New York Liberty’s Biggest Takeaway
Despite winning the game, the Liberty gained something priceless leading into the playoffs. A valuable lesson learned y the team was the ability to stay together. There were moments where the game could’ve slipped away, however the Liberty rallied together and relied and trusted on their teammates to make key plays late in the game. Especially, in the closing minutes of the game, Jones steps up to play Aces guard Kelsey Plum for the determining bucket and the Liberty decided to not send help defense. This resulted in a Jones block, however with the abilities of Plum it could’ve easily turned into crucial points for the Aces.
“Absolutely, because everything’s not going to be easy,” Liberty forward Kayla Thornton stated. “That makes you realize what you have to do to win, you can be up but all of a sudden they can come back. …I think it makes us prepared to understand what we have to do, but I loved that we stayed consistent and we stayed together. That was the most important thing to this victory.”
Moving forward, the Liberty will have to rely on togetherness as it appeared All-Star guard Benijah Laney-Hamilton suffered a knee injury that sidelined her for the remainder of the game. There are no updates yet on her knee, nonetheless this will be detrimental no matter the circumstances. The Liberty will be forced to step up and play as a unit to have a successful playoff run.
What’s Next for the Liberty and Aces?
Tuesday night, the Liberty will take on the Dallas Wings (9-26) on the road. The Aces will take on the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night. Both teams are walking away from this game with lessons learned.