When you’re at the top, you’re getting everyone’s best shot every night. The New York Liberty played the second of a two game mini-series against the Golden State Valkyries last night, and survived a hell of a battle to win 83-78. The seafoam are 5-0 to start the WNBA season.
The opponent tonight is in the first stage of their rebuild. The Washington Mystics have been pretty surprising so far and have shown plenty of promise. They took on the Indiana Fever sans Caitlin Clark on Wednesday night in Baltimore and came away with an impressive victory.
Where to follow the game
ION is the place to be. Tip after 7:30 PM.
Injuries
Nyara Sabally and Jonquel Jones both missed last night’s game. We’ll see if they’re back tonight.
Georgia Amoore is out for the season after suffering an ACL injury in training camp.
The game
The Mystics kids have been one of the most pleasant surprises of the season thus far. Sonia Citron has been outstanding on the perimeter for DC and could be a big part of a bright future. As Beckett Harrison of Swish Appealwrites:
“Citron leads all rookies in points per game while shooting an unreal 47.6 percent from 3 on over four attempts per game. Her overall shooting splits lie at 53/47/89. If she somehow maintains that efficiency and makes literally one more free throw, she would be the secondWNBA player to ever join the elusive 50/40/90 club, joining Washington legend Elena Delle Donne. She has 38 more games to go, but that’s definitely a story to watch for the time being.”
That’s what’s up.
With this being the second leg of a back-to-back, we’ll see how Sandy Brondello manages the rotation tonight. The season is longer and you always have to be mindful of workload, so it’ll be interesting to see how she puts certain lineups together.
Assuming Jones and Sabally are back, they’ll have their hands full with a crowded Mystics frontcourt. Shakira Austin and Aaliyah Edwards are both back following training camp injuries and are coming off the bench for the time being. Stefanie Dolson is starting at center but has only played a combined 27 minutes in the last two games. New coach Sydney Johnson has a fun puzzle to solve the deeper we go into the season.
The guard matchup should be incredibly fun. Brittney Sykes has taken on a leadership role this year with this young group, and it’s been paying off. She’s scored at least 20 points in four of her five games so far, and that number has been helped by her shooting a remarkable 82.4 percent inside the restricted area. Sykes will be guarded by Natasha Cloud for much of the night. Cloud has taken on the assignment of guarding the opponent’s best player and always has an extra gear she can take it to when the game is close and late.
Player to watch: Kiki Iriafen
Another standout from the 2025 Draft! Iriafen was taken fourth overall and has done well in her matchups thus far. She’s third in the WNBA in rebounding at 10.7 boards per game and has collected four double-doubles already. The Liberty have been pretty poor on the glass so far this season and that could be troublesome against a young big that has been a bear on the boards.
Breanna Stewart will look to handle frontcourt responsibilities tonight. She didn’t shoot well to start the game, but she was a foul magnet and took a career high 19 free throw attempts last night. The thing about being a superstar is you have to find way to make things happen when one part of your game isn’t where you want it to be. For Stewart, it’s about finding a way when things are toughest and Liberty fans can always trust her to make a big play.
From the Vault
When Natasha Cloud had her first media availability in New York, she compared this year’s Liberty team to the 2019 Mystics. How did things end for that group? Pretty darn well!
More reading: Bullets Forever, Swish Appeal, Chicago Sun Times, Women’s Basketball Roundup, No Cap Space, The Strickland, The Local W, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic. Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, SI All Knicks, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, CBS Sports, and The Next