Liberty face early litmus test against Caitlin Clark, Fever here are the keys to watch

CHICAGO — The Liberty have looked the part of defending champions through the first week of action. New York beat the Aces by 14 points in its season opener Saturday before throttling the Sky by 25 points Thursday in Chicago. Saturday, though, may provide the Liberty (2-0) their toughest test yet. The Liberty are set to enter the hostile environment of Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to play the 2-1 Fever. Will New York make a statement against a team that may be one of its main competitors down the stretch? Or will Caitlin Clark & Co.expose the Liberty’s imperfections? Here are three things to watch: New York has looked dominant in stretches of its first two games. There’s no denying the offensive firepower of the Liberty’s starting lineup. The addition of Natasha Cloud and the permanent promotion of Leonie Fiebich bolstered the Liberty’s opening lineups’ defense and made New York possibly the scariest starting five in the league. But the Liberty have been far from perfect, and there’s plenty of things that need to be cleaned up.Coach Sandy Brondello admitted as much in her postgame press conference after Thursday’s blowout victory. “I wasn’t happy at all,” Brondello said.

“We were all clunky.And regardless of the score, we didn’t have the pace and the urgency and the spacing that we need as we moved forward.” All three of those traits will be important against a high-functioning team like the Fever. Indiana leads the league with an 88.9 defensive rating and holds teams to the second-fewest points per game (75.)  Sign up for Madeline Kenney's Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.

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Enjoy this Post Sports+ exclusive newsletter! Against a team such as Chicago, the Liberty can live with those lapses.But that won’t fly against the Fever...