Liberty fine-tuning for playoffs with home finale vs. Mystics

The New York Liberty look to maintain some momentum heading into the WNBA playoffs when they host the Washington Mystics on Tuesday night in their home finale.

New York (25-17) is locked in at the No. 5 playoff seed, staring at a likely first-round series against the Phoenix Mercury, who have beaten New York three times this season.

Washington (16-27) has lost nine in a row entering its regular-season finale. The Liberty have one more game before the playoffs begin this Sunday.

After a 9-0 start, the Liberty have been treading water, decimated by various injuries to their three big stars: Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones.

Right now, it's Ionescu who has been bitten. She has missed the last four games with an injured toe.

"When (all three) have played, we're 11-0, I think, in their starts," Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said Friday before her team's win at Seattle. "We haven't seen a lot of it. That's the only downside. This year, I think the last time we saw it was just straight off the All-Star break before Stewie went down."

The Liberty ended a five-game road losing streak with an 84-76 win over the Storm. Stewart had 24 points in the win, but Jones was held to two, and has only scored 13 points in her last three games.

For the defending WNBA champs, the playoffs can't come soon enough.

"We're kind of locking in on the things that are really important," Stewart said after the win. "We're really happy with this game, now it's about compiling them, making this happen multiple times and getting back to a rhythm and feel that we all want to be at."

Washington waved the white flag on the season in early August by trading away Brittney Sykes to Seattle and Aaliyah Edwards to the Connecticut Sun, picking up 2026 first-round picks from each deal.

There's a clear youth movement happening in Washington. Rookie guard Sonia Citron leads the team in scoring at 15.0 points per game and set the franchise record for most points in a season Sunday in a 94-65 loss to Indiana in Baltimore.

Washington was held to just 27 points in the second half by Indiana.

"I think there have been a lot of lessons this whole season," Citron said Sunday. "Just learning how to deal with the physicality on the dribble and not letting them take me out of what I want to do."

New York has won all three previous meetings this season, including an 89-63 triumph Aug. 28.

--Field Level Media