The Liberty are back home after a tough road trip and will welcome the new look LA Sparks to Barclays.
Photo by A.J. Mast/NBAE via Getty Images
Finally back home. The New York Liberty have been on the road the past few weeks, and it was a rocky road for the defending WNBA champions. They closed it out with a loss to the resurgent Atlanta Dream on Sunday afternoon.
The opponent tonight is trying to figure things out as they go. The Los Angeles Sparks underwent a lot of changes this off-season, but the results haven’t paid off quite yet. They hosted the Chicago Sky on Sunday afternoon as Candace Parker got her jersey retired. LA couldn’t bring the W home as they fell short 92-85.
Where to follow the game
FOX 5 on TV. Liberty Live and FOX Local on streaming. League Pass for the out of towners. Tip after 7 PM.
Injuries
Leonie Fiebich is back! Jonquel Jones is on the road to recovery, but still has some more time to go.
Cameron Brink is still out following an ACL tear from last season. Rae Burrell is back from an early season leg injury and Julie Allemand has returned from Eurobasket. As a result, the team waived Shey Peddy and Oddysey Sims.
The game
If you’re heading to Barclays Center tonight, you’ll be in for a treat! The Liberty have been working on an installation at Barclays Center and will unveil it tonight! Check out this one of Betnijah Laney-Hamilton!
Latoya Ruby Frazier
BSE Global has worked to make that plaza area a great spot for fans to congregate and relax. Art like this will help make that more of a reality.
Having Fiebich back will be a godsend for the Liberty. She provides the length on defense needed to allow New York to deploy all sorts of fun lineups. Sandy Brondello told me at practice yesterday that she’s looking to get Leo more usage on offense as well. It would be a welcome development and one that can allow the Liberty to get even more exciting.
Fiebich will likely draw the assignment against Rickea Jackson tonight. Jackson hasn’t had the sophomore season she hoped for, but there’s still plenty of time for her to get back on track. She’s taking a lot more three pointers this year as compared to last year, which was to be expected with new coach Lynne Roberts’ offense. If Fiebich and the Liberty can force Jackson into tough shots and keep her off the free throw line, they’ll be in great shape.
Breanna Stewart continues to do everything for the Liberty, and that all around excellence is why she’s an All-Star starter once again. She’s still trying to find it from three point range, but when you’re in a slump, you just gotta keep going for it and hope that you end the drought. She’ll get the matchup with Dearica Hamby and hope to keep the former two time Sixth Woman of the Year off the boards. Hamby is tied for seventh in the WNBA this season with five double doubles and has been a veteran presence on a Sparks team that’s still trying to find itself. As they wait for Cam Brink to return, Hamby’s role in the frontcourt will continue to be essential to her team’s chances of success.
Player to watch: Kelsey Plum
For the first time in a while, Plum is the lead option for her team. She’s spent the past few years alongside A’ja Wilson in Las Vegas and now that she’s guiding the young Sparks, is taking on the largest workload of her career. Her usage rate is at a career high 27.7 percent and she’s working to attack the basket a bit more than she did last season. Historically, she’s been an excellent finisher at the rim but is only shooting 48.6 percent on shots inside of three feet. I wonder if that has something to do with the Sparks’ spacing on offense, so it’ll be exciting to see how she goes about her business tonight.
Natasha Cloud will draw the Plum assignment in all likelihood. Tash was speaking to us at practice yesterday and stressed the importance of getting back to the basics on defense after a rough road trip. Cloud has up her activity on offense due to all the absences in the starting five, and when she’s got the team moving well, their offense becomes incredibly dynamic. The team will need to be better on the defensive end, and that starts with Cloud at the point of attack.
Honestly, Sabrina Ionescu probably should’ve missed a few more games with her neck injury last week. However, Sab is a trooper and fought through it even though she wasn’t 100 percent. She started picking it up after halftime on Sunday and the Liberty hope that she can build on that throughout this homestand. When Sab is getting downhill, she’s tough to handle and can finish in traffic. The team needs her at full strength if they want to win, and tonight is a great chance for her to put on an All-Star caliber show.
From the Vault
This is for Pat
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