New York Liberty pushed around by Atlanta Dream in 90-81 loss

They brought considerable fight in undesirable circumstances, but it just wasn’t enough.

Sandy Brondello did not hesitate to criticize her team’s effort, toughness, and other such qualities after their 106-91 loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Friday evening.

The New York Liberty’s first chance to respond was on Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Dream, in a characteristically insane bit of WNBA scheduling that saw the 11-4 Libs fly across the country on Saturday evening and play upon waking up the next day.

Let’s just be honest, it was a scheduled loss that bumped them to 11-5, which might explain why Brondello was so ticked off after the poor effort against Phoenix.

New York certainly played harder on Sunday afternoon, but they were never getting the boulder all the way up the hill. The visitors went down by double-digits early, thanks to the double-big Dream feasting inside, and while it wasn’t quite a blowout, the Liberty were never really in it, either. They were perpetually on the edge of competitiveness.

The Dream shot a staggering 65% inside the arc and got to the line 22 times. If they had been able to make a jumper (or a free-throw), it probably would have been over earlier…

But the Liberty do deserve their fair share of credit. Sabrina Ionescu and her stiff neck struggled once again, shooting 5-of-15 with five turnovers, but Natasha Cloud and Breanna Stewart each eclipsed 20 points to keep the offense afloat.

Stewie was omnipresent as usual, but Cloud was particularly encouraging, living in the paint and even hitting most of her jumpers when Atlanta got disrespectful…

Cloud put up a robust 20/4/6, though like Stewie and Ionescu, played well over 30 minutes in a game her team never had a chance of winning. Alas, that wasn’t her decision.

“I think the last five or six games before Phoenix, I was just disappointed,” said Cloud. “And my job as a point guard is to get two feet in the paint, whether that’s for myself or to spray out to my teammates and put them in successful situations. So starting these games, these last two, I just wanted to be more aggressive, getting downhill so I can be the best version of myself for us.”

But there was only so much she could do without the team getting the requisite stops. New York scored just nine transition points; they struggled to keep the ball out of the paint on defense, and it grounded everything else.

Said Cloud: “It’s defense that is killing our transition. When you have to constantly take the ball out of the net, you don’t get to run freely, you don’t get to push pace against them. So that’s just our defense.”

Though their defense wasn’t great, it really wasn’t one thing that killed the Liberty on Sunday. They’re just not a championship-caliber team without Jonquel Jones and Leonie Fiebich, and certainly not when they have to fly cross-country and play a day game against a very good, big Dream squad.

Brionna Jones led the way with 21 points, but it was a balanced effort for the hosts that saw five double-digit scorers, included a 20-piece from Allisha Gray. Atlanta didn’t just post up the Liberty, though they did hunt mismatches when available…

They flew off screens and worked the ball around the perimeter to create passing angles into the paint faster than the Liberty could close them. This game wasn’t about a specific deficiency for the sea foam. They just didn’t have it.

They represented themselves well in the second half, though. Kennedy Burke and Isabelle Harrison replaced Rebekah Gardner and Nyara Sabally in the starting lineup — “I probably should have went bigger in the start of the game, to be quite honest,” said Brondello.

While that’s true for Burke, it wouldn’t quite explain Harrison over Sabally, who has often struggled to make an impact since returning from knee injury. Harrison was solid, though. She put up 8/6/2 on 4-of-6 shooting, won her 21 minutes, and was enough of a factor around the defensive rim to put a smile on her girlfriend’s face postgame.

“She’s been ready,” said Cloud. “She’s been working her ass off. So it’s just always good to see her get rewarded, in a sense. But everyone on our bench, our bench, has been really good for us.”

She’s not bluffing. The bench has had their ups and downs in 2025, but the Liberty aren’t losing due to their depth. They’re losing because, with an injured Ionescu and absent Jones/Fiebich, their margin for error shrinks to zero against good teams. And they have not played mistake-free basketball.

The New York Liberty are 11-5. They look mortal. They’re going through struggles, some out of their control and others within reach of fixing, like defensive communication out on the perimeter. In other words: normal basketball stuff.

Not even the Liberty are immune to it, apparently.

Final Score: Atlanta Dream 90, New York Liberty 81

Next Up

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Finally, a bunch of home games. Then the All-Star break, then more home games for the 11-5 Liberty. It all starts with a game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.