the Liberty beat the Wings 85-76<\/a>. Her teammates stood proudly in a fortified line behind her as she did a brief postgame interview over the Barclays Center speakers.<\/p>\nAt one point, Natasha Cloud skipped around the edges of the court, leading the crowd in a chorus of \u201cEmma\u201d chants.<\/p>\n
The whole thing was overwhelming for Meesseman. But at the same time, this experience was a big reason why she decided to return to the WNBA after a 2 \u00bd -year hiatus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things I\u2019m gonna remember,\u201d Meesseman said after a brief cooldown period. \u201cNever have I thought that a gym like Barclays Center was going to do that for me. I\u2019m just playing basketball from Belgium. I\u2019ve been doing what I love and then this is result of it. So I\u2019m really going to remember it. So I\u2019m really grateful for that, for the fans and seeing all that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liberty forward Emma Meesseman (33) looks to drive past Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) in the third quarter at Barclays Center. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
It might have been only Meesseman\u2019s second full day in New York City and second game she played with the Liberty, but everything that the team had hoped would happen with the addition of the 6-foot-4 Belgian star is coming to fruition.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s early in her tenure, and the Liberty are still down three key players, but Meesseman has shown glimpses of the ways she can unlock another level to this team on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n
Defensively, Meesseman is another true rim protector, who can switch one through four. She can use her length to disrupt passing lanes and block shots.<\/p>\n
Cloud encouraged reporters next time they see Meesseman to \u201ctell her to put her hand up and see how big her hands actually are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re like mitts, bro,\u201d said Cloud, who had 12 points and six assists. \u201c[Meesseman] just adds a lot of versatility to an already big Liberty roster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meesseman can do a lot of good things within the offense, too \u2014 including high-low actions, pick-and-pops, precision passes and more. She finished with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots in her second game.<\/p>\n
Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings looks for an opening against Emma Meesseman of the New York Liberty during a regular season matchup at Barclays Center. Michelle Farsi\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Neither Cloud nor Sabrina Ionescu are surprised at how well and quickly Meesseman has managed to mesh with the Liberty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we really wanted her here,\u201d Ionescu said. \u201cIt\u2019s more just reassuring knowing that she came in, and this is what she\u2019s done in her first two games. It hasn\u2019t really been any transition period, it\u2019s been like this is Liberty basketball and you fit in.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Part of what\u2019s helped the transition is the fact the Liberty\u2019s read-and-react offense is similar to European-style basketball. Ionescu said her game is similar to Meesseman because they\u2019re both based on fundamentals and reading defenses well.<\/p>\n
Though Ionescu hadn\u2019t played with Meesseman prior, she said the two have discussed in length different scenarios on the court and have started to learn each other\u2019s tendencies and skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty fun so far,\u201d Ionescu said, \u201cjust continuing to kind of see it form on the court with literally not one practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tina Cervasio interviews Emma Meesseman of the New York Liberty after a win over the Dallas Wings during a regular season matchup at Barclays Center.
Michelle Farsi\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Meesseman said her familiarity having played with or against half the team has helped her feel more comfortable, especially Jones who had 15 points and 10 rebounds Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me feel [like I could] fit in a little faster,\u201d Meesseman said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t really take a long time with her to feel that chemistry again [with Jones]. \u2026 It feels so familiar.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Liberty improved to 19-10 on the season and remained second in the standings behind the Lynx. The Wings fell to 8-22 and are taking up residence in the league cellar along with the Sky and Sun.<\/p>\n
The Liberty get a much-needed two days off before traveling to Dallas to play the Wings for the final time this season Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liberty forward Emma Meesseman was beaming Tuesday night as she stood near center court and looked at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2834,436,978,99,434],"class_list":["post-61857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-dallas-wings","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-ny-sports-minute","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61857","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=61857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}