{"id":872467,"date":"2026-10-06T06:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/872467\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T06:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:16:17","slug":"jonquel-jones-cant-let-angel-reese-continue-to-torment-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/872467\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonquel Jones can’t let Angel Reese continue to torment Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 Jonquel Jones lost the battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the Liberty lost the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Round 1 of this semifinal series went to Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reese had it her way in the Dream\u2019s 92-82 win<\/a>. She was physical, talked her trash and backed it up with relentless effort. She looked every bit like the newly crowned Defensive Player of the Year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reese finished with 17 points on 60 percent shooting. She grabbed seven rebounds, recorded four steals and blocked three shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 matchup with Reese<\/a> was always going to be one of the most important battles of this series. Reese has the league\u2019s best motor, and she helped the Dream dictate the game on their terms\u00a0<\/p>\n

Atlanta made things difficult for the Liberty from the start, and they never consistently established Jones as an offensive force.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a result, Jones finished with 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting. She notched a game-high 11 boards to go with her three assists and five blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewLiberty center Jonquel Jones (35) fouls Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) in the fourth quarter during Game 1. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Jones knows she can be better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also knows the Liberty need her to be if they want any chance at getting back to the WNBA Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to get back into that Game 2 mindset that I had against Minnesota,\u201d Jones said. \u201cMaybe just crashing and trying to make things happen, be a little bit more physical in that sense. Yeah, just try to affect the game a little bit more defensively.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones put on a modern-big master class<\/a> to help New York clinch the 2-0 sweep of the Lynx in the first round. She owned the boards and bullied the Lynx inside en route to finishing with 21 points, 13 rebounds and two assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

It was Jones at her best. She attacked and established herself inside. She didn\u2019t wait for the game to come to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Afterward, Sabrina Ionescu lauded Jones for setting the tone for the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen JJ is doing that, it makes our jobs easier,\u201d Ionescu said. \u201cFor me as a point guard, it\u2019s my job to try and get her easy ones, especially when she\u2019s rolling and sealing, and glad we were able to find her tonight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ionescu plays a role in helping unlock that version of Jones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCovering the Liberty like never before\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Madeline Kenney’s Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Ionescu had 27 points on 50 percent shooting Sunday, but she recorded only one assist with five turnovers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to find a way to get everyone else in better positions,\u201d she said. \u201cI had one assist, so I think I got to find ways to get JJ going a little bit more [among others]\u2026 and that\u2019s my job, and I\u2019m going to do that next game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Helping Jones get involved early and often Wednesday should help. But Jones also needs to take initiative. She needs to regain the mentality that produced that monster Game 2 last week. Because when Jones is aggressive and locked in, it changes the game\u2019s entire formula.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AngelAngel Reese, Naz Hillmon, and Te-Hina Paopao of the Atlanta Dream battle for a rebound against Jonquel Jones of the New York Liberty. Getty Images<\/p>\n

This series against the Dream will be won in the margins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Atlanta is the league\u2019s peskiest defense. In the playoffs, opponents are averaging 21 turnovers against the Dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York committed a lot of self-inflicted errors in Game 1. The Liberty coughed up 21 turnovers, which Atlanta turned into 32 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obviously, New York needs to take better care of the ball to minimize the Dream\u2019s damage in transition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But another important battle that could dictate the series outcome is happening in the frontcourt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reese and the Dream aren\u2019t going anywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And if Jones doesn\u2019t find that mindset that made her so successful in Game 2 of the first round, then neither is New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Jonquel Jones lost the battle.\u00a0 And the Liberty lost the game.\u00a0 Round 1 of this semifinal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[3691,3444,14400,436,3675,99,434,70908],"class_list":["post-872467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-angel-reese","tag-atlanta-dream","tag-jonquel-jones","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-sabrina-ionescu","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-playoffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872467","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=872467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}