With less than 20 seconds remaining in Saturday’s game, the New York Liberty were leading the Chicago Sky by 14 points.
The Liberty had wrapped up the win and there was little left to play for. The only thing at stake was the continuance of Sky rookie Angel Reese’s streak for the most consecutive games played with a double-double.
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Reese, at that moment, had eight points and 16 rebounds. All she needed was one made basket in the waning moments of the game to extend her record to 16 games. But the Liberty weren’t about to allow that to happen. They kept the pressure up until the final buzzer.
When Reese posted up her defender, called for the ball, and received it, she was quadruple-teamed by four New York defenders. The rookie had to pass out of it, and the game ended. That moment was just one example of the Liberty’s team mindset.
More impressive was that they beat the Sky comfortably on the road without a pair of starters in Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (knee) and Breanna Stewart (hamstring). In the victory, the Liberty even broke off a 21-5 run to end the second quarter.
“I think that’s just the evolution of this team,” Sabrina Ionescu told ESPN recently. “It’s not being one-dimensional and knowing we’re going to go in every single day and do the same thing, but be able to read what defenses are giving us and attack in different ways.”
More than halfway through this WNBA season, the Liberty are now the first team to win 20 games and are in first place in the standings – a full two games ahead of the second-place Connecticut Sun. The Liberty’s 20-4 start is their best in franchise history.
New York also leads the WNBA in shooting percentage (45.3), total 3-pointers made (246), and effective field goal percentage (52.8). Defensively, the Liberty are second in points allowed per scoring attempt (1.02), first in free throw trips allowed (152), and fourth in offensive rebounding rate (22 percent).
All of this is to say, that the Liberty looks like the best team in the WNBA, and they’ve continued to play at a high level while battling a handful of key injuries. Against the Sky, the stars were Ionescu with 28 points, and Jonquel Jones who flirted with a triple-double of 14 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. Jones is a former league MVP, while Ionescu – now in her fifth season – is having the type of year that could land her on the All-WNBA First Team.
The latest odds at the online sportsbook DraftKings still have the two-time reigning champions Las Vegas Aces as the favorites to win the WNBA title at +150, but the Liberty are closing in with their latest odds at +160.
Los Angeles Sparks rookie Rickea Jackson finding her groove
Rickea Jackson’s WNBA career didn’t get off to a blazing hot start like some other fellow rookies in her draft class, such as Reese and Caitlin Clark, but the Tennessee product is proving her worth as the No. 4 overall pick and is garnering praise for her recent play.
Jackson scored a season-high 23 points on Saturday for the Los Angeles Sparks in a win over the Dallas Wings on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor to go along with seven rebounds and two assists. With that, she became the first Sparks rookie with multiple 20-point games in a single season since Nneka Ogwumike in 2017.
It’s just the latest impressive performance for Jackson who is averaging 15.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists per contest over her last six games.
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“I’m very proud,” Sparks’ veteran Dearica Hamby said after the win. “You know, since she got here, I’ve just been in her ear about keeping her confidence and that her game was going to come and that it was going to translate. Incredible game. She’s been playing well the last month.”
The Sparks, who are third from the bottom in the league standings with a 6-17 record, hope that Jackson’s play keeps lifting them.
Celeste Taylor impresses in debut with Phoenix Mercury
The Phoenix Mercury signed rookie guard Celeste Taylor to a seven-day contract on Friday and, as it turned out, they needed to rely on her that night.
While the Mercury lost on the road to the Indiana Fever, Taylor played 24 minutes while Diana Taurasi and Natasha Cloud were out with injuries. She finished with just one point but also had three rebounds, two steals, and a team-best five assists. Taylor was also +10 in box plus-minus.
“That’s just Celeste. I’ve been her teammate multiple times,” Indiana’s Caitlin Clark said of Taylor. “She’s going to do a lot of different things on the floor and play as hard as she can.”
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Taylor, who played her college basketball at Texas, Duke, and Ohio State, was drafted in the second round by the Indiana Fever with the 15th overall pick this past spring. On June 25, she was waived by Indiana, only to be scooped up by Phoenix days later.
Her exceptional defense has translated to the WNBA – she was the Defensive Player of the Year in both the ACC and Big Ten, in 2023 and 2024 respectively – and it looks like her passing abilities are helping her case to stay in the league too.
