New York Liberty run away from Chicago Sky in fourth, win 88-75 (2024)

The New York Liberty entered Tuesday's action against the Chicago Sky with a 7-2 record, but were not without concerns.

For one, the 2023 WNBA MVP, Breanna Stewart, hasn’t been performing at that level to begin the season. She’s averaging fewer than 18 points (high bar) for the first time in her career, shooting just 43.7% from the field and 18.9% from three, also career-lows.

But she is, after all, Breanna Stewart, and reminded any anxious Liberty fans of that when she scored 15 points in the first quarter, including two triples...

Stewart led the Libs to a 31-15 first quarter, the fourth straight game in which they held a double-digit lead after ten minutes of play.

The Liberty had gone on to win each of the prior three games by a total margin of 50 points, despite getting outscored by 21 points in each of those second quarters. Whether teams are simply too good not to make runs, the Liberty get a little too comfortable, or most likely, some combination of both, the second quarter has been a bug-a-boo for New York this season.

Tuesday’s game in Chicago was no different, and the downhill tumble started when Jonquel Jones picked up her third foul right when the period began. In each of New York’s two losses this season — one of which came to these Sky — Jones finished with five fouls and long stretches on the bench, which resulted in her two lowest scoring outputs of the season.

With the Liberty facing an active, physical front-court in Chicago, Brondello addressed Jones’ foul trouble pregame: “In terms of the fouls, she just needs to not over-compensate and not get too frustrated with what happens at both ends of the floor, and just play one possession at a time. When she gets in foul trouble, that’s a big piece of what we want to do getting taken out of the game, and that hurts us.”

Her words proved prophetic, as Jones was taken out of the game, and it indeed hurt the Liberty, who squandered the entirety of the 17-point lead they’d built with their starting center on the floor before taking a 49-48 lead into half-time.

Really, Jones was the victim of a game called as tight as can be, with a total of 39 personal fouls called in addition to four technicals. When Stewart was asked about the night’s physicality in her post-game presser, she responded: “Honestly, I don’t know how physical it was, cause they were just calling a lot.”

In any case, New York could not contain Chennedy Carter off Chicago’s bench, and without Jones, did not have the same level of rim-protection to meet her when she get into the lane. Carter led Chicago with 15 points in the first half, and even when she did miss shots, Chicago’s starting front-court of Angel Reese and Elizabeth Williams were often there to clean it up.

The Liberty lost the third quarter too, entering the final frame down 66-65. Stewart had slowed her pace, and outside of another strong Sabrina Ionescu performance (24/7/4, no turnovers), New York didn’t have much scoring to bank on. The bench trio of Kennedy Burke, Leonie Fiebich, and Kayla Thornton that had been so strong on Sunday went just 2-of-8 from deep on their way to six total points. Worse yet, they only combined for two rebounds in 38 total minutes, key suspects in the units that allowed Chicago to grab a dozen offensive boards.

Armed with their starting five, the Liberty would have to close out the Sky with defense and their offensive stars. That’s exactly what they did.

Brondello turned to a zone defense New York executed for most of the fourth quarter, ten minutes in which the Sky were able to make one measly field goal. Stops turned into rare fast-break opportunities for the Libs, which afforded Betnijah Laney-Hamilton some opportunities, scoring five of her 12 in the fourth quarter...

The rest of the work was done by Ionescu and Stewart, who capped off her 33-point performance by bludgeoning the Sky in isolation. Curiously, after struggling with aggressive help defense at points this season, Stewie did not see any such activity from Chicago, who mostly let her operate from her chosen spots.

They would pay for that decision.

Said Stewart: “I was getting great looks when I was getting downhill, knowing that it was so back and forth, really wanting to do whatever I could to continue to bring the game to the next level. They were switching, they weren’t switching, so there was a lot of openings for me, just continuing to be aggressive.”

New York won the final frame 23-9 to win convincingly, and Brondello was proud of her squad for gutting out a game that wasn’t always easy on the eyes.

“They stayed more composed and poised. Even [Jones], she knew how she could help us when she got back out on the court, wasn’t getting too frustrated. You know, sometimes your body language can change, [but] I thought we stayed in the moment, and JJ was still great for us. The rebounding was fantastic, I thought she really anchored the zone in that fourth quarter.”

Despite playing just 25 minutes, the fewest of any starter, and scoring just five points on 2-of-7 shooting, Jones recorded a game-high plus-minus of +23 by virtue of being on the bench for Chicago’s second-quarter run, but also by shutting down their offensive rebounding game and paint attack in the fourth quarter.

She blocked Angel Reese twice on one late possession, and was the biggest factor in Chicago’s star rookie shooting just 3-of-12 on the night.

“Through it all today, through the foul trouble, some looks of hers weren’t going in, she continued to be a force for us defensively,” said Stewart.

In some ways, this victory was straight out of 2023 for the Libs. Jones wasn’t quite at her most dominant, the team struggled to clean the glass, and Stewart had to take over offensively. In others, it followed the pattern of 2024 with a poor second quarter, Jones’ foul trouble, but Ionescu turning in another steady performance with the rock in her hands.

In any case, the New York Liberty now stand at 8-2. They haven’t been racking up the sexiest wins, to be sure, but you wouldn’t know it from glancing at the standings.

Final Score: New York Liberty 88, Chicago Sky 75

Commissioner’s Cup standings

Tuesday’s game marked the second of five straight games counting toward the Commissioner’s Cup standings, and thus, vs. Eastern Conference opponents. It’s still early of course, and New York is yet to play the undefeated Connecticut Sun, but things are on the right tack early for the Libs to repeat as Cup champions.

Angel Reese ejected

Two of the aforementioned four technical fouls were called on Angel Reese in the span of three seconds...

The game was nearing garbage time, but it was still surprising to many to see Reese tossed for a curse word and a hand-wave.

Per Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune, head referee Maj Forsberg confirmed as much in the post-game pool report, saying that Reese “disrespectfully addressed” referee Charles Watson to receive the first tech, then the hand-wave earned tech #2.

Chicago Bull Lonzo Ball posted on X/Twitter after the game that he would pick up the check for the Sky rookie.

Injury Update

The three wings off New York’s bench played well on Sunday, but couldn’t replicate that success on Tuesday. Sandy Brondello certainly missed backup center Nyara Sabally against a bigger, more physical Chicago team, and gave an update on her status pregame.

“I think it’s she’s feeling better,” said Brondello, despite Sabally missing her second straight game with muscle spasms in her back. “When I meet with [the medical staff] every day, they say ‘yep, she’s making progress.’ That’s how much information I’ve got ... It’s disappointing she can’t play because she was making really good progress, but hopefully we’ll get her back sooner than later.”

Sabally’s next chance to play will be...

Next Up

Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images

...vs. the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night, in more Commissioner’s Cup action. The game will be the second of three straight road games for New York. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

• Box Score: New York Liberty 88, Chicago Sky 75 - WNBA
• Game Highlights: New York Liberty 88, Chicago Sky 75 (Video) - WNBA