Barely a minute into the New York Liberty\u2019s final game of the 2025 season, a familiar sight reared its ugly head. One of the team\u2019s starters was crumpled on the floor. This time, it was Leonie Fiebich, who was clutching her midsection in pain after taking a knee to the ribs.<\/p>\n
It was a cruel reminder of the year that has been for New York, when the good vibes of its title defense lasted all of nine games before the first injury. The hits kept coming, one after another, and when the Liberty desperately needed a stroke of luck in order to continue their season, it wasn\u2019t to be found.<\/p>\n
As coach Sandy Brondello said near the end of the regular season, \u201cWelcome to the New York Liberty 2025. It\u2019s been crazy with these (absences).\u201d<\/p>\n
The summation was far different than when Sabrina Ionescu voiced to fans in mid-May during the Liberty\u2019s banner-raising ceremony that the goal was to \u201crun it back.\u201d Back then, the Liberty were without ailments. Optimism was high. The injury report was blank.<\/p>\n
The Liberty\u2019s quest to repeat has undoubtedly been marred by injuries as they played just four games all regular season at full health, then saw Breanna Stewart injure her left MCL in the playoff opener.<\/p>\n
The toll of those bumps, bruises and breaks was on display Friday night. New York\u2019s title defense came up short as the Liberty exited the playoffs in the first round with a 79-73 Game 3 loss to the Phoenix Mercury.<\/p>\n
Although Stewart gamely fought through her injury \u2014 she scored at least 30 points for the eighth time in her postseason career \u2014 she didn\u2019t get enough help. Stewart was the lone New York player to score in the fourth quarter of an elimination game, as a roster that was touted for its depth turned into The Stewie Show.<\/p>\n
Jonquel Jones, the reigning WNBA Finals MVP, was in a funk through September, reaching double-digit points just once in her final eight games. She shot 1 of 10 in Game 3 and missed all of her 3-pointers, including a wide-open look that would have tied the game with 1:38 to play. Midseason acquisition Emma Meesseman never found her footing in the series; the Liberty lost her 40 minutes by 30 points. Sabrina Ionescu was 4 of 20 from 3-point range in the series before settling herself in Game 3, but even she was shut out in the final frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly one team gets to feel good at the end of their season, and this year we weren\u2019t that team,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n
Of course, New York\u2019 s season did not end early solely because of health issues and player absences. Too often, the Liberty didn\u2019t play to the standard of a championship team; their execution and effort remained in question through Game 2 of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
They went from the best defensive rebounding team in 2024 to ninth in 2025; consequently, they allowed the most second-chance points in the WNBA a year after allowing the fewest. They slipped in points in the paint, second-chance points, fastbreak points and points off turnovers.<\/p>\n
Although New York had the talent of a championship team, it couldn\u2019t form the necessary chemistry. Shuffling out Kayla Thornton (expansion draft) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (injury) for Natasha Cloud and Meesseman changed the team identity. The Liberty weren\u2019t as big or physical on the perimeter, and they weren\u2019t as switchable defensively.<\/p>\n
Even in the waning days of the regular season when the Liberty were (mostly) whole, they struggled to jell like a championship-caliber team. After a 17-point road loss on Aug. 30 to the same Mercury team that knocked them out of the postseason \u2014 a defeat which all but ensured New York wouldn\u2019t have homecourt advantage in the playoffs \u2014 Stewart acknowledged time was fleeting to make corrections.<\/p>\n
Jones (ankle, twice) and Stewart (right knee) each missed 13 regular-season games, causing New York\u2019s vaunted frontcourt to become a merry-go-round of lineup combinations. The duo played only 313 minutes together during the regular season, down 600 minutes from 2024. New York used 18 different starting lineups this regular season.<\/p>\n
Despite all of the options waiting on the bench, coach Sandy Brondello couldn\u2019t find the right combinations. Rebekah Gardner was never a consistent presence despite her defensive impact. As Meesseman and Kennedy Burke struggled \u2014 Burke was 9 of 42 on 3-pointers after returning from a calf strain \u2014 Brondello didn\u2019t give Izzy Harrison a chance.<\/p>\n
Both Stewart and Ionescu went to bat for Brondello following the loss. The coach\u2019s stroke of brilliance to use Nyara Sabally in Game 5 of the 2024 finals is a main reason New York has its lone championship, but it\u2019s fair to say she was outcoached in two of the last three postseason defeats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not gonna be a team that points fingers,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of us that could have done better this season. But we\u2019re still gonna fight and show up for each other every single day. And I think that\u2019s just the most important part. We have Sandy\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCLOCK IT FOR STEW YORK \ud83e\udd0f pic.twitter.com\/v06aH8KnfI<\/a><\/p>\n