{"id":21321,"date":"2025-06-28T08:21:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T08:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/21321\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T08:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T08:21:12","slug":"new-york-liberty-get-shelled-by-phoenix-mercury-106-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/21321\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Liberty get shelled by Phoenix Mercury, 106-91"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let Head Coach Sandy Brondello take you through the New York Liberty\u2019s loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we didn\u2019t execute our game plan in the beginning cause we weren\u2019t in the right places, we weren\u2019t supposed to play as soft as we did and have no toughness on defense. We didn\u2019t make them feel uncomfortable one bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She continued later: \u201cI think we went away from what our strength is. Our strength is, we\u2019re doing things together. So it\u2019s disappointing, so we\u2019ve gotta \u2014 and I\u2019m not making excuses, I don\u2019t care who\u2019s not with us. You know, I don\u2019t care. Okay, they\u2019re not going to save us here.\u201d<\/p>\n

That part is certainly true. Though New York was once again missing Jonquel Jones (ankle) and Leonie Fiebich (EuroBasket) for the third leg of their four-game road trip, the problem wasn\u2019t a talent gap. It was an effort and execution gap.<\/p>\n

The Mercury shot 18-of-39 from three, and while a few of those makes were just laughable, it wasn\u2019t just bad luck. The Liberty let Sami Whitcomb and the gang see a few go through early…<\/p>\n

What they had largely done well in their previous contest against the Valkyries, the Liberty could not accomplish on Friday. Defenders often didn\u2019t step up to the level of the screen on switches, as in the above clip, or they didn\u2019t know who to guard off the ball.<\/p>\n

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In a banner night for the Sabally sisters, Satou would score 25 points and make seven 3-pointers. In postgame, Brondello admitted that the Mercury are a great team \u2014 and they indeed seem to be great in 2025 \u2014 \u201cbut we got to be learners out on the floor too. Like, Satou has seven threes, somebody\u2019s gotta guard her.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York didn\u2019t exactly lay down. They trailed by 18 in the first half, then cut it to seven before Phoenix pumped the margin up to 19 in the second half.<\/p>\n

The sea foam once again cut it to single digits, but then lost Sabally twice for 3-pointers, going under a screen and then simply forgetting about her in transition. Nighty-night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think coach just harped on it enough about the disappointment in our effort,\u201d said Natasha Cloud postgame. \u201cThat\u2019s just what it is. It comes down to effort. It doesn\u2019t matter schemes. It doesn\u2019t matter X\u2019s and O\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It was a step in the right direction for Cloud on the other end of the floor, who, like many of her teammates, played a fine offensive game with 14 points and 7 assists. She was one of six double-digit scorers, as Breanna Stewart (17) and Nyara Sabally (career-high 16) led the way. After Phoenix hammered them at Barclays Center with an aggressive, trap-heavy defense, New York seemed prepared for it this time, scoring 46 points in the paint…<\/p>\n

When asked about any offensive struggles postgame, Brondello shrugged off the premise: \u201cI mean, we shot 51%. It was an offensive game. We made 91.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabrina Ionescu, dealing with neck stiffness, scored just nine points on 2-of-9, but it didn\u2019t have far-ranging consequences for her teammates. Marine Johann\u00e8s stepped up with a barrage of threes in the first half to help keep the game tight…<\/p>\n

Marine\u2019s 3-point barrages have the power to shell-shock opponents. Becky Hammon called her an \u201cassassin\u201d off the bench after the Commissioner\u2019s Cup in 2023, when the New York Liberty beat her Las Vegas Aces, with Johann\u00e8s going off.<\/p>\n

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But the key for the almost-dynastic Liberty during this run has always been their defense. Even when they came up short in the 2023 WNBA Finals, their defense kept them in the low-scoring Game 4. Same with their preposterously ugly, championship-clinching Game 5 victory over the Minnesota Lynx.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t have Jones and Fiebich on Friday night, but they still put together some eye-widening offensive sequences. And yet, Phoenix spaced the floor and let Alyssa Thomas go to town in the middle of it, as AT put up a ridiculous 17\/9\/15 line. She made plenty of decisions for the Mercury, and they were all the right ones…<\/p>\n

Four losses in six games is such an aberration for this iteration of the Liberty it may cause real agitation. But they\u2019re still 11-4. And as much as Sandy Brondello may not want to hear it, Jonquel Jones\u2019 eventual return is really the only thing between them and championship vibes once more…<\/p>\n

But they got stomped on Friday night, and they deserved it. No two ways about it.<\/p>\n

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The standard is and should be higher for the defending champions, who have now twice lost to the Mercury. A win in their next game \u2014 the last of the road trip \u2014 can quell this sour taste.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a long season, and this happens. It\u2019s up to the beholder what to make of Friday night\u2019s uninspiring loss.<\/p>\n

Final Score: Phoenix Mercury 106, New York Liberty 91<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Lynx v Atlanta Dream<\/p>\n

The cap to this road trip is no picnic. The New York Liberty, without much rest, will fly across the country to face the Atlanta Dream on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

More from netsdaily.com:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let Head Coach Sandy Brondello take you through the New York Liberty\u2019s loss to the Phoenix Mercury on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[4552,5229,5643,1503,1587,5336,2338,4144,16493,19711,1519,19713,405,1520,19712,1589,1502,15534,19714,19708,19710,19709,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-21321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-alyssa-thomas","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-atlanta-dream","12":"tag-az","13":"tag-breanna-stewart","14":"tag-jonquel-jones","15":"tag-las-vegas-aces","16":"tag-leonie-fiebich","17":"tag-lucas-kaplan","18":"tag-minnesota-lynx","19":"tag-natasha-cloud","20":"tag-new-york","21":"tag-new-york-liberty","22":"tag-nyara-sabally","23":"tag-phoenix","24":"tag-phoenix-mercury","25":"tag-sabrina-ionescu","26":"tag-sami-whitcomb","27":"tag-sandy-brondello","28":"tag-the-liberty","29":"tag-the-mercury","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-united-states-of-america","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114760023216908137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}