After securing a massive win against the Lynx, the Liberty suffered a 91-85 loss to the Chicago Sky. After the game, Sandy Brondello called her team’s inconsistency “mind-boggling.” After all, it wasn’t the first time the Liberty lost to a non-playoff team. They had already lost to the Sun, Wings, and Sparks before facing the Sky.
Brondello was also clear about what her team needed to improve before the playoffs came around.
“Rebounding has been a bit of an Achilles for us and it’s something [that], if we want to go a long way in the playoffs, we’ve got to fix up. And the fouling too,” Brondello said.
The Liberty lost the rebounding battle by a significant margin
It’s been a brutal season for the Sky, and the team hasn’t been great at many things. Rebounding is the exception. Led by Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, the Sky rank second in rebounds per game. Only Atlanta averages more boards per game. The Sky’s rebounding prowess was on full display against the Liberty.
Chicago won the rebounding battle 42 to 27. Both teams grabbed ten offensive rebounds, but the Liberty only got their hands on 17 defensive rebounds. Meanwhile, the Sky grabbed 32 of those.
Reese and Cardoso combined for 25 rebounds as they almost single-handedly out-rebounded the Liberty. The two youngsters were so good on the glass that the Sky could survive getting zero rebounds from Michaela Onyenwere and Rachel Banham, who both played around 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Liberty got rebounds from everyone who played big minutes, but simply not at the same level as the Sky. Jonquel Jones and Emma Meesseman unsurprisingly led the team in rebounds with seven each.
To be fair, the Liberty had to face the Sky—one of the best rebounding teams in the league—without Breanna Stewart, Nyara Sabally, and Isabelle Harrison. Stewart averages the second-most rebounds on the team with 6.5 boards per game. Sabally usually grabs 4.9 rebounds, and Harrison contributes an average of 2.8. That is a lot of rebounding on the sidelines.
New York struggles on the glass compared to other playoff teams, but doesn’t foul much on average
The Liberty rank eighth in rebounds per game across the league with an average of 33.9 boards. Only two playoff teams average fewer rebounds than that: the Indiana Fever and the Seattle Storm. Indiana ranks ninth with 33.8, and Seattle is the worst rebounding team in the league.
Fouling, which Brondello also brought up as something the Liberty needed to clean up, hasn’t been a problem as consistently as the rebounding. For the season, the Liberty rank third in fouls per game and average only 16.7 personal fouls. Against the Sky, they committed 24 fouls compared to the Sky’s 17.