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The New York Liberty are nearly out of breath, desperately crawling toward the All-Star break like an air conditioner in Death Valley. But when they get there, they’ll do so with at least one win in their pocket, a 99-98, overtime victory over the Dallas Wings on Monday night that snapped a four-game losing streak.
New York trailed by 11 points with 4:20 left; ESPN estimates Dallas, even without Paige Bueckers, had a 97.2% chance of winning at that moment. From there, each team and the referees made a few bonehead decisions but the Liberty made their shots, got to the line, and allowed Sabrina Ionescu to turn a 3-of-20 shooting performance into a sincerely clutch 8-of-25 Capital-M Moment. Who else?
New York has one more game before the break, a home showdown with the Chicago Sky (meaning Natasha Cloud’s return to Barclays Center) on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. ET. Should the Liberty win, they’ll enter the break with a 15-12 record, clinging onto the #7 seed but just a couple games back from the crowd. The win in Dallas did not save their season, nor would a win vs. Chicago. But it’d be a cool breeze amidst an uncomfortable start to the summer, and it might give the Liberty what they need to mount a second-half charge up the standings. Here’s what I saw in their victory over the Dallas Wings, and more.
Rotation, roster discussion
Let’s get it out of the way, eh?
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton notched her second straight DNP-CD vs. Dallas, after which Chris DeMarco said, “The problem with having so many good players…is that there’s only so many minutes. Again, it’s just the depth that we have,” which is a version of the same answer he’s given all season when asked about Laney-Hamilton’s lack of playing time.
Earlier in the season, this was probably the honest answer. Laney-Hamilton looked rough from the get-go, like her many knee injuries had zapped her lateral quickness and mobility, and if she were to regain her past form, she’d need plenty of time to work through it on the court. It seems DeMarco wasn’t willing to give it to her, particularly when Satou Sabally and Leonie Fiebich were healthy, as well as a more productive Rebekah Gardner.
The situation has changed. Presently, Laney-Hamilton is behind Rebecca Allen and Anneli Maley in the rotation. Laney-Hamilton has had some more positive moments in recent weeks, especially handling the ball and creating some offense, an area in which the Libs could desperately use some help, but she still hasn’t looked great. Still, two straight DNPs compared to 50 total minutes for Rebecca Allen? Raquel Carrera, Han Xu, and Anneli Maley playing real minutes against the Fever?
It seems, from outside closed doors, that the Liberty are working on a trade involving her and don’t want to risk injury or poor play. That doesn’t fully explain the rotation vs. the Indiana Fever, or every decision DeMarco has made, of course. Nonetheless, priority #1 for New York is figuring out who is going to be here for the next two months while getting Leonie Fiebich and Satou Sabally back ASAP.
If GM Jonathan Kolb can land a serviceable 3rd big / bigger forward while moving Laney-Hamilton’s salary, that’d be ideal. Han Xu has had an impressive season while Raquel Carrera clearly has long-term intrigue, but it’s tough to imagine either being postseason ready. Neither big is going to carry any offensive load either, and that’s really what the Libs are missing from their deep bench — and why Marine Fauthoux’s recent minutes, which we’ll soon get into, felt so monumental.
Allen hit a big pull-up two last night, Maley fights admirably on the offensive glass, Carrera has skills, and Han has had an awesome shooting season while Rebekah Gardner sprints the floor in transition, but their collective lack of creation ability puts a huge burden on the top rotation players. It also makes a possession like the below feel like a gut-punch:
Two defenders go with Marine Johannès, who hits Jonquel Jones in the short roll. This possession should end in a good shot for either Maley or Carrera (without stressing the others too much), but mainly due to a misplay from Carrera, it doesn’t and Johannès is instead handed a grenade.
Perimeter containment
Earlier this season, the Liberty showcased some promising moments on defense, not just in their vaunted zone but particularly when it came to keeping the ball out of the middle of the floor…
Indiana played with pace and hot-shooting, as did Dallas, but more worrisome was that the Liberty could not contain the perimeter for large patches of either game:
On that second play, Pauline Astier makes one strong effort to blow up a handoff for Arike Ogunbowale, but does apply that same pressure to the next action. Ogunbowale curls into the paint fairly easily, Jonquel Jones helps (probably too much), and the defense is in rotation.
It’d be overly simplistic to criticize New York’s effort against the Wings. They hit the offensive glass hard, they got on the floor for loose balls, and during the late-game comeback, they did a much better job containing Dallas’ array of pindowns and handoffs. But rarely could the Liberty put together a pristine 24-second possessions…
It’s frustrating, even if they’re playing hard. There are too many lapses like the above; even if Rebecca Allen and Jonquel Jones both lunge at Ogunbowale here, Stewie is in the paint, waiting to meet Li Yueru at the rim. Dallas shot 52.4% from deep, the most memorable make being Ogunbowale’s sky-ball to give the Wings a late lead. The The Indiana Fever shot 50% from deep vs. New York, and two losses before that, the Lynx also made half their threes. It’s crazy. But the Liberty are bringing it on themselves, too. (And Leonie Fiebich is sorely, sorely missed.)
