Liberty vs. Mercury Preview: Losing Streak Ends?
The new-look New York Liberty have frequently infiltrated unchartered territory in their year-plus together. This time, though, they're looking to get out as soon as they can.
New York is engaged in a regular season losing streak for the first time in nearly two full calendar years, having dropped consecutive contests to Chicago and Minnesota. A chance to make things right presents itself this week, as the Liberty faces a three-game homestand beginning on Wednesday night against the Phoenix Mercury.
The Liberty began the season with wins in each of their first four but has faced double-figure deficits in each of the past couple. New York erased an early 21-point deficit on Saturday in Minneapolis and even forged several ties in the second half but a late surge from the local Lynx partly defined by forced turnovers doomed the metropolitan visitors. Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 20 points and 11 rebounds in defeat while rookie Leonie Fiebich had 11 off the bench for an early career-best.
Phoenix is in the midst of a three-game road trip, having dropped part one by a 70-47 final in Connecticut on Tuesday. The Mercury continue to work without tenured star Brittney Griner in the early going but newcomer Kahleah Copper is off to a stellar start with an average of 25.5 points over her first six showings as an Arizonan.
This will be the first of three meetings between the Liberty and Mercury this season and the only one to be staged at Barclays Center. The Liberty won each of last season's three get-togethers, the last being an 85-63 triumph in Phoenix.
What: Phoenix Mercury (3-3) @ New York Liberty (4-2)
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
When/Watch: 7 p.m. ET, CBSSN
Who's Favored: NYL -14.5
Keep An Eye On: Jonquel Jones
A healthy Jones allowed the Liberty to get off to a hot start this season after last year saw them slightly spin the tires while she recovered from international ailments. Jones' early progress has been somewhat stifled by double teams and early foul trouble. Pleasant surprise Nyara Sabally has held her own in the early going but there's no denying that the Liberty are on another level when Jones is at her best. Making her MVP case for better and worse, Jones has a chance to get back on the right track on Wednesday, especially with Griner out.
Arizonan to Watch: Natasha Cloud
Phoenix's offseason splurge, perhaps silently done in the name of loading up Diana Taurasi for one more championship run, heralded the arrivals of Copper, former New Yorker Bec Allen, and Cloud, who spent last season with the Washington Mystics. In her final hours in the nation's capital, Cloud staged a brilliant backcourt battle with Sabrina Ionescu during the opening round of last year's playoffs. With Phoenix looking to recover from last night's brutal offensive performance, Cloud's scoring and facilitation will be relied upon, especially in a rematch with Ionescu.
They Said It
"Obviously, we need JJ. She's a key piece of what we're trying to do. But I think they played her really phyiscal. They didn't allow her to get the ball. There's three people around her every time she caught it. I thought Minnesota's defense was extremely good with their activity and their pressure and their physicality. But, in the end, we need to work out how we get her more open looks and how we get her into the game. If we can get her scoring, it'll help the rest of us."-head coach Sandy Brondello on Jonquel Jones
Prediction
The Liberty are embracing early adversity and have, more importantly, had a few days to stew on what went wrong in Minnesota. Playing six games within a dozen-day span certainly didn't help matters and a prime opportunity to make things right lingers on the schedule. The Liberty won't solve all their problems in one night but facing a team coming off a painful loss in the opener of a back-to-back should do the some good.
Liberty 80, Mercury 67
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks