Gray Matter: Liberty Busted By Aces, Emerge From Vegas With Draw
The New York Liberty had no choice but to return to the table in Las Vegas after securing one of their biggest wins yet. They emerge with some hardware and cashed in some valuable chips but one numbers game appears to be driving away from their favor.
In their first game as Commissioner's Cup champions, the Liberty dropped a rematch to the Las Vegas Aces, as Sin City took revenge with an 88-75 victory in the penultimate of five regular season meetings (counting Tuesday's de facto postseason game, which is not included among the final standings) between the supposed superteams.
"They responded in a big way and that's what you would expect after, obviously, two losses, so credit to them," Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said. "They're very physical and they found a way to win."
New York (24-7) prevailed in the finale of the WNBA's in-season competition on Tuesday but has split the first four get-togethers with the defending champions. Additionally, Las Vegas (28-3) now owns a four-game lead in the race for the top seed in the upcoming WNBA playoffs and the eternal homecourt advantage that comes with it. From an official standpoint, they also remain undefeated at home this season.
"It's tough seeing a team so many times in such a short amount of time because I think sometimes you tend to overthink and wonder what they're going to change," point guard Sabrina Ionescu said of the Vegas series to date. "(You think about) what they're going throw out, the adjustments that they made. I think that took us a little bit out of our game, of our flow and moving with the ball and being able to dictate what we wanted to do offensively."
"We all tried to slow the game down too much and play in the mismatches that we had instead of just getting them in a row. But the good thing is that's in our control. So we're going to be able to go back, watch film, understand the mistakes that we made and what we didn't do to the best of our ability, and come back the next game and make sure that we improve on our ball movement."
Six more triples from Ionescu built a 22-point night that led the way for the Liberty while Betnijah Laney had 17 on a 7-of-11 posting from the field. Alas for New York, it wasn't enough to counter a triple-double for Chelsea Gray (22 points, 11 assists, and rebounds each) or a back-breaking 15 turnovers, eight alone coming in the final period. Those lost balls yielded 21 points for Las Vegas, effectively building their vital margin.
"I think turnovers were a bit of an Achilles for us," Brondello observed. "They exploited us down the other end with those turnovers. We just finished the action a little bit. We didn't make the easy pass. But they were aggressive. We got up in the air a few times."
Despite the final double-figure difference, Thursday's game was by far the most competitive clash of the WNBA titans after the first two meetings were decided by a combined 74 points. The Liberty put in the first eight points before Las Vegas took a lead that proved permanent by the end of the opening period. That advantage inflated to 13 after three early fouls limited Jonquel Jones to eight minutes.
"She got in early foul trouble. It was tough for us," Brondello said. "JJ's such an important player for us. Maybe I should've put her back in. But we found a way to get back in the game in the second half."
Despite dealing with a struggling Breanna Stewart (3-of-15 from the field), the Liberty inched their way back into the contest thanks to deep balls from Ionescu and Laney. New York got as close as four and was only down five entering the final frame but turnovers on four consecutive possessions allowed Vegas to take a stranglehold on the momentum.
"We never gave up," Brondello said. "With three minutes ago I think was around a four-point game. But we'll learn from that and get ready to win tomorrow in Phoenix."
Vegas' regulars played to their high-octane advertising after most of them were held in check on Tuesday: A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum each sank seven from the field en route to a combined 39 points while Jackie Young scored half of her 16 from the foul line, perfect on eight attempts. Kierstan Bell and Alysha Clark had four rebounds each off the bench and were a combined plus-27 when they were on the floor.
The Liberty won't have much time to assess the relative damage, as they immediately return to action on Friday night: the halfway point of a six-game road trip comes after a visit to the desert leads them to a matchup with the Phoenix Mercury (10 p.m. ET, Ion).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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