NY Liberty vs. Chicago Sky preview: Daytime basketball in Chicago

The home team puts another one on the board. In front of a record setting crowd at the Barclays Center, the New York Liberty looked to stay on top of the WNBA standings. They were able to do so after coming back from an early 13 point deficit to beat the Chicago Sky on Thursday night. Both teams were on the second leg of a back-to-back, and they’ll be back at it again today.

Where to follow the game

ABC is the place to be. Tip after 1:00 p.m. ET.

Injuries

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton is out with a knee injury. Breanna Stewart is out with a hamstring injury.

No Elizabeth Williams.

The game

Chicago won game one while New York took games two and three. This is the last regular season meeting between the two teams.

With Stewart out, look for Kennedy Burke and Kayla Thornton to take on more responsibilities. KT was the spark off the bench as her potpourri of hustle, clutch baskets, and timely defense helped the Liberty go on a second half run. Thornton is a crowd favorite at Barclays Center, and our pal Owen Pence of Winsidr asked the team about the play of the game on Thursday

Every team needs players like that who can adapt to any role assigned to them while giving the team and fans a spark. You can’t come close to replacing what Stewart brings to the table, but if you get great effort and timely plays, you can hang tough while the MVP gets back to full strength.

It’ll take another team effort to slow Angel Reese down this afternoon. The double-double streak extended to 15, but New York made things hard on the Rookie of the Year contender as they held her to 5-17 from the field. New York has the combination of length and strength to make things hard on Reese. Angel is an incredibly hard worker and a quick learner. We’ll see how she counters New York today.

It’s been a bit of a struggle for Marina Mabrey in recent games. In the four games prior to Thursday’s contest, she shot only 30.4% from the field with just one free throw attempt. Even with that, she has the confidence and understanding that she can right the ship:

“[I bounce back] by trusting my process, knowing I’m one of the best shooters in this game, continuing to practice the way I have and believe in myself. I’m human but just trying to build my confidence back up one day at a time.”

In order for the Sky to get to where they want to go, they need A+ outings out of Mabrey every night out. Anything less makes a tough job even tougher for them.

Mabrey and the Sky will try to make things tougher on Sabrina Ionescu. Sab started off slowly on Thursday, but she kept with it and finished with 21/5/5 before calling it a night. The thing about great players is they have the confidence of trusting their work and knowing that they’re one shot away from getting into a groove. In the fourth quarter, Ionescu was a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range and made the Sky pay for every miscue on defense. When you watch Ionescu, you see all the years of hard work shine through. The effort is there on defense and the playmaking continues to take steps forward. If Stewart is out, look for her to take on a bigger scoring role.

Ultimately, the game will come down to how the team defends Chennedy Carter. She scored a game high 22 points on 10-of-21 shooting on Thursday, but we saw something interesting as the game progressed. After the first quarter, Carter only had three shot attempts at the rim after living in the paint to begin the game. A lot of that is due to the length of players like Thornton and Leonie Fiebich, who made things as tough as possible on the budding star. Three point shooting is not in Carter’s arsenal, so when she drives and the lanes to the rim aren’t there, she’ll settle for midrange jumpers. As a defense, you can live with those shots instead of paint touches and free throw attempts.

Player to watch: Kamilla Cardoso

It’s tough to find your footing as a young player coming out of college. You have to learn a lot in a hurry, the level of competition is more fierce than in the NCAA, and getting into a rhythm might take longer than you’re used to. For Cardoso, her WNBA debut took longer than she would’ve liked as she missed time at the beginning of the season due to injury. She’s back and starting now, but Sky fans would like to see her get more playing time so she can make a bigger impact. In Chicago’s last two losses, she’s only played 20 minutes in each contest. For Teresa Weatherspoon and the Sky, they have to strike the balance of trying to win games while continuing to help players like Cardoso grow.

When Jonquel Jones is dialed in, there’s nothing an opponent can do. JJ put forth another All-WNBA caliber line of 18/13/3/0/4 while shutting off the paint for Sky guards. The great thing about Jones is she can take on any role you ask of her. Run the offense from the elbows and further? Got that. Battle with opposing bigs on the interior? Got that? Go to work in the low post? Got that. Step out and hit threes? Got that. Jonquel has been so instrumental to New York’s success this season and she’ll look to put forth another excellent performance to help the Liberty expand their lead atop the standings.

From the Vault

This fall, LL Cool J will be releasing a new album, and it’s going to be produced exclusively by Q-Tip!

More reading: Swish Appeal, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune, The Strickland, The Local W, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic. Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, SI All Knicks, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, CBS Sports, and The Next

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