The Liberty have an issue.
Opposing teams are running up the score on them, and they look very comfortable for long stretches doing so.
“I think hopefully the most fixable issue is stop letting teams score like 90 points a game, that will be great,” Breanna Stewart said after the Liberty’s 91-76 loss to the Dallas Wings. “Just need to make it harder. It seems like when we have a good defensive stand, then they get offensive rebounds. Things like this, and just being relentless defensively, and then worrying about our offense.”
Sunday was the third time the team allowed at least 90 points to their opponents, making them six-worst in opponents points per game (87.7) after six matchups.
They held a team to under 80 points just once — the season-opening 106-75 win against the lowly Connecticut Sun.
On Sunday, Dallas did it in transition and from beyond the arc.
Instead of giving Azzi Fudd a welcome to the WNBA moment, the rookie put the Liberty on notice.
“Azzi’s an incredible talent,” Stewart said about Fudd. “She went No. 1 for a reason, and unfortunately, the reason was against us, and everybody else gets to see it.”
Fudd lit the Liberty up for six three-pointers on 12 attempts for a career-high 24 points. Arike Ogunbowale and Paige Bueckers combined for 43 points on 12-of-33 shooting and seven assists.
The Liberty perimeter defense wasn’t strong from the beginning on Sunday. It got even worse in the third as Fudd drained five three-pointers. Jonquel Jones cited the need for the team to fill in gaps against an adequately spaced team like the Wings.
The star big also noted the Liberty’s pick-and-roll defense “has to be a little bit more aggressive.”
“I think right now I think it’s just a little bit too open, and I don’t know exactly how we fix that, but I just know that being one of the players that’s normally in those actions, it just doesn’t feel like it’s as aggressive as we need it to be,” Jones said.
The players in the locker room are searching for answers on the inept defense each night. Sunday didn’t garner much progress, though.
“To be honest with you, I really don’t know. I got to go back and watch the game. I don’t know,” Jones added. I think we just have to find other ways to get stops. We let teams get into their offensive rhythm… I don’t know what we’re doing to try and disrupt that. I know we did try to run and jump a little bit. Maybe there’s a certain level of attentiveness to know that ‘OK they’ve hit a couple threes now, let’s make sure we’re not going under screens. Let’s make sure we got our hands up.’ I don’t know, but we gotta figure it out.”
The team’s perimeter defense projects to get better when two-time All-Defensive Team selectee Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and the lengthy Leonie Fiebich get back on the court. Laney-Hamilton missed Sunday’s game due to personal reasons while Fiebach rested upon return from overseas duty.
But the team doesn’t believe the absences of their better defenders are to blame for such a drop-off to start the season. New signees and players making sudden returns from absences aren’t to blame either, per Stewart.
Raquel Carrera (overseas commitment) and Sabrina Ionescu (left ankle) made their Liberty debuts while Satou Sabally (cyst) played in her second game as a Liberty Sunday.
“We have a group of vets. We can’t let one play affect another. Also, no excuses with this team. While we have new players, we also have a lot of the same. We’re not playing to our best, and definitely not like Liberty basketball.
Her head coach feels the same way.
“The missing players, I don’t think that matters as much,” said Chris DeMarco. “We have our group. We like our group. We just need to have a sense of urgency.”
Figuring out those stops on the defensive end will result in better transition opportunities, which didn’t happen much against the Wings. The Liberty barely got out on the break Sunday, getting just 10 fast break points. The Wings scored 17 of those on top of 15 three-pointers.
Luckily for DeMarco and his squad, they have a second game of a back-to-back to make progress with the issue.
“We started out the game strong on the defensive end. Then it’s about the adversity. When they hit a couple in a row, are we gonna have the fight? Are we gonna have the correct adjustments? Are we gonna play together? I know we will. I know we will. Tonight, [Dallas] hit some shots. We gotta be better in transition. We gotta be better offensively with the right shots so that they’re not leaking out. But we’ll be right next game. We got another one tomorrow.”