Can Jonquel Jones Lead The Liberty's Second-Half Surge? | Liberty Lately

Welcome back to another edition of Liberty Lately. It's your guy Dexter Henry alongside my good friend Madeline Kenny. She is out in LA as we are talking before the start of a interesting 13-game stretch for the Liberty. Maddie, how are you doing? You could just tell me tired because you came from WNBA All-Star and now you're in LA for this three-game road trip. How you doing? You know, I'm actually not tired because I have been going to bed at like 9 30 10 every night for the last like two nights or so. So I'm good with going to the gym. I'm doing a little factory reset after All-Star weekend to feel better got coffee. We're good to go. I'm impressed. I don't know the last time I got in bed around 9 or 10 down that would be nice. I don't know when that's happening anytime. Maybe it's gonna happen tonight. You know what? No, it's not because I'm going to watch the Liberty game. I mean I say that but I'm also on the West Coast. So like true 10 o'clock here is what 1 a.m. Home. Yes, that's true. So if you saw East Coast time this 1 a.m. That's sometimes when I'm going to bed, but nobody cares about our bedtimes people care about this critical 13 game stretch and Liberty are starting that it starts in LA against the Sparks game. You'll be at tonight. So they start this crucial 13 game stretch before the FIBA World Cup break. They have 15 and 12 record. They're sitting seventh in the standings in the W the they entered the All-Star break with consecutive one-point victories. We talked about the last time we got together after they had lost four straight but both of those wins that we talked about last time they required significant comebacks. So do you think those victories restored confidence with this team or did it temporarily cover up the same problems that we've been talking about that produced that four-game losing streak before I think it restored confidence because a lot of the problems that have been persistent persisting throughout the course of the season a lot of more self-inflicted and I think it restored confidence just to remind them like that they who they are. They are cake. They can gut out these like gritty wins. They can, you know, fend off a late rally. They can rally themselves and be successful at it because so many times we had seen them overcome these massive deficits only to like fall short in the end. And so I think it definitely restored confidence and you didn't want the like negativity looming over a four or five days break, right? Like you didn't want that feeling of dread almost, you know, of we're in the thick of it and you know, we don't really have any answers and now we have to just sit with this loss and just that's all I can think about kind of thing. So I think it was really important for them to kind of like turn that corner and now it's just about continuing to build off of it. And as Brita Stewart told me like they're not out of the mud yet. There's still a lot of things that they got to work on and address and I think that that's why this this next chunk of the season before the World Cup break. This is going to be paramount to gearing up for the playoffs. Yeah, you wrote about this too, right? That and it's got this 13 game stretch that they're on now before the FIBA World Cup break and we talked about them turning it around and so now this stretch that they have we just get out of 13 games for a second Maddie. We just look at they're going to face the Sparks as we record here tonight after we record this the Aces. So another test against the Aces. They've got the Mercury and that's three games in five days. So we talked about not being tired. No rest for the weary when you look at this trip. Do they need to go at least two and one for this trip to feel successful or are you looking at more of the quality of their performance in these games? Is that more important than the record right now for this team? I think I think both right? Because you know, if you play like at a high quality, you should win the game, you know, and so I think yeah to to one is feels feels comfortable. I mean shoot, why not go for the sweep and go 3-0 to start the road trip and just play set the tone strong, you know what I mean, you know, the Sparks are a team that are definitely beatable, especially with Kelsey Plum out. She's not going to play tonight. Last time they were here. They blew a 17-point lead in the second half the Liberty did and the Sparks obviously won on that NECA buzzer beater at the end, which was incredible cinema. Not if you're a Liberty fan, but it was just as a basketball fan, you kind of it was one of those like moments that you're like, wow, that was that was crazy. And the Aces are a team obviously that the Liberty have beat they for whatever reason that's a great matchup for New York even without saw to it'll be interesting to see if Leonie few bitches back by then. She is on this road trip. She's not playing tonight against the Sparks. Chris did not have a timeline for her return when I asked him about it. But you know again, she's somebody that hopefully they'll get back sooner or later. I think it's a good sign. She's on this trip that she'll play at some point out West and then the Phoenix Mercury. That's a team that's kind of I don't want to say turning the corner because they're they have not had a good that first chunk of the season was not great for them. But you know, there's a lot of talent on that roster. And so it's a team that you don't want to get punked