Even if they had their full starting lineup, the end of a five-games-in-eight-days stretch would’ve been difficult for the Liberty to survive.
But then take out their point guard — Courtney Vandersloot — for the past three games due to personal reasons, and that, on top of the Commissioner’s Cup and the games scheduled one right after the other, added another layer of complexity.
One day after what Sabrina Ionescu described as a “statement” win against the previously undefeated Connecticut Sun, the Liberty avoided getting upset by the winless Washington Mystics, taking a 93-88 victory Sunday behind 29 points from Jonquel Jones and a variety of contributions from everyone else.
This was less about a convincing victory and more about survival. It took until late in the fourth quarter for the Liberty to pull away — until they hit enough free throws and Jade Melbourne’s chance to tie bounced off the rim in the final seconds.
But in the end, the Liberty had swept their way through the Commissioner’s Cup and won their seventh consecutive game with a WNBA Finals rematch against the Aces looming Saturday.
Jones led the Liberty with a season-high in points while Ionescu added 18 points and Leonie Fiebich, continuing to see her role expand, added 12.
In Year 2 of the superteam, cohesion was the prominent advantage the Liberty brought into the season. They returned their entire starting lineup from 2023.
Both MVPs on their roster signed contracts to return.
And while that has served as the foundation for their early success, they still needed to construct the bench. To figure out the rotations.
To get Fiebich and Kennedy Burke and Kayla Thornton and Ivana Dojkic to mesh with the starters.
There were flashes of that happening, such as when Thornton replaced Vandersloot, dealing with a back injury at that point, in the starting lineup May 31 and finished with 20 points, four assists and five steals.
Recently, Fiebich has started to emerge, and when the Mystics kept finding a way to respond Sunday, Fiebich hit three critical 3-pointers to help the Liberty keep pace.
Jones paced the Liberty with 15 of their 45 points in the opening half, connecting on a pair of 3s to help them lead after the first quarter.
On one sequence in the second, she swatted a shot away and ended up with possession at the other end, grabbing her own missed layup, drawing a foul and sinking both free throws.
She continued to serve as the focal point of the Liberty’s offense in the second half, but then Fiebich and others started to contribute.
Fiebich was part of the Liberty’s closing group down the stretch in the fourth over Thornton, too. The Mystics kept within striking distance.
Myisha Hines-Allen hit a pair of free throws to trim their deficit to five with 3:30 left.
It took until the final moments for the Liberty to escape their eight-day cluster of games without a loss.
The first layer of that challenge would come with the five games.
That, Breanna Stewart said last week, was “something crazy.” But the obstacle for the Liberty once Monday arrives will involve navigating not having a game for five days — and then facing Las Vegas on Saturday for the first time since their WNBA Finals loss.
The Liberty completed the first portion of their early-season test. And now, the Aces are waiting.
