Natasha Clouds game-wrecking ability was never a question for Liberty: Fit right in
Natasha Cloud, being the veteran she is, was taking stock of who from the Aces was taking the court after a timeout late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s season opener.She then turned to her teammates — Sabrina Ionescu, Kennedy Burke, Leonie Fiebich and Jonquel Jones — and appeared to run through defensive assignments to make sure they were all on the same page.The Liberty already had pulled away for good, carrying a 12-point lead into the final 1:14 of regulation.But that moment was an example of who Cloud is and why it was so easy for the Liberty to embrace her.“She’s fit right in and we knew that she would be able to do that with just the player that she is,” Ionescu said after the Liberty’s 92-79 win.“We never kind of had to question where she was going to fit into this offense and defense.
We knew with her style of play, how she was going to fit in and just help us as a team.And she came out and just did exactly that tonight.”Cloud is the type of player that every team wants.
She’s an energy shifter, a game-changer and a wreaker of havoc.Becky Hammon compared her to a “tornado” with the way Cloud stirs things up on defense and offense.And the Liberty have embraced every part of Cloud as they’ve encouraged her to play her way.Throughout preseason, Cloud showed glimpses of how much better she could make the Liberty.But her official Liberty debut Saturday was full of promise.Cloud had 22 points, nine assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots in the win.The addition of Cloud makes the Libs lethal in ways they weren’t a season ago.The Liberty — who boasted the league’s best offense in 2024 — already have plenty of offensive firepower.
And Cloud’s insertion into the starting lineup adds even more stress to opposing defenses, and she’ll be able to unlock even more for the rest of the starting lineup.But the Liberty needed to add a defensive-minded player who can take control on that end of the floor.That’s ...