by. Yeah. So the team that's got clear copper still has Alyssa Thomas. You still have to respect that and they feel like they were trying to find themselves for most of this season. The speaking of finding themselves. John Cole Jones the 2026 WNBA All-Star MVP. She spoke at the MVP, excuse me, the All-Star media availability in Chicago and she said that she considers herself one of the five best players in the world. What do you think top five basketball from JJ could actually look like during this stretch that we're talking about and should the Liberty begin running even more of their offense through her and I'll let people know Maddie and I we've had some conversations about JJ and her play off camera and we both love her talent. Obviously, but I love the mindset of her talking about the fact that she believes she's a top five player in the world and she obviously has the talent. She's won a lot of things in this league. But what does that look like to you Maddie her being a top five player in this world? Just to give a little bit of context about how I got that quote was I did ask her, you know, she's in this room full of all-stars. Does she view herself as one of the best players in the world and she said absolutely like she hide. Of course, she sees herself as like one of the best players and then I asked her to rank herself and at first she wasn't going to but then she kind of said why not top five and when I told Brianna that Brianna her eyes got really big but wait like you gotta love that confidence. You gotta love that like little dash of maybe even I wrote about like delusion that all these athletes have and they need to have to be able to perform at this high level that is not shade by any means and I think that JJ being a top what that would look like is just a her motor being on before for a full 40 minutes taking no plays off. It's a it's a tall ask. You know, she is a post player that is a physically demanding position getting inside the Liberty need to have they don't really have a lot of like post-entry passers that really excel at that. So trying to be more intentional maybe in in finding JJ in when she has the mismatches and stuff. So they can exploit the defenses, you know, I think her being kind of like a little bit of the offensive hub could be really beneficial for Liberty and we've seen that at various points and then I think like just yeah, as Brianna Stewart challenge JJ just be a double-double machine every night like JJ needs to come in with the intention of getting a double-double. She needs to clean up the glass. She needs to you know, if if there is a miss like get the second chance opportunity type of type of thing like they just need that level of aggression and commitment from JJ and I don't mean commitment as if like she's non-committal at times. I just think it's like a tall it all goes back to motor and just you know, having to dig deep when you're tired and when you're pissed off about the officiating and and whatever else is happening in the game and just letting it short-term memory goldfish type memory like not letting it impact you which which she had done well like the last two games. Yeah, and any of these stretching back a little bit further than that's like four or five games. She's actually played pretty well. She's had close to those double-double numbers. You want to see that with her. I like to see her get some more post touches don't want to limit her to that but I would like to see some more post touches from her in this offense. I do think you make a great point did Liberty sometimes do not have the best players to get those post entry passes her but the thing we also know about JJ and why you talked about her being offensive hub. She is a very to my opinion underrated passer. And so she's got the ball whether it's at the three-point line top of the key. She can find cutters really really well. She plays well off in the pick and roll. So yeah, I'd like to see JJ play more like the top five player that she absolutely should believe that she is towards the end of the season. Now a player that ended the first half really strongly you and I talked about the Sabrina Nescue. She had 21 points against Dallas 29 against Sky and those comeback victories nine points in the final minute of Chicago comeback. That was amazing. Do you look at her like she's finally turned the corner physically and rhythmically or do you still think she needs to prove that she can produce consistently rather than in short explosive stretches, like we've seen very recently from her. I don't think Sabrina Nescue really needs to prove anything. I think it was only a matter of time before she was going to finally like stream together several solid performances and the thing with Sabrina is you kind of understand that she can be a little streaky at times, but that you just have to live with it because when she is, you know, exceptional like she wasn't that final minute against the Sky or even overtime in Dallas when she just absolutely took over the game like though, you know that she has in any instance has the opportunity to just like go inferno on whoever is in her path. And so I was never really worried about Sabrina. And if I said I was worried then maybe I was overreacting a little bit because I just think that yeah, I was going to say I'm like you're going to like pull a clip clip to be like Maddie Kenny. I was worried. No, but I think I think Sabrina she look, I mean, she's she's one of the best shooters in the game. She's really it's just it was just a matter