2022 NY Liberty Notebook, Volume 4: “We need to be better and we will”
After a great month of June, the squad tries to find their footing
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Whose idea was Camp Day, anyway?
Yesterday, the New York Liberty took on Las Vegas with a chance to win the season series against the Aces. Unfortunately, it got out of hand pretty quickly with Vegas hitting 10 straight shots and racing out to a 24-point lead at the end of the first period. The score would be 71-36 at halftime, as the Aces were just two points off of the league record for single-half scoring (more on breaking records later). And they did this on Ellie the Elephant’s birthday!
On a somewhat serious note, the Liberty have gotten off to a rough start in July, going 1-4 so far. The schedule doesn’t get any easier after this either, with games against Connecticut, Washington and Chicago on the horizon. However, this month hasn’t been all doom and gloom! Let’s get to some storylines.
All-Star Weekend thoughts
Firstly, I gotta get this off my chest. I try to keep this column lighthearted and fun because at the end of the day, it’s just basketball. However, I feel like it’s important to be as authentic as possible whenever I can, so I’ll just say this.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert essentially blaming gun violence as the reasoning behind not allowing fans at a Chance the Rapper concert during All-Star Weekend festivities? Lame, ill-informed, aggravating, upsetting, and quite frankly, an asinine thing to say considering the negative stigma already attached to the city of Chicago for various reasons. There was an outdoor food festival going on two miles away at the same time!
As for the events, we didn’t find out who would be in the Three-Point Contest or Skills Challenge until July 7 and July 8, respectively. To make matters somewhat worse, the event was then bumped to the ESPNU channel, as there was an ongoing Wimbledon game on ESPN. Let’s not even discuss the venue, or how most fans were kept outside in the parking lot for a “fan fest”.
Despite all of this, the 2022 All-Star Weekend set an all-time record for merchandise sold during a WNBA All-Star event, and the game on Sunday had its highest viewership since 2015. The market is there, the fan support is there, and the interest is there; can we just please get some sense of competence?
To end on a positive note, congrats to Sabrina Ionescu and her partner Zoe Brooks for winning the Skills Challenge, and a double congrats to Sab and Natasha Howard for picking up the win in the All-Star Game! Way to make everyone proud.
Breaking records the right (and the wrong) way
When the schedule was released before the season, I immediately circled this stretch in July where the Liberty would play Las Vegas three times in four games. The Aces have been a powerhouse over the last four seasons, advancing to the semi-finals or further in the playoffs every year since 2019. With a new coach on the sidelines in Becky Hammon, I was excited to see how New York would measure up against one of the league’s best.
Well, it’s safe to say that these three games have been quite the wild ride. In their first meeting on July 6, the Liberty rewrote the record books, setting franchise records in scoring, field goals made, and three-pointers, among other milestones. To top it all off, Ionescu finished the night with the first 30-point triple-double in WNBA history, and Han Xu set a franchise record for consecutive field goals without a miss, with 10. It was an awesome offensive performance from both sides (credit to the Aces for scoring the most points by a losing team in a non-OT game in WNBA history too).
In their next matchup on July 12, New York faced a 24-point deficit at halftime. However, they flipped the switch, scoring 73 points in the second half to set a new league record for scoring in a single half. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to pull out the win, but it was quite the show and highlighted the importance of playing a complete game.
Yesterday’s game? Well, it was something. The Aces scored 108 points, becoming the first team in WNBA history to score over 100 points in three straight regular season games (thanks to Across the Timeline for shattering my spirit in less than 280 characters). 108 points is also the most the Liberty have allowed in franchise history, so that happened. All in all, that three-game stretch revealed a lot about this team, and hopefully the tough loss can be a bit of a wakeup call.
Sam Bam here to save the day
After yesterday’s lopsided defeat to the Aces, Coach Brondello mentioned postgame that she might have to consider a change to the starting lineup. The Liberty have been starting three guards (Ionescu, Crystal Dangerfield, Marine Johannès) in nine of the last 10 games, and the one game Dangerfield didn’t start in (July 30 against Atlanta), she couldn’t because she was released from her hardship contract four days prior.
So, why not put Sami Whitcomb back in the starting lineup? The seasoned veteran started 28 out of 30 games last year, averaging career highs across the board in her first season wearing seafoam. This year, she was named captain of the squad, but has only started in six of her 23 appearances. A threat to score from anywhere on the perimeter, Whitcomb lit it up on Tuesday, draining five threes in the third quarter alone as she willed the team back into the game.
She became the first Liberty player since 2006 to hit five triples in a quarter and tied the league record for threes in a third quarter, putting on a shooting masterclass. In Volume 2 of the notebook, we broke down how great the Liberty looked with one of Dangerfield or Johannès on the court with Sabrina, allowing her to play off the ball and take some of the pressure off her in the halfcourt.
As the season has progressed, the numbers with a pair of guards on the court still look solid. Ionescu/Dangerfield lineups without Johannès and Ionescu/Johannès lineups without Dangerfield have positive net ratings, with Dangerfield’s lineups offering stingy defense and Johannès’ lineups providing more spacing and better offense.
With all three on the court, though, that’s where things have gotten a little shaky. In 125 minutes, the three-guard lineup has a net rating of -8.6 points per 100 possessions, courtesy of PBP Stats. Sure, it’s most likely skewed with yesterday’s result and other double-digit losses. However, with these slow starts in three straight games, it might lead to a shakeup in the starting five, and I think Whitcomb could be the answer. She spaces the floor and holds her own defensively, and a change might be necessary to keep New York’s playoff hopes alive.
The Liberty get some rest before heading to Uncasville to take on the Connecticut Sun in another early game on July 19. Two days later, they’ve got another road game against the Washington Mystics as they jockey for a spot in the playoffs. Time will tell if New York gets back on the right track.
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Trade Dangerfield-Laney for Diggins-Smith and NYL 'll go playoffs