Add The New York Post on Google Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu feels like she hasn’t gotten a true crack at the Golden State Valkyries this season.
She missed the first matchup on May 21 because of a foot injury and didn’t feel quite like herself in the June 