Even though they lost their first game of the season, failing to advance to a 10-0 start after standing as the league’s lone remaining undefeated team, everything is still more than okay for the New York Liberty.
They still own the WNBA’s best offense and best defense, with an offensive rating of 110.8 and defensive rating of 91.3 giving them an overall net rating of 19.5, which is nearly seven points better than the second-place Minnesota Lynx. There are no signs of a championship hangover in Brooklyn, only evidence that this team is drinking an elixir of excellence that has them on track to follow up the franchise’s long-awaited first championship with a second-straight one.
Before the season, we identified the key contributions New York needed from their five starters in order to be in position to repeat.
Unsurprisingly, the Liberty’s first five, which has outscored opponents by 65 points on the season, is mostly meeting those benchmarks—and then some. All-Star honors should be in short order for Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu, while Natasha Cloud and Leonie Fiebich have thrived as All-Star role players.
Stewie’s still not shooting the 3, but she’s doing everything else
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