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You never want to back in to the playoffs. When that happens, the team is in a slump and everything appears to be off. It makes for a frustrating journey and makes you feel as if your chances of postseason success are minimal. That\u2019s where the New York Liberty find themselves right about now after losing <\/a>to the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday night in Balhalla. They\u2019re officially back in the playoffs, but it sure as heck doesn\u2019t feel like it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The opponent tonight has been through some things. The Seattle Storm are still in the driver\u2019s seat to make the playoffs, but they haven\u2019t made it easy on themselves. They had a 17 point second half lead against the Los Angeles Sparks on Monday night, but let it slip on the way to an incredibly frustrating home loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n Where to follow the game<\/p>\n ION is the place to be. Up late again so we\u2019re getting started after 10 PM.<\/p>\n Injuries<\/p>\n The team hopes Sabrina Ionescu can return tonight from a nagging toe injury. Nyara Sabally suited up but didn\u2019t play on Tuesday as she continues to make progress from a knee injury. Both are questionable.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n All clear for the Storm.<\/p>\n The game<\/p>\n Seattle won games one <\/a>and two<\/a>. This is the regular season series finale between the teams.<\/p>\n A quick note, I took a lil road trip and helped preview this game on Black Rosie Media<\/a>! Give it a watch<\/p>\n With the Phoenix Mercury\u2019s win <\/a>last night against the Washington Mystics, they clinched homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Liberty\u2019s path to getting homecourt in the first round is shrinking by the day<\/p>\n For the Liberty, they\u2019ve got to find their way back into the paint. New York is still near the top of the league in efficiency inside the restricted area, but unfortunately for them near the bottom in terms of attempts.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n A lot of Seattle\u2019s struggles can be seen through the play of Gabby Williams. Williams was having the best season of her WNBA career and was named to her first All-Star team. However, in her last 15 games, she\u2019s only averaged a shade over 10 points a night on .399\/.277\/.857 shooting splits. The team doesn\u2019t count on her for scoring, but need as much help as they can to secure their playoff spot.<\/p>\n Their offense DOES run through Nneka Ogwumike, and Madame President is having another stellar season. If everything holds to form, this will be her seventh consecutive season shooting above 50 percent from the field. Having a lead option that can get buckets everywhere on the court and is reliable every night takes the pressure off of her teammates and allows everyone else to have less of a burden.<\/p>\n New York\u2019s Finals MVP will need to bounce back in a big way. Jonquel Jones is working her way back from a one game absence due to an illness, and she hopes to be more assertive tonight. JJ only attempted four field goals and was on the bench as the team made its comeback. The Liberty won\u2019t be able to accomplish anything if she\u2019s not at the peak of her powers, and a great game against Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor would do wonders for her and the team\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n Player to watch: Dominique Malonga<\/p>\n Seattle\u2019s future has started to make an impact on its present. Taken second overall in this year\u2019s Draft, Dominique Malonga has steadily gotten better the more minutes she has played this year. The last time Dom saw the Liberty, she put on a show in the second half at Barclays Center and started forcing her way into the rotation. Seattle has had a Rollercoaster of a season, but Malonga\u2019s growth is a bright spot that should have everyone excited for many years to come.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Seattle\u2019s past returns and is looking to build on a somewhat positive development. Breanna Stewart played 34 minutes on Tuesday and is seemingly clear of her minutes restriction. She also insisted her way to the rim and attempted 13 free throws, her third highest total of the season thus far. The Liberty need a but more from everybody, and that starts with Stewart. She should have a bit extra in the tank since she\u2019s back in her old stomping grounds, and the Liberty hope that will be enough to bring a W back home to Brooklyn.<\/p>\n From the Vault<\/p>\n Sue Bird is officially entering the Naismith Hall of Fame this weekend, so let\u2019s salute the legend<\/p>\n And ones in the air for the Queen<\/p>\n More reading:\u00a0Circling Seattle Sports<\/a>,\u00a0Tempestade Talk<\/a>,\u00a0Finishing Through Contact<\/a>,\u00a0Swish Appeal<\/a>,\u00a0Breakaway<\/a>,\u00a0SB Nation<\/a>,\u00a0Women\u2019s Basketball Roundup<\/a>,\u00a0Gotta Get Up<\/a>,\u00a0The Strickland<\/a>,\u00a0The Local W<\/a>,\u00a0New York Daily News<\/a>,\u00a0No Cap Space<\/a>,\u00a0New York Post<\/a>,\u00a0The Athletic<\/a>,\u00a0NY Liberty Fan TV<\/a>,\u00a0Yahoo Sports<\/a>,\u00a0Gotta Get Up<\/a>,\u00a0Sports Illustrated<\/a>,\u00a0Fansided<\/a>,\u00a0Just Women\u2019s Sports,<\/a>\u00a0Winsidr<\/a>,\u00a0Her Hoop Stats<\/a>,\u00a0CBS Sports<\/a>, and\u00a0The Next<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You never want to back in to the playoffs. When that happens, the team is in a slump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[435,56300,4387,4389,4804,14400,3029,2005,436,4385,16806,5551,3675,4676,99,13969,8253,434],"class_list":["post-135885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-dominique-malonga","tag-ezi-magbegor","tag-gabby-williams","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-jonquel-jones","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-nneka-ogwumike","tag-nyara-sabally","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-sabrina-ionescu","tag-seattle-storm","tag-sports","tag-the-liberty","tag-washington-mystics","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}