Liberty know they need to fix defensive shortcomings before its too late

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Madeline Kenney about all things Liberty and WNBA.This isn’t the version of the Liberty defense that held every opponent under 88 points the first nine games of the season.

This isn’t the version that managed to overcome the loss of defensive anchor Betnijah Laney-Hamilton — out for the season on a suspended contract after March knee surgery — and adapt, either. On paper, the Liberty still have the No.2 defensive rating in the WNBA this season (97.3), behind just the Lynx, but after getting torched by the Mercury 106-91 on Friday, and allowing over 100 points for the second time in six games, defensive issues have become glaring.

The effort from the reigning champions was blasted — by head coach Sandy Brondello, by offseason acquisition Natasha Cloud — after their latest defensive dud, too. Though the Liberty will be without two starters in Leonie Fiebich (EuroBasket with Germany) and Jonquel Jones (right ankle sprain) again Sunday when they face Atlanta, they’ve refused to let that become an excuse for what transpired in Phoenix and, by extension, the fourth-worst defensive rating (107.2) in the league the past two weeks. “I don’t care who’s not with us,” Brondello said postgame.“I don’t care.

They’re not gonna save us here.What we’ve got, this is it.” The Liberty could get Fiebich back for their July 3 game against the Sparks, The Post’s Madeline Kenney reported earlier this week.

Germany lost to Belgium in the quarterfinals, won a classification game against Turkey and will face Czechia for fifth place on Sunday — when the Liberty complete their current road trip with a game against the Dream.Jones, however, suffered the sprain to the same ankle she injured earlier in the year and will miss at least another three to five weeks, based on the Liberty’s initial projection from last Saturday. Brondello called the Liberty “sof...