Monitoring Jonquel Jones
In 2024, a Jonquel Jones post-up — including passes leading to shots — was worth to 1.152 points per possession for the Liberty, a 90th percentile mark league-wide. In 2025, that number fell to the 48th percentile. This season, it’s in the 50th percentile. (Per Synergy.)
A common criticism of Sandy Brondello in her final year as head coach was that the team could not get Jones a look inside; hell, I even wrote after the championship in 2024 that New York never figured out the balance with her in the post. That is no longer a relevant criticism, in part because she’s been a less effective post-up player in the last couple seasons. (There are as few reasons why; I think the monumental difference in officiating between post and perimeter players is really hurting someone with her strength.)
More importantly, Jones an incredible spot-up threat who gets plenty of opportunities in New York’s pick-and-roll + wheel spacing system. She’s shooting above 40% from deep again on career-high volume, and this season, it feels she’s improved as a driver, particularly when a smaller player closes out to her. There is also a positive downstream effect of an opposing big having to spend so much time out of the paint, concerned with one of the best spot-up threats in the league.
However, I’d like to see the Liberty make even more use of Jones as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. Per my hand-tracking, New York is scoring 1.13 points per possession (that leads directly to a shot/turnover/advantage) with Jones as a PnR handler. That healthy mark is second on the team only to Pauline Astier, out of eight players with 35+ handling possessions. It’s the same concept; she shoots when opponents go under screens, she drives smaller players, and she can make passing reads out of these ball-screens.
Still, the volume isn’t very high, just under three possessions a night. Against Dallas, we saw a bit of frustration from Jones after a lack of offensive involvement:
Jones is shooting just nine 2PA per 100 possessions, easily the lowest mark of her career, though more FTAs per 100 than any other season in New York. Still, it’s understandable that the woman who once won WNBA MVP on post-up heavy diet would like to control the rock a bit more. Jones was just selected for the All-Star game; however, her spot-up heavy role occasionally leaves her in the background of the offense. It could help Jones and the other overburdened stars to get her some more touches early in the offense.
Chris DeMarco and the team will never go totally away from post-up opportunities for Jones, but the way forward might be upping the pick-and-roll volume even more. Jones has already operated more PnR than she ever has in her career (often from the second side of NYL’s flow offense at top the of the key), but it could behoove NYL’s staff to spend the break figuring out more PnR looks for her.
This isn’t a criticism of Jones’ effort, to be clear. She grabbed seven crucial offensive rebounds in Dallas, often crashing from the perimeter, and her 9.1 ORB% is her highest since 2023 despite the career-high 3-point volume, both clear emphases from the coaching staff. Jones has also only missed one game. That All-Star bid is well-deserved.
Other takeaways
How about the stones on Marine Fauthoux?
I thought Fauthoux was impressive on Saturday night against the Fever, and she followed it up with an even better performance against the Wings, even with her brainfart foul at the end of regulation, which was quite reminiscent of Pauline Astier’s 3-second violation in Portland after her breakout performance.
Over 42 combined minutes, Fauthoux put up 14 points and six assists compared to two turnovers across the two games. She even threw in ten boards for a double-double in Dallas, a statistical oddity but genuinely representative of the effort and toughness she’s displayed recently. Fauthoux is 25 years old and has played for the French national team, so this isn’t shocking, but there’s something there with her driving/shooting/defensive presence. She’d be a real fun player for a rebuilding team, but I think Fauthoux has already shown enough for New York’s inaugural developmental player to be considered a success. Even if her minutes over the rest of the season are capped.
Said DeMarco: “She’s a competitor. She’s played at very high levels, she’s a winner, and her teammates trust her.”
That’s also true of Breanna Stewart. Before this skid, I would have picked Stewie for WNBA DPOY, though she’s merely been at a B+ level these last couple weeks rather than her typical best-in-the-world-or-close-to-it level. Still, watching her play 42 minutes against Dallas, carrying that burden on each end of the court to get this team one godforsaken win at 31 years old…it’s special. We are all lucky to watch her regularly, even if we feel her fatigue and anger at losing through the screen. She’s just different. And she’s making some threes now. Breanna Stewart is the reason that we should all still have hope for this Liberty team, and why the “if they can just get healthy” line of reasoning is still so convincing.
Next Up
Natasha Cloud and Courtney Vandersloot return to New York City for the last game pre-All Star break. Tip-off vs. the Chicago Sky is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.
