NEW YORK — With the WNBA All-Star Game in the rearview mirror, talk about the contentious collective bargaining agreement meeting, calls for more player rest during the break, and players sporting “pay us what you owe us” warmup shirts before the festivities in Indianapolis, the only thing that matters for the 51 days left for when the 44-game regular season ends on Sept. 11 is the actual basketball being played.
Two teams that have those postseason aspirations are the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever, who ran it back on Tuesday from their previous game last week, which closed out the first half of the season.
The defending champions are finally fully healthy, with 2024 Finals MVP Jonquel Jones back after missing a month because of an ankle injury and made sure to add more firepower before the Aug. 7 trade deadline by adding forward Emma Meesseman, who will make her first appearance in the league since 2022 and is also a WNBA Finals MVP, winning the honors in 2019 with the Washington Mystics.
Jones’ return to the lineup paid immediate dividends, as she opened the scoring with a 3-pointer on her way to 18 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes, showing little rust from her injury as the Liberty used a 13-0 run to pull away in the second half and defeated Indiana, 98-84, in front of another sellout crowd at the Barclays Center.
Jones, who saw her first action since June 19, was one of six New York players in double figures. Breanna Stewart and Leonie Fiebich each scored 17 points as the Liberty (16-6) extended their winning streak to four. Sabrina Ionescu, who finished with 13 points, nine assists and five rebounds, hit three 3-pointers in 70 seconds late in the fourth quarter to give the Liberty their largest lead at 89-75.
‘It felt great to be back out there. I feel like I am at an eight out of 10 in terms of conditioning,’ Jones said after the game.’
Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell led all scorers with 29 points. Aliyah Boston had 15 points, 12 rebounds and six assists before fouling out, and Sophie Cunningham added 15 points for the Fever (12-12), who suffered their worst loss of the season, 98-77, when they were in Brooklyn last week.
Both teams and coaches spent considerable time yapping at the officials, as Indiana was called for 22 personal fouls, and New York was whistled for 17, and both were sloppy with the ball: the Liberty had 20 turnovers and the Fever gave it away 19 times.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Fever, who face the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday, July 24 and play five of their next seven games on the road.
Big second half additions
Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said that with the remaining two months of the season, the team will work Jones back into shape and incorporate Meesseman into the rotation. Meesseman was not available against the Fever and has not signed a contract yet, according to general manager Jonathan Kolb. She will be with the team depending on how long her visa application takes to process.
“I think we’re in a good spot. We’re without one of our key players for such a long time, and I think we handled it as well as we could. There’s some games, I think two games that, you know, probably should have could have, but great learning experiences for us,’ Brondello said. ‘You know, it’s just about getting health and to add someone like Emma (Meesseman), that’s pretty exciting. She’s a great player. I think she’ll fit into the system very easily with the way that we play as a team at both ends of the floor.
‘You still have to put it all together, you know. Talent doesn’t win championships. I’m excited to have everyone and, you know, build these next 23 games into the playoff.”
Caitlin Clark’s return unknown
Clark saw a doctor on Tuesday for another opinion on the injury, and White did not have any updates about when she would return to the Fever’s lineup. Indiana began the night in sixth place in the WNBA standings, with 20 games remaining in the regular season.
“These soft tissue injuries, sometimes nag until you can actually have time to really allow to heal in the offseason,” White said.