The New York Liberty beat themselves early, then Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky beat them late

The first loss of the year always stings — even when it doesn’t come until the fifth game of a 40-game season. 

Angel Reese came to town and staked her claim as a 22-year-old phenom against Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and the New York Liberty. No one on the home floor argued as she scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting in the fourth quarter to ensure a Chicago Sky win. What were once the 4-0 Liberty are now 4-1. 

Notes

• What once was old is new again, with Jonquel reverting back to her early 2023 form. After a stellar four-game start to the year, foul trouble limited her to just nine minutes through three quarters. She played nearly the full final frame but it was too little, too late. Jones finished with eight points, four rebounds, an assist, a block and a -20 in 20 minutes. 

• Marina Mabrey Mania, anyone? The sixth-year guard was everywhere in this one, finishing with 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds in a game-high 36 minutes she made the most of. Sky coach and Liberty legend Teresa Weatherspoon rode the hot hand and it worked, as it so often does. 

• Despite early signs of life, Sabrina Ionescu’s three-point slump continues. After shooting 2-of-8 from deep, she’s now 10-of-38 on the year (26%). Sandy Brondello and company will continue drawing up plays like this with hopes that some shot, some game, opens things up for Ionescu.

• Breanna Stewart must have had the quietest 18-point, 10-rebound, five-assist, four-steal, one-block game in the history of basketball. I was sincerely shocked to read her final line. Reese did as good a job guarding Stewart as we’ve seen in 2024, which for a rookie can’t be overstated. 

• Reese also can be credited in part with what ended as a quiet night for Jonquel, with this clip of her baiting the former MVP into her fourth foul all the evidence one should need.

(Ed. note: Seeing Jones check Reese like this, the New York Rangers may want to borrow her for their Game 2 tonight against Florida)

• The Sky entered as the league-leaders in offensive rebounds and the Liberty allowed them to exit with that feather still in their caps. Chicago beat New York 11-8 on the offensive glass, with Reese and Elizabeth Williams alone nearly equaling the Liberty’s total. 

• Perspective matters: after dropping last year’s season opener, the Liberty responded by going 9-1. Brondello will look for a similar response from her team after this one, telling reporters the loss to the Sky was just “a bad night in the office. It’s not the end of the world.”

• To paint a better picture of how disjointed the Liberty offense was, hear this: the box score crediting the team with only 14 turnovers feels wildly generous. It felt like every pass was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the Sky scored 19 points solely off New York’s mistakes. Jones led the philanthropy with five TOs.

• Marquesha Davis was the only Liberty player to not suit up in this one.  After Brondello went nine-deep into her rotation in the first half, this one kind of puzzles me. Trying new things is often a winning recipe. But without all of the ingredients you won’t get the same result. Brondello opened things up in the first half, looking for a solution, but in doing so still showed some pause in letting one of two rookies — Leonie Fiebich — take the floor. 

• Nyara Sabally continues to be a revelation in 2024, finishing with eight points, six rebounds and two assists, plus the only positive rating for a Liberty at +13. And for that I’ll say this: for Jonquel to have been in and out of the game as erratically as she was with foul trouble for three quarters, it is a small travesty that Sabally didn’t play more. They both finished with eight points, but one was a detriment on defense while the other provided an edge. 

• After finishing 2023 sixh in total turnovers, New York is on the opposite side of the field to start 2024. Only three teams have committed more turnovers than the Liberty. This offense can flow so smoothly at times, and when it does they look unbeatable. But when those first few shots don’t hit, or rotations change, they all of a sudden look like a team very much still feeling it out, clinging to the Xs and Os of Brondello’s clipboard instead of allowing the game to show them second and third options.

Two teams walked into Barclays Thursday night. One was 4-0, riding last season’s highs that saw them reach the WNBA Finals. The other was 1-1, with more fresh faces than familiar ones and down three players to injury. No team goes undefeated forever. But by no means was this the Liberty’s first expected loss. Weatherspoon and the Sky didn’t care.