There was plenty of adversity to be had Sunday just days after what players and head coach Sandy Brondello had called their most complete game, a 110-80 redemption win against Atlanta.
The Liberty, the league leader in assists and 3-pointers, fell into a 13-0 hole in the game’s first four minutes. Nothing was falling for the league’s second-best offense and not much was working against the Mystics’ league-leading defense, which is also best at limiting opponents on the perimeter and has been the team’s steadying anchor that showed out on Sunday.
“Our chemistry was probably more ready defensively to start the year and now we’re starting to figure some things out on the offense,” Mystics (8-5) first-year head coach Eric Thibault said.
The Liberty missed their first nine shots, started 1-of-12 from the floor and missed all seven of their early 3-point attempts. It was a “really rough” first quarter, Stewart said, in which the Liberty clawed back to within 10 and liked the shots they were getting. Betnijah Laney shined offensively early, scoring the first basket on a cut and an assist by Courtney Vandersloot. The former Most Improved Player who signed as a free agent in 2021 scored 17 points and was 4-of-6 from 3. The defensive focus tightened up and New York went on to accomplish its goal of winning every frame, excluding that nearly disastrous first.
“We stayed together, weathering the storm in that first quarter,” Ionescu said. “A lot of the time in the past this team has just crumbled. But I think we understand what we’re playing for, we’re playing for one another, and we were able to dig ourselves out of that hole and that entire second half we really felt in control. I think it says a lot about the chemistry that we’re building.”
Stewart, who was missing her shooting touch and didn’t hit a shot until the first bucket out of halftime, said they focused on communicating, huddling, and continuing to work. The “game is far from over,” they told each other. Brondello said it’s when it’s quiet that there are problems, and it wasn’t quiet on Sunday.
“The moment that we came together and we came closer was probably the third quarter,” Brondello said. “The start of the third quarter was our breaking point. Like, OK, first half is behind us. This is how we respond.”
They took their first lead with 6:04 left in the contest, but quickly lost it on yet another 3-pointer by Atkins, who hit a career-high six on a near-perfect afternoon. Her 24 points led Washington, which bested its offensive averages showing 47.8% and 42.9% (9-of-21) from 3.
The Liberty trailed by eight with 2:28 on the clock, but outscored Washington, 11-3, down the stretch in perfect answer to the Mystics’ own 11-3 one. It was punctuated by a driving layup off Vandersloot’s touch that tied the game with 1.9 seconds.
With as many missed opportunities, passes and clunked free throws as there were at the end, overtime seemed improbable. At least it was to everyone else.
“There was a lot of times where we pick people’s heads up,” said Ionescu, who scored a game-high 31 points on 7-of-12 from deep. “People weren’t hitting shots. And that’s a time where it’s like, ‘Hey, you got this.’ We’re onto the next. Even when we were down in that fourth quarter, there was just this belief in us that we can do this. And we can accomplish this. And that carried over into overtime.”
It was the Liberty’s first overtime win since July 1, 2018. Vandersloot banked in the team’s first points, but adversity hit again when she fouled out on a weak call. She had 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Ionescu hit two 3s and Stewart, who played through five fouls and finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists, tied the game at 19 seconds, adding an and-1 for the lead. Elena Delle Donne missed a floater, Myisha Hines-Allen missed a shot out of the final timeout and Marine Johannès secured the rebound.
“The game kind of was going back and forth, but we really stuck together and I think it shows a lot about the growth of this team, especially early on in the season to be able to have that,” Ionescu said. “It’s going to be able to take us a long way.”
The chemistry development experienced early setbacks with center Jonquel Jones, who the Sun traded to New York, coming off a foot injury and point guard Vandersloot, who signed in free agency, sustaining a concussion in preseason. Johannès was still in France when New York opened its super-team season in Washington.
“They are a very different team,” Thibault said an hour before tip. “Everybody’s very aware this is going to be a different game.”
Liberty players had to shift into different roles than they usually take up to win Sunday’s battle. They each stepped up to “fill the void that one another makes,” Stewart said. Jones, who has looked stronger in recent games, missed all three shot attempts and did not play in the final minute of regulation and overtime. Brondello said she wanted the versatility of Kayla Thornton off the bench.
They were also without Stefanie Dolson, who sustained an ankle injury that will keep her out “weeks, not days,” Brondello said. Han Xu is still at the Asia Cup. All of the pieces still haven’t come together as one for a solid 40 minutes.
“These are the games where you learn the most, isn’t it?” Brondello said. “You go through some mud, it’s a great learning experience. And we fought our way back in that second quarter. That’s a tough team. To me it’s like, well, we’ve been here, we’ve done it. We know what we need to do.
“We’ve lost a game when we’ve been up by 17. That’s a learning experience. You know how it feels. So I can say, you know when that happened? OK. What were you thinking then? Well, change it.”
Other teams have had more group learning experiences. They have muscle memory of where their shooting guard likes to shoot, or their big posts up best. The Liberty will see that this week in their toughest stretch of the season so far.
The Liberty start a long road trip in Connecticut (12-3) on Tuesday to face the league’s second-best team in the standings. Stewart said it was good to get the win Sunday and set the tone. It will be Jones’ first game back in Uncasville, where she won the 2021 MVP and anchored the winningest franchise in the league from 2017-22.
There’s an even longer way to go in chasing the chemistry of the Las Vegas Aces (12-1), who built their championship team over the years with No. 1 picks and two big free-agency signings two years apart. The super-teams will face off for the first time on Thursday in Las Vegas.
Things are about to get tough. It’s not technically midseason, but it might be their chemistry midterm.
