The Liberty dropped two to the Lynx. How much should be made of those losses?

The Liberty committed 20 total turnovers in Sunday’s game, which created 22 of the Lynx’s 83 points, a number over 25%. Sunday afternoon represented yet another outing where the Liberty’s toughness was challenged, while the Lynx’s was affirmed. The Liberty were rattled by their opponent’s physicality, especially in the third quarter, and struggled to punch back.

“I’ve gotta do a better job of settling them down there,” head coach Sandy Brondello said postgame. “Because usually against this team, I mean in the last [game] we didn’t have many turnovers, we gave them offensive rebounds, and that was another area that has been hurting us, and we’ve got to be better. Minnesota just right now have played a little harder and more intentional than we did today.”

Natasha Cloud, who sat up with Jones and Brondello at the press conference, continued to harp on the fact that this team has all that it needs to be successful. But, she also took some accountability for not being able to help stabilize the Liberty’s offense as one of the team’s ball handlers.

“I think I could do a better job of facilitating and putting us in offenses,” she said. “Realizing when [Jones] hasn’t been getting touches, realizing when Emma [Meesseman] hasn’t touched the ball, or easier ways to get Sab[rina Ionescu] the ball.”

This loss revealed that the Liberty are still struggling to find success in high-level games without their trio of forwards in Breanna Stewart, Kennedy Burke and Nyara Sabally, who are all missing in action with different injuries.

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While Meesseman has provided an immediate lift for the team since her arrival, the Belgian superstar experienced for the first time what it looks like when this group struggles to play together and communicate, “We were not always on the same page,” Meesseman said to a group of reporters postgame on Sunday. “One would think that you are curling [off a ball screen] and one would think that you’re not.”

What has stood out in these first two game the Liberty have played against the Lynx, and how much weight should be put on them with a myriad of changes still coming for both teams in the next few weeks?

Liberty still struggle to perform amid player absences

In Sunday’s game, the Lynx’s backcourt defense was very active. They forced the Liberty, in the second half especially, to try to get rid of the ball quickly, which often resulted in less-disciplined passing.

Jones, Brondello and Ionescu were on the same page about why there were so many live ball turnovers in the second half and why Jones, who wasn’t at her best on either end on Sunday, struggled to get touches.

“I think Minnesota just, like historically when we played them, even last year, they do a really good job of just congesting the paint,” Jones said. “Making us make that skip pass, and I think tonight we didn’t. I don’t think we made the skip pass, maybe two times, and we tried to force them into the paint, and I think that’s why we had so many turnovers.”

In multiple instances, New York was trying to exploit size mismatches where at times players “didn’t see weak side rotations,” added Brondello. The Liberty forced the ball without reading the defense properly, failing to realize that there were other high-percentage looks that could come as a result of moving the ball with poise, not panic.

Ionescu viewed this loss as just another one of those instances where the team has struggled to delegate and take on more in the place of Stewart, Burke and Sabally’s absences. When the Liberty are at their worst, they don’t stick together. To rectify this pattern, the available players have to step up to unify the team— it’s more necessary now than it was during their 9-0 winning streak to begin the season. This same cycle played out earlier this year, when the Liberty were searching to be a better version of themselves while Jones was out with her ankle injury from June through most of July.

Marine Johannès, however, explained exactly why the Liberty have struggled to adapt without a fourth of their roster available. “We are missing players, and sometimes we are not in the right spot because with [Stewart] we are in different spots, so we have to adjust,” she said.

Emma Meesseman’s integration has been astonishing, but not perfect

Speaking of adjustment, Meesseman’s has at times looked almost inhuman; on Sunday, however, she came back down to earth. Meesseman began the first half of the game hesitating, not taking open threes and instead driving into the Lynx’s congestion which was spearheaded by defensive player of the year candidate Alanna Smith. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve explained that, when the Lynx put together their game plans, they almost always consider first what Smith’s influence against a particular team needs to be.

While the Liberty believed that the Lynx weren’t targeting just Meesseman with their physicality on defense, it was clear to the naked eye that the Lynx intentionally wanted to get in her head, especially since she chose to play for New York over Minnesota.

