Perhaps there will be another parade down Canyon of Heroes when the weather turns brisk, but as of their loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday night, the 2025 WNBA season seems to have beaten the New York Liberty into submission. They do not have it. Anything short of a miracle will not allow this tired, injured, spiritually defeated team to sustain excellence over a month of playoff basketball.
Sabrina Ionescu and, in a welcome surprise, Nyara Sabally were both listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game, but neither would play. For Sabally, it’s a step in the right direction; for Ionescu, she missed her last chance of 2025 to play in her hometown. Clearly, her toe injury is more than a non-issue.
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Buț Ionescu, like Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones before her, will likely return before the playoffs begin. Fans will point to New York’s undefeated record this season when all three are in the lineup, and they should. Unlike Natasha Cloud, teams cannot sag off Ionescu in any fashion, and that was a strategy Golden State banked on heavily; whether in ball-screen actions or when Cloud spotted up, the Valks did not defend her. Cloud made her first three jumpers, not solving the long-term issue but perhaps getting hot enough to guide the Liberty to a win…
The Liberty won the first quarter 18-14, but that score, like Cloud’s early shooting, was just a bandaid on an open wound.
Golden State dominated the second quarter, up by 14 at halftime and then pushing the lead to 24 early in the third quarter. Whatever Sandy Brondello and the staff went over in the locker room, however she tried to push her discombobulated team into some momentum, it failed…
There were basketball problems, to be sure. Tactical errors or blemishes in communication that allowed the Valkyries to successfully double Jonquel Jones in the post without a cutter coming to save her, or to run yet another empty-side pick-and-roll without much resistance…
New York didn’t always make the right decisions on Tuesday night. Breanna Stewart, who shot 4-of-15 but made ten free-throws powered by an angry second-half rampage to the line, didn’t weaponize her drives into clean looks for others. The guests shot just 6-of-23 from three, part of why Stewie felt the need to take it into her own hands, but she only had one assist. Still, it was more than her teammates accomplished.
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The Liberty, though, should be able to overcome an imperfect decision-making game against the Valkyries. They didn’t achieve basketball purity in their bludgeoning of the Chicago Sky in May; despite turning the ball over 20 times, New York still turned Chicago’s home-opener into a bloodbath, making a WNBA-record 19 3-pointers.
They were stocked with fresh legs. Sure, they threw no-look passes out of bounds and set moving screens, but their offense was a guided missile, precise and explosive. It would have been offensive to suggest that team would add Emma Meesseman mid-season; no defending champion needs to be that greedy. New York won their next seven games, starting 9-0. A lifetime has passed them by since then.
Golden State grabbed nine offensive rebounds, and each one landed like a body-blow. The Liberty play 23 seconds of inspired defense, only for the Balhalla gods to answer Kate Martin or Temi Fagbenle prayer. A championship team shrugs that off, maybe even relishes the possession. The Liberty deflate; they’ve wasted precious energy that they don’t have.
Everything is messed up, but even amid the mess, New York isn’t good enough. Some fans see this team not giving consistent second and third efforts and feel the Liberty are checked out, unmotivated, uninspired. I see a team unable to get themselves there. I see a dead team walking. Either way, the result is the same.
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New York did make a run in this one, cutting the deficit to single digits in the fourth quarter. Rebekah Gardner played the final 15 minutes of this one, which the Liberty won by 15. She stole the ball twice and was involved in a couple more Valkyries turnovers, but missed her only shot attempt while rarely seeking out her own offense. Her fresh legs, though, were noticeable.
“I just tried to bring the energy, whether it was on the offensive or defensive side, and be aggressive,” explained Gardner. “I felt like, by pressing the ball and just bringing some aggressiveness, I kind of picked up the energy, and feel like the team as a whole picked up their level too.”
Stewie provided much of the offense, as she tied Cloud for a team-high 19 points: “Basically, my mindset was like, ‘F*** it and, you know gonna kind of impose my will.‘ And that’s on me, you know, because I wasn’t like that in the first half, and my team really needs that.”
The Liberty need more than that. More than Nyara Sabally and even Sabrina Ionescu, as much as she will bring when she returns. I don’t think they can get what they need.
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New York never hit the big shot to really make Golden State sweat in the fourth quarter. Jonquel Jones, who had just five points on four shots, missed a trailing three that would’ve cut it to six. Marine Johannès missed a three off a well-designed SLOB. The Liberty need everything to go right these days; when they finally create a well-executed open look just to miss it, the clank is a bugle call.
It’s just one loss. They can still get healthy. They’re still the most talented team in the league. This has all been true for the last two months, and yet, they’re 15-17 since that 9-0 start.
Breanna Stewart was asked a softball question about their fake second-half comeback, which started after they were losing by three touchdowns and a field goal. She gave the right answer: “It’s easy to fight back when you’re down. I think that this is — this is disappointing collectively. Like yeah, there can be bright spots and whatever. But we have three games left and we’re not where we need to be.”
As those words pierced the skin, she tried to muster some conviction: “It’s frustrating and it’s tough, but I know that our team is going to continue to show up every day and and fight for where we want to be. So we have another road game in Seattle, and we go there and we get better.”
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Stewie tried, but there was no way to make those words believable. There are three games left, and the New York Liberty are not nearly where they want to be. In other words: It’s not happening for them this season. They are done. As one of the most talented rosters ever assembled, it’s a damn shame.
Final Score: Golden State Valkyries 66, New York Liberty 58
Playoff picture
With the Indiana Fever’s Tuesday night loss, the New York Liberty clinched a playoff berth. Sandy Brondello, understandably, was not in a celebratory mood despite the good news: “You know, we just lost a game. I mean, obviously we’re in the playoffs, but still lost the game.”
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It is their fifth consecutive playoff appearance, the longest streak in franchise history. But Tuesday night’s loss all but secured the fact that the Liberty will not open in New York, but instead on the road, away from the best home crowd in basketball…
With the loss, the Liberty dropped to just 1.5 games ahead of the Valkyries. However, they do own the tie-breaker, so falling to sixth place — as ideal as that might be — likely isn’t in the cards. Though I suppose with the way New York is playing, nothing is out of the question.
Next Up
The New York Liberty close out this West Coast trip against the Seattle Storm. Tip-off is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET on Friday night.
