Injuries and stars missing games have been some of the main storylines this season. Like many other teams, the Liberty couldn’t escape the injury bug. Jonquel Jones missed time early in the season, Breanna Stewart was out with a bone bruise until recently, Kennedy Burke missed eight games, and Nyara Sabally only played 15 games all season long. Sabrina Ionescu and Leonie Fiebich also missed six and seven games, respectively.
Due to those injuries, New York has plummeted in the standings, going from having one of the top records in the league to sitting in fifth place. It also meant that the team had little chance to see its roster at full strength. Emma Meesseman joined the Liberty fifteen games ago after playing with the Belgian national team earlier in the season. Since she joined the Liberty, the team has always been without a key player.
While all the injuries stole precious time from the Liberty to build chemistry between their established stars and Meesseman, it’s not all bad. Head coach Sandy Brondello spoke to reporters after practice and revealed one silver lining to the team’s troubles.
“Teams haven’t seen us like this,” Brondello said. “So, that’s why I said I don’t think anyone wants to play us in the playoffs because they haven’t seen us at our full strength.”
The Liberty could cause a lot of trouble for higher-seeded teams
July and August were tough months for the Liberty. They lost to the Sparks, Wings, Sun, Sky, and Valkyries, failing to take care of business against teams they should be able to beat. So, the Liberty will enter the playoffs as a much lower seed than initially expected.
The team’s place in the standings doesn’t represent the talent on the roster and the damage the Liberty can do when everyone is healthy and playing well together, though.
Having to face a team that features Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Natasha Cloud, Jonquel Jones, and Emma Meesseman in the first round of the playoffs is not a pleasant experience for any team with its eyes set on the finals—especially not if other teams get to go up against the struggling Seattle Storm or a Sparks team that just barely made the playoffs, the short-handed Fever, and a rather inexperienced Valkyries team.
Considering how the standings look with only a handful of games left in the season, the Liberty may meet the Mercury in the playoffs. That’s not an easy matchup for either side. The Mercury, led by MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas, won three of the four matchups against the Liberty. As Brondello said, they never saw the Liberty at full strength, though.
The first three times the teams met, Meesseman wasn’t with the Liberty yet. Jones also missed the second meeting, and Ionescu didn’t play in the final meeting.
While the Liberty’s recent drop-off raised questions about the team’s ability to repeat as champions, New York and its star power shouldn’t be underestimated in the playoffs.