“A player like Emma can chew you up and spit you out,” Reeve said.

While Meeseeman figured Smith out a little more in the third quarter, leading to three straight made baskets in the first half of the third, the Liberty only found her for one more shot in the fourth, and often threw the ball over her head and into traffic instead of working the shot clock to get her a cleaner touch.

“Emma’s a smart player,” Brondello said. “She’ll bounce back from this. Just, we didn’t create enough space for her. There were two people on her, or we’re trying to shoot over a big, big player. That wasn’t the best option.”

How long will the Lynx’s bench prevail over the Liberty’s?

Reeve admitted following Sunday’s game that it was the Lynx’s bench, featuring Natisha Hiedeman, Maria Kliundikova and newly-acquired DiJonai Carrington, that was mainly responsible for the victory, as the Lynx have won their third straight game without MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier.

Hiedeman got downhill at will, Carrington was left wide open in the corner for three-pointers and Kliundikova was in the right place at the right time defensively as she forced multiple Liberty turnovers and picked up four steals in the process.

On the New York side, Johannès provided another lift off the bench offensively, scoring in double figures in her second straight game, but her defensive energy and effort waned, especially when trying to contain Hiedeman. She agreed on this assessment when speaking to reporters postgame. “I have to be better, like being more physical,” she said about her defense.

Isabelle Harrison brought toughness in the first half and scored 9 points, but Brondello played her for just under four minutes in the second half after playing her over ten minutes in the first. Harrison’s willingness to just impose her will physically has been a problem for the Lynx this season. On July 30 Harrison scored 15 against the Lynx, and was the Liberty’s second leading scorer behind Ionescu.

“[Harrison] had had her way again with us in the first half,” Reeve said on Sunday.

While it’s understandable why Brondello didn’t play Harrison as much in the second half, due to her less deliberate decision making, Harrison’s effort was there, while for others that was questionable. This situation was similar to what happened in the Commissioner’s Cup Final last year, when Brondello didn’t play Burke as much in the second half after she made a bunch of impact plays.

Questions that remain for New York as the rest of Rivals Week looms

Burke has become one of the most trusted players on the Liberty, year-over-year. Especially when Leonie Fiebich, Stewart or Jones needed a breather, Burke was relied upon this season to hit the big open shot, come up with the clutch steal or attack closeouts when the team needed her to. Burke last played in a game on July 26 against the Sparks, the same game where Stewart also left injured.

Brondello told reporters pregame on Sunday that Burke has been making “really good” progress and “feels good” on the court. She hasn’t practiced with the team yet because the team hasn’t practiced in over a week, but the plan will be to build her up during the team’s West Coast road trip during a back-to-back in Los Angeles and Las Vegas before she could possibly play on the 16 against the Lynx in Minneapolis.

Stewart, who has been chomping at the bit to return to the floor, told reporters pregame on Sunday that she wants to return to play before August 27, her birthday. Over the next two weeks, she will work on her conditioning and try to simulate live-game action to the best of her abilities. And after getting some different treatment on her knee in Germany, Sabally will be reevaluated by the Liberty’s medical staff on August 18.

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All this is to say, this trio hasn’t played at all against the 2025 Lynx, and it’s hard to know if they will at all before the postseason. It’s also incredibly hard to know what these two games say about this matchup, with a fourth of the Liberty unable to play (although, it might say that the Lynx are better poised right now to handle adversity).

The big question for New York right now is whether or not they have enough time to work out their kinks to be able to compete against the better teams in the league. If Stewart comes back before August 27, as well as Sabally and Burke, will the three have enough time to get game-ready, and postseason ready, too?

Another big question for the Liberty — how will Meesseman use her voice in this locker room after a loss that she described as undisciplined and lacking fundamentals? While she’s still new to this team, she’s working hard to be who her teammates need her to be while honing her communication skills to best work with the players she doesn’t have a ton of experience playing alongside. A healthy forward trio and a commanding Meesseman could be the path forward for the Liberty — whether or not they have the time, and the will, remains unknown.