of time. And I think like now it's pick up where you left off continue to lead this team and because I think some of the burden of winning needs to be taken off of Brianna Stewart's shoulders because a lot of this first chunk of the season and I say chunk because it's more than halfway at this point, but a lot of that first half of the season of sorts. There was too much of relying on Brianna Stewart to to save the team to be the hero and you have three all-stars, you know that that all can pick up the slack and you have plenty of role players who can get can play these big roles and and help alleviate some of the pressure that is on their shoulders to carry this team. And so I think that again this roster it's being tested because of the injuries, but there is balance there. It just sometimes gets off balanced and there needs to be a better way of leveling the scales. So if that makes sense, That makes it that makes a ton of sense and you mentioned the injuries and we've kind of talked about this a lot, but we've talked sometimes how the injuries have impacted the offense, but there's been an impact on the defensive side too, right Manny? Because the Liberty have been without their two longest and I would say most versatile wing defenders in Leonie Fevich and Satu Savali and we've talked about how the Liberty have played defense, right? We've seen them play a lot of zone this season. Do you think the Liberty should maybe continue to try to switch more which you've seen a little bit lately? Is it playing more conservatively, is it blitzing elite guards when they're going against them or do you think they should lean more heavily on the zone defense that we've seen from them for a good chunk of the season? Yeah, I think it's going to be a lot of like mosh-posh type defensive coverages of mixing stuff just because you're trying to figure out like what works for that specific game or matchup. I mean look like losing Satu and Leonie, you mentioned the length, but it's also like the size and stuff and they really are what makes this defense so switchable. And so when I talked to like Rebecca Allen and Rebecca Gardner two players that have been really asked to step up especially on the defensive end, you know, how do you handle elite opposing guards and in trying to slow them and and knock them out of rhythm and sometimes you do have to just live with a bucket getter getting a bucket, but it's just applying that pressure and just making sure they feel you and both of them in so many ways said that they think they're playing good defense. It just it comes down to playing good team defense like constantly communicating making sure that you are aware of a player's tendencies and all of those types of sort of things and I think like defensively this team does some really good stuff like it feels like you know, they might the first 18 or so seconds of a shot clock. They're like they're doing playing really good defense and then it's like that one little lapse. That's just like the domino that leads into maybe an open layup or or wide open look and so I think yeah lose not having I think when you bring Leone Phoebus back whenever that does happen that will alleviate some of the concerns on defense. But again, you're still going to be asking Beck Gardner Beck Allen when you do come in when you do get those minutes to to try to do your best to just like weather the storm while starters aren't there. That's the role of reserves. Anyways, you know, yeah now it is and look we've talked a lot about how they've missed Phoebus and I think you and I both have talked at nauseam about her value to this team. You said you asked Chris DiMarco about you know when she's coming back. So right now there's no established return date and then you know, if you look at it in terms of an international perspective her availability for Germany in the September World Cup that could also be affected here to depending on when she comes back. So considering what we believe is her real strong importance to New York should the Liberty product is getting her back during this 13 game sprint towards the World Cup or do they want to play this cautiously and you know risk a setback, you know, regardless of the standings do they want to try to not have an injury and just say hey, let's just get her right whether it's before the World Cup or after the World Cup. How do you think they might play this with Phoebus his health? I think there's like a balance to this right? Like you're obviously going to be cautious. You're not going to put a player out there before they're ready to put out there. But Leonie Phoebus also wants to play, you know, like she needs to be saved from herself in a lot of ways, but I do think the fact that she was doing an individual workout in LA and is with the team is a very promising sign that she will be back sooner rather than later. I'm more optimistic about Leonie Phoebus coming back and and I do think that she will return within like I wouldn't be surprised if we see her I guess is what I'm trying to say on this West Coast trip saw to optimistic. She'll be back at some point, you know, maybe like I don't know when I can't say when but again like for her knowing how concussions are and how challenging that is like that is something that you you it's a head injury like you have to be extremely cautious with it. You have to be patient with it and the hard things about concussions is they are so nonlinear. There's not like oh, I checked off this box. We're moving on to the next one. Sometimes you think you checked off a box or two and then all of a sudden you're back at square one and that's that has to be such a frustrating process. One other thing that people want to know about and you know, this Maddie, but Nigel Amy Hamilton. She was available did have DNPs in the Liberty's final three games before the break. And this is the major question. I've been seeing this from fans everywhere that people want to know is she currently outside of rotation because of her performance and fitness and or fitness or does her absence suggest which a lot of fans have been bringing up to me when I'm at games. Does this just as something larger could be developing before the August 2nd trade deadline where she could be moved. What are you hearing about the Nigel Amy Hamilton? Yeah, I think it's it's the latter in the sense that you know, I believe I've already reported that she had been involved in trade talks early on Annie Costable of the Athletic reported today that those talks have started to heat up again as we get as we near the August 2nd deadline when I talked to people earlier in the season and like that, you know a month ago about Benaja. They told me that the asking price was too high for a player that is on an expiring contract and is going to be an unrestricted free agent. And so I think it's a really tricky spot that the Liberty find themselves in. And Benaja to like you just hope both sides can find peace at the end of all of this because on one hand you have a player like Benaja who's playing for her next contract who could really use the reps in the live action to establish herself get the Liberty need to win and but I would also argue for some of those games when they were on that losing streak and she didn't play or whatever that you know, Chris would say like, oh, you can't play everybody but you know, if you're down significantly, it does feel to some degree like sometimes you just kind of like look for that spark and Benaja, you know, she has been a step slow for a lot of this return. She on both ends of this and but she's also had these flashes of like good moments. And so it just kind of feels like, you know, why not experiment why not try to get that jolt if she is available and if you're not trying to protect her because you might use her as a trade asset, which we see happen in the NBA all the time. So I think that's kind of the balance and again, I just yeah. Yeah, we'll see August 2nd trade deadline Sunday. We'll see what happens there. It's going to be very interesting. We'll see if she plays at all on this West Coast trip real quick here Maddie because we got to get out the studio when we get to the end of this three-game trip this West Coast Road trip. What do you think should matter the most for the Liberty is looking at? Is it their record? Is the seeing their them play better defense avoiding slow starts late game execution, you know in the performance of these of the three stars here. What are you looking at as the thing that's going to matter the most when we get to the end of this trip? We go like what I don't what I'm not concerned about. I'm not concerned about the big three because we know what we're getting out of them. I it's more so like on all of the other pieces around them like the supporting cast and how they're able to step up. I think like that's something and we and they've they've done been doing a solid job as of late. So I'm not worried about that record. I'm not entirely worried about it right now just because they're sitting I believe like four games out of ninth place. So they're sitting in a they're pretty comfortable at 7 right now, which you see you'd want to be a higher seed for home court advantage. But if the season ended today, I'm pretty sure they would play the aces which this sounds crazy to say is not the worst matchup for the Liberty. And so I'm not worried about that. I think it just I think it does come down to late game execution and slow starts but also like slow starts the second half. I think third quarters have started to kind of be that, you know, it was earlier in the season was like more the second quarter that the Liberty were stumbling in and now it seems like that third quarter is starting to be an Achilles heel again for them. And so again, I just think like you got to set the tone in the first quarter like the first few minutes and you got to set the tone of the second half in the first few minutes of that third quarter. And so I think those are two things that you really want to see and then the late game execution. If you do find yourself in a close game, you you got to like close out games essentially is what I'm trying to say and the Liberty haven't always been great at that. There's been some finger pointing at the officiating, but I think you also at some point have to look in the mirror and ask yourself why the game was that close in those moments where a call swung it the other way or whatever. So I think in short, it's the slow starts to the first and third and late game execution. Those are like the three things that you really got to lock it on. I feel like I like it. We'll see if the Liberty can lock in on that for this road trip three game road trip La Vegas and then Phoenix Maddie will be with you with all the coverage and still getting a whole lot of sleep. Hopefully on this West Coast road trip that's going to do it for this edition of Liberty Lately Maddie. Thank you. I will see you next week when we continue more things and everybody subscribe stay tuned. We'll be back with you with more Liberty Lately.