Top-seeded Liberty dancing in D.C. (original) (raw)

Reserve center Nyara Sabally and the Liberty showed off their depth en route to grabbing the No. 1 seed in the WNBA playoffs Thursday in Washington, D.C. Photo by Brandon Todd/New York Liberty

Jonquel Jones knows the answer to all the New York Liberty’s questions are right within their own locker room.

“We all we got, we all we need!” has been the All-Star power forward’s rallying cry as she and her teammates await the postseason push toward this franchise’s first-ever WNBA title.

Jones and the Liberty took a key step in that direction Tuesday, using their depth and dominant work in the paint to finally grab the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming playoffs with an 87-71 win over the Washington Mystics in front of 4,200 fans at Entertainment and Sports Arena.

New York (32-7) squandered its first opportunity to grab home-court advantage with Sunday’s humbling home loss to second-place Minnesota, a defeat that left the Liberty needing a win in our nation’s capital to secure top billing in the playoffs for the first time in team history.

“Getting back to it’s my play to our identity. Be pissed off with how we played in that last game,” New York coach Sandy Brondello revealed of her team’s attitude leading into its penultimate regular-season contest.

“It was a terrible game and Minnesota is a great team,” she added. “But we have to come in, we haven’t done anything yet and just reminding them that playoffs go to another level. So we’re capable, if we put our mind to it.”

The Liberty proved capable from the jump against the playoff-hopeful Mystics (13-26), who might see New York in the first round of the postseason for the second straight year come Sunday.

After Washington’s Julie Vanloo splashed a 3-pointer to open the scoring, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton answered with a pair of quick baskets to spark a 10-0 run that put New York ahead to stay.

Jones drained her first three shots on the way to seven first-quarter points.

Reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart’s 11-footer off a feed from fellow All-Star Sabrina Ionescu opened a 26-12 cushion with under two minutes left in the first quarter.

Stewart and Ionescu were both upset following Sunday’s loss to the Lynx (30-9), who wrapped up the No. 2 seed with Tuesday’s 78-76 victory in Connecticut.

Minnesota also took three of four meetings from New York this year, including the Commissioner’s Cup Final to deny the Liberty back-to-back championships in the league’s in-season tournament.

Liberty forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton sparked a 10-0 first-quarter run as New York pulled ahead for good on the way to its franchise record-tying 32nd win Tuesday night. Photo by Brandon Todd/New York Liberty

Stewart scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds and Ionescu dished out a game-high seven assists as the Liberty took their frustrations out on the Mystics, who dropped their second straight after winning seven of nine to climb back into the postseason hunt.

Jones and Laney-Hamilton put up 11 points apiece, but New York showed off its reserves as the bench combined for a whopping 40 points, including a pair of double-digit efforts.

Rookie Leonie Fiebich scored 13 points and Nyara Sabally added 12 as the Liberty outrebounded the overmatched Mystics, 45-29, en route to matching the franchise record for wins in a season, which was established last year.

Sabally admitted that Jones’ mantra has stuck with the Liberty, who showed off Tuesday that the “We all we got, we all we need!” mentality is team-wide, from the starting lineup to the last few players on the bench.

“We’re gonna be the ones that are gonna be in charge of our destiny,” Sabally explained.

“We’re gonna be the ones that are gonna either play hard or not give it all. It’s really quite literal. … We don’t want any outside noise or any things we can’t control kind of affecting our running the playoffs. So it really is that we are in control of what we do and that’s all we need to succeed.”

New York wrapped up its part of the postseason equation as all series will start at Barclays Center as long as the Liberty are alive.

But they will also play a role in determining whom they meet in the best-of-3 opening round, which begins Sunday in Brooklyn.

Thursday night’s regular-season finale at Barclays welcomes current No. 8 seed Atlanta (14-25) to the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

The Dream can assure themselves of that coveted final spot if they beat the Liberty, but the Mystics and Chicago (13-26) both have hope if New York wins its finale.

Fortunately for Brondello, scoreboard watching and lamenting Sunday’s loss to the Lynx is over.

Now, the Liberty can just focus on getting their minds right and their bodies healed in time for what many are hoping will be an historic postseason in Brooklyn.

“You know, obviously after Minnesota is that they were playing playoff basketball and we weren’t,” she noted. “So we have to learn from that. You know, we put the emphasis tonight on, okay, it’s playoff basketball now.

“So these games are very meaningful. It was clinching the number one, but you know the ones that haven’t been in the playoffs before it goes to another level and you can’t just snap that on.”

Tip-off Thursday vs. Atlanta at Barclays is set for 7 p.m.

Reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart made sure the Liberty’s quest for the No. 1 seed didn’t come down to Thursday night in Downtown Brooklyn. Photo by Brandon Todd/New York Liberty

GIVE ME LIBERTY: Stewart, who matched a career best with 18 rebounds Sunday vs. Minnesota, moved into seventh place on the team’s all-time list with her 111th blocked shot Tuesday. … Fiebich became the first rookie in WNBA history to post a plus-10 or better rating in at least 18 games. … Ionescu only managed five points on two made shots in D.C., but her one 3-pointer extended her streak of consecutive games with at least one shot made from beyond the arc to 62, the second-longest run in WNBA history. … The Liberty swept their four-game season series with Washington this year, and also took two straight from the Mystics in the opening round of the 2023 playoffs. Washington will host playoff-bound Indiana on Thursday and Chicago will be in Connecticut. Both franchises will be checking the score at Barclays. All three contests tip at 7 p.m. ET.

Top-seeded Liberty dancing in D.C. (original) (raw)

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