Misfortune and subpar performances hold affecting the Liberty as of late.
However the defending champions really feel no have to panic — even earlier than the workforce’s upcoming four-game, 10-day roadtrip with the potential of not having Jonquel Jones obtainable for it.
“We gotta be some road warriors. I think this is when adversity hits. I think your purpose is really challenged,” Natasha Cloud stated after Thursday’s loss to the Phoenix Mercury. “We know where we want to be at the end of the season, and so we’re going to go through these growing pains early. You never want to peak too early. That’s always been upsetting. So we’re just going to keep chipping away and making sure that we’re getting better. And obviously, with the adjustments of our roster and people out and people in, we’re just going to continue to get better. I just want to get some wins on this road [trip].”
Cloud, the Liberty’s self-appointed vocal chief since her arrival to Brooklyn, emphasised there’s “no panic” after the workforce noticed Jones re-injure her proper ankle and later drop simply the second sport of the season as a consequence of some lapses on each side of the courtroom.
Jones beforehand missed two video games as a consequence of that very same damage ankle and returned Tuesday towards the Atlanta Dream — a matchup that noticed the Liberty fall right into a 17-point deficit however regroup in time for a five-point win.
The workforce is optimistic the 6-6 star might be part of them forward of the primary sport of the street journey.
The Liberty, although, can be smart to be cautious with Jones in her second stint with an ankle ailment. The severity continues to be unknown however ought to Jones be unable to play for a part of the street journey, the Liberty can be with out their high rebounder and two-way engine.
“Losing a player like JJ, it really does deflate you because she just came back. She’d been working her ass [off] to get that ankle right, and then it happens again,” Cloud stated of the workforce’s double-double machine. “So we don’t know when she’s going to be back. We’re going to just try to protect and step up for our dog. But what needs to happen is we need to rebound, and we need to supplement those points that she does give this team.”
No JJ might end in extra struggles for the Liberty.
The Mercury received Thursday’s rebound battle, 42-32, with Jones out for almost all of the sport following her harm. And with out her defensive presence, the Mercury transformed on well timed buckets down the stretch to safe the victory.
Mercury rookie Monique Akoa Makani completed with a career-high 21 factors whereas Alyssa Thomas dominated under the arc with 18 factors, 15 rebounds and 7 assists in 27 minutes.
The Liberty have been unable to get stops that helped them in most wins to begin the season. And the dependable Sabrina Ionescu-Jones pick-and-roll tandem was unavailable following the harm. On Thursday, the Mercury had success blitzing Ionescu on screens, a technique extra more likely to yield constructive outcomes with Jones off the ground.
“I mean, I was trapped. So it’s pretty tough when there’s two on the ball every single time you come off a pick-and-roll instead of really be able to find the open person,” Ionescu stated when requested why the workforce wasn’t in a position to be aggressive on screens on the level of assault.
“I mean, they’re a great defensive team. They’re long, they’re active, they bait you into passes. And obviously, I think that’s something we didn’t really execute well on, was their traps making everything difficult. Obviously, they watched the last few games of us being able to just come off and pick and choose what we wanted to do offensively, and their adjustment was trap, blitz the ball screen and make the next pass really difficult. They did that really well, and I think that’s something we’ll learn from.”
And it’s a technique different groups can choose up on too with Jones out, starting with Seattle, who entered Friday fifth in defensive ranking. The remainder of the groups on the street journey are also featured within the high half of the WNBA in that class: June 25 at Golden State (sixth), June 27 at Phoenix (third) and June 29 at Atlanta (4th).
However per workforce chief Cloud, there’s no want to fret.
Everybody else simply has to select up the slack.
“So again, we have everything that we need in this locker room,” she stated. “It’s that next woman up mentality and everyone just being confident. We have bigs here. We have people that can step in and step into a role so we’re going to be good. It sucks always. It always sucks when a player gets injured, but that just means everyone needs to do a little bit more, including myself.”
Initially Revealed: June 20, 2025 at 8:18 PM EDT
