Liberty face Storm, try to fix inconsistent results

When WNBA-leading New York visits the Seattle Storm on Friday, the Liberty do so in the unusual position of having lost two of their last three.

New York (26-6) opened a three-game road swing, which concludes at Seattle, by beating Phoenix 84-70 on Monday. Bookending the win, however, were losses of 72-64 last Saturday at home to Connecticut and a 94-88 setback on Wednesday against the last-place Los Angeles Sparks.

Breanna Stewart reached the 30-point threshold for the first time since June, finishing with 32, but the Liberty's worst defensive effort since June 22 vexed them in Los Angeles. The Liberty were without Jonquel Jones due to illness, and her status for Friday is not yet clear.

"JJ is a key piece of what we do," Stewart said. "(Nyara Sabally) had great minutes (playing in Jones' place), but obviously just the different lineups are what we have to get used to, because you never know what's going to happen."

The Liberty head into Friday's action 2 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota for the top seed in the WNBA playoffs. The Lynx face struggling Dallas on Friday.

Seattle (19-11) holds a one-game lead over reigning WNBA champion Las Vegas for fourth place and home-court advantage in the first round of the postseason. The Storm rebounded from a last-second, 74-72 loss to Washington on Monday with an 85-81 defeat of Atlanta on Wednesday.

Jewell Loyd's 3-pointer with 23 seconds remaining gave Seattle the lead for good in Wednesday's back-and-forth affair. Loyd finished with 28 points for her third game of the last five scoring at least 21.

"There's an understanding that all these games are super important," Loyd said. "We want to make sure that we're locked in and executing ... Just effort. I keep saying, ‘Make or miss, turnover or not, just play hard.' We can't control everything, but we can control our mindset."

The league's scoring champion in 2023, Loyd's 20.4 points per game in 2024 rank her fifth in the league -- just ahead of New York's Stewart, who is averaging 20.1 points per game.

Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player, returns to Seattle, where she led the Storm to league championships in 2018 and 2020. Stewart left Seattle for New York before the 2023 season and is 5-0 against the Storm since. She went for 16 points and 11 rebounds in this year's prior meeting, a 74-63 New York win on May 20.

Sabrina Ionescu posted 20 points and eight assists in the previous game vs. Seattle. Ionescu is averaging 19.3 points per game -- seventh-most in the league -- and 5.9 assists per game, which ranks fifth.

--Field Level Media