New York Liberty slain at buzzer by Portland Fire, lose 98-96

The New York Liberty may have been missing nearly half their rotation on Opening Night, but the Connecticut Sun stink, Stewie dominated, and the game wasn’t close. The Washington Mystics provided a much tougher test as a young but well-coached team with more talent, and the Libs needed overtime to pull that one out. Then a cross-country flight to Oregon, one day off, and a game against the Portland Fire.

Portland is not going to win many games in their inaugural season, but the Liberty were obviously in for a fight on Tuesday night. Such is the nature of the beast.

New York’s opponents started the season shooting 9-of-48 from three. That came to an abrupt end on the West Coast, led by former Minnesota Lynx foe Bridget Carleton, who set a new career-high with 26 points on 5-of-11 from deep. Once the faucet was on, the Libs couldn’t turn it off; their defense made some elementary mistakes, doubling the post from one pass away or going under screens they should’ve gone over. All told, the Fire shot 15-of-33 from deep, a surefire way to keep themselves in the game.

“We’ll make the adjustments, and you know, make sure we’re protecting the 3-point line a little bit better and securing the ball,” said Head Coach Chris DeMarco postgame. “And, you know, you turn the ball over a lot, it hurts your defense. But yeah, a lot of this is communication, just being in the right spot. So we’ll keep at it.”

The Liberty turned it over 18 times. Nobody was spared, as each starter had multiple giveaways. Portland’s shooting and transition turned their home crowd from excitable to raucous, as 19,000 fans willed the hosts to a close finish. The Fire could have even ran away with this one if not for New York’s French backcourt, as Marine Johannès and Pauline Astier again played well…

Astier shot a pristine 10-of-14 to score 24 points, and though she had five turnovers, the 24-year-old was a vital outlet for an overtaxed Breanna Stewart, who played 38 minutes after ticking 39 on Sunday. Portland’s unceasing ball-pressure gave her some problems, but through three games, Astier has proven that she is a WNBA-level driver capable of finishing over anybody.

Johannès did Johannès things, hitting another three triples on 6-of-11 overall, and she credited a slight change in usage for her successful start to the year: “Just the ball movement, playing a little bit more pick-and-roll this season, and being aggressive. Yeah, I’m just trying to be more aggressive. Like I said the last game, I’m in a good mindset since the beginning of the season.”

She saved her most ridiculous play for last. The Liberty were down three with two minutes on the clock, toward the end of a possession headed nowhere fast. Johannès, dribbling the ball 35 feet out at the left slot, lurched toward the Liberty bench and leaped off one leg, flicking the ball across her body and tickling the twine. Nonsensical…

Maybe the Liberty were going to pull this one out and start the season 3-0, which would be a rousing success given the injuries and late arrivals. Han Xu played just six first-half minutes, which went poorly, thus banishing her to the bench for the remainder of the evening. Julie Vanloo played a dozen minutes, but her time was cut short largely due to the Frenchies’ success.

Rebekah Gardner gave the Liberty 22 strong minutes off the bench, filling in for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton who made a couple threes to start, but did not have her best stuff overall. With Han out of the rotation, DeMarco never quite trusted Betnijah to play the 4 next to Jonquel, which would have left the Liberty a bit small but gotten Stewie some rest.

So the other four starters played 30+ minutes and Gardner and Laney-Hamilton swapped in and out down the stretch — it was Betnijah on the floor as the Liberty looked to tie the game. Shot clock off. Stewie handling up top, waiting for a screen from Marine Johannès in search of a mismatch. Tick, tick, tick…whistle?

Pauline Astier had been standing in the paint for about seven seconds, waiting to space out when the ball-screen was set, so focused on her next move that she simply zoned out. The baseline referee really had no choice but to call it, and Astier’s jaw dropped. She knew right away. And before you ask, they do have the 3-second rule in Ligue Féminine. Poor Pauline…

“She just made a mistake,” said DeMarco. “I mean, there were a billion mistakes made that game. So it was just one of those. And I’m sure she wished she had it back, but you know, we still had a chance to get a stop and force overtime.”

The Liberty did not get that stop. Bridget Carleton isolated into a 3-pointer, which hit all glass, only for Sarah Ashlee Barker to swipe past Johannès like a turnstile, grab the ball, and lay it up at the buzzer. Liberty lose…

New York lost the final quarter 28-19. The offense grew a bit stagnant, timely boards weren’t grabbed, and instead of a exhale-worthy 3-0 record, the Libs are 2-1.

Speaking on New York’s late-game offense, Stewie said: “I think, basically, we need to be better when we’re playing second and third actions. That’s kind of why it gets stagnant. But also, the team is trying to get the ball in the right people’s hands, and [Portland] in particular is throwing traps during double teams.”

Both Stewie and DeMarco expressed gratitude for the fact that the team will be staying in the PNW and playing Portland again on Thursday evening. It’ll be their last game in this extended preseason of sorts, before a week-long break where they’ll hopefully get a little bit more whole. Until then, they’ll have to sit with this one, as the Libs expended a lot of energy just to come up a hair short.

Final Score: Portland Fire 98, New York Liberty 96

Milestone Watch

Johannès has now scored 60 points over New York’s first three games, the most in any three-game stretch of her WNBA career.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored her 1,500th point in a Liberty uniform, becoming the sixth-fastest player in franchise history to reach that mark (112 games).
Pauline Astier posted the highest-scoring game for any WNBA rookie in this young season; she also joined Sabrina Ionescu and Rebecca Lobo as the only rookies in Liberty history with at least 30 points and 10 assists through three career games.
Jonquel Jones moved into fifth-place on New York’s all-time rebounding list.
Breanna Stewart Stewart became the first player in WNBA history to reach 6,000 points and 2,500 rebounds in fewer than 300 games, shattering the previous record by 48 games.

Injury Update

Not a ton of news here, but I expect the injury update to look pretty similar for Thursday.

Rebecca Allen has the best shot to play, per DeMarco: “She was a full participant [at shootaround]. She looked good. She’s progressing well, and that’s our hope, but don’t know for sure if she will or not.”
On Satou Sabally: “She still has discomfort. That’s the last update I had on her.”