Liberty learn their playoff fate after loss to Dream as two injury worries emerge
The Liberty may not know the immediate status of two of their biggest stars.But they know who they’ll be playing when the playoffs open Sunday. New York’s 83-65 loss to the Atlanta Dream gave the Liberty the eighth and final seed in this year’s playoff field. Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Madeline Kenney about all things Liberty and WNBA.
They’ll face the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the best-of-three first-round series starting Sunday in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. But there’s concern regarding Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones. Jones exited the loss with a left foot injury.She appeared to trip on a fan’s foot on a step-back 3 attempt late in the third quarter.
She headed to the bench with a towel on her head with 3:58 left in the third quarter. Stewart came over to comfort Jones.Assistant coach Courtney Paris, who works closely with Jones, followed. Shortly after, Jones headed to the locker room.
The team later confirmed she would miss the remainder of the game with a left ankle injury. The Liberty were already without Stewart, who was ruled out hours before tipoff with left knee soreness. Coach Chris DeMarco said Stewart’s absence in Wednesday’s game was “precautionary,” though he was noncommittal about her availability for the playoffs, which begin Sunday. “I’m not sure yet on the workload piece or the availability,” he said.“It’s soreness right now.
The play that happened in the last game, just not feeling great.But yeah, hopefully she’ll be ready for the playoffs.” The Dream overwhelmed the Liberty from the jump.
They attempted 13 more shots in the first half than the Liberty. New York trailed by 15 points at halftime.The Liberty’s 26 first-half points were the fewest New York has scored in a half since 2022. The Liberty’s reserves made things interesting late.
They cut the Dream’s lead to seven twice in the fourth quarter, but Atlanta held o...