How New York Liberty’s height could be key in WNBA semifinals: ‘It looks like an NBA roster’
NEW YORK – The final basket of Breanna Stewart’s 34-point clinic on Sunday to open the WNBA semifinals was never going to be blocked. Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson tried — as high as she could with the seconds ticking on both the shot and game clocks — but the New York Liberty star skied over Wilson’s outstretched arms.
With just over a minute left in New York’s eventual 87-77 victory, Stewart advanced for a runner. She was one step ahead of the free-throw line, jumped, flicked the basketball with her right hand and watched it fly off the backboard and into the hoop.
Stewart ran back down the floor and nodded her head emphatically after her basket served as a delicious dagger that the sold-out Barclays Center crowd of more than 14,000 fans enjoyed.
New York puts the dagger in Game 1 😤
Stewie swimmer.
Jonquel MONSTER block.#WNBAPlayoffs presented by @Google pic.twitter.com/TuFCI6x75T— WNBA (@WNBA) September 29, 2024
What happened next wasn’t surprising either. Stewart withstood a layup from Aces guard Kelsey Plum.
Stewart’s arms were everywhere Sunday — during that late-game series, on countless New York offensive possessions in which she knocked down nearly unguarded mid-range jumpers, on defensive switches and when her arms got into passing lanes. “Sometimes the ball might be out of reach, but I can still play,” Stewart said.
Plum might have scored 24 points to lead Las Vegas, but she was only focused on the loss. “That’s all I really see,” she said.
Sunday’s result was largely due to another L-word: Length.
It wasn’t exactly a surprise that New York’s height had an impact. Heading into the series, both teams recognized the other as familiar enemies. New York won its three regular season meetings against Las Vegas, and of course there was history between them last year. The Liberty won the 2023 Commissioner’s Cup over the Aces, and later, more importantly, the Aces defeated the Liberty for the 2023 WNBA Championship.
Las Vegas knows what to expect against New York. Still, before Saturday’s practice, Aces coach Becky Hammon reminded the players who they were up against.
“It looks like an NBA roster,” she said of New York’s height. “It really shows how big they are and how mobile they are.”
She put the wingspans of each of New York’s starters on a board. Liberty wing Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s 6-foot-3, 3/4-inch wingspan is nearly four inches longer than her 6-foot-4 height. Rookie wing Leonie Fiebich is 6-4 with a wingspan to match. Center Jonquel Jones, who is 6-6, has a wingspan of almost 6-10.
Then there’s Stewart, the two-time WNBA MVP.
She made a correction to Liberty’s media guide, which listed her at 6-10 3/4. “I thought my wingspan was 7-1,” she said, stretching her arms in a post-match interview. “We will have to confirm this with the New York Liberty to be able to measure that again.”
Its size and mobility played immediate benefits for the Liberty. They constantly engaged the defense and rushed when necessary to close down open aces. New York disrupted Las Vegas’ pick-and-roll plays. And when the Aces tried to reach the baseline? “They weren’t good things that happened,” Hammon said, adding that New York also cut corners.
Stewart’s wingspan also made a difference on offense. She scored 20 points in the first half and passed Lisa Leslie for the longest streak of double-digit performances (35) in WNBA postseason history. “She had too many mismatches,” Hammon said. “In the first half we switched guards to her and Jones, and that’s not the intention. They destroyed us there. Both greats.”
Jones finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. And while Fiebich only added 6 points, she was plus-19 in 35 minutes, leading New York in plus/minus for the third straight playoff game. Fiebich is still new to Liberty’s starting lineup. Before New York’s first-round game against the Atlanta Dream last week, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello started her and moved Courtney Vandersloot to the bench. Brondello said she always wanted to have two playmakers on the floor. But the move had even more advantages: Because of Fiebich’s size, strength and length, New York can switch defensively on virtually any screen. (Sunday’s starters had a defensive rating of plus-85.2 in the regular season.)
Fiebich opened the series against the Aces guarding Plum. Afterwards, the 24-year-old German rookie was not satisfied with her performance. “I’m such a perfectionist on defense that I didn’t really feel like it was a great defense,” Fiebich said.
Still, Fiebich repeatedly disrupted other Aces as he scrambled across the floor. Most notably, Aces guard Chelsea Gray was rushed by Fiebich late in the third quarter and was unable to get a shot off.
Vandersloot then thought back to one of her earliest memories of Fiebich, seeing her switch to a center during an early-season game. “It’s not really a mismatch,” Vandersloot said, she thought to herself. “What a luxury it is to have her guard the smallest girl on the floor and then switch to someone without having to get into rotations.”
The biggest luxury of all for New York is of course Stewart, who laughed afterwards about how difficult it is to find long sleeves that fit.
There’s an old saying in basketball: You can’t teach height. At this point in the playoffs, you can’t teach height either. Instead, Hammon and her staff will be tasked with countering the New York defensemen’s weapons. A possible solution?
“You have to spread them out,” Hammon said. ‘You have to go into space. You have to create space and the ball has to move. If the ball isn’t moving and we take it and analyze it, then the length becomes a problem again because everyone recovers.”
In theory, Las Vegas also knew what was going to happen on Sunday. Aces guard Jackie Young said she knew New York’s height would affect shots and passing lanes. Gray said it forces players to have higher release points on their shots. “That presents a challenge on both sides,” Gray said.
And that happened. Gray scored just 4 points on 2-of-7 shooting.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in New York. Hammon called it “do or die.” But for at least one afternoon, the two-time defending champion Aces couldn’t stop what they knew was coming.
New York fans at the Barclays Center waved their arms (and white towels) in delight as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Liberty arms were all over the print from Game 1. “They punched us in the nose,” Hammon said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
(Photo by Breanna Stewart: Evan Yu/NBAE via Getty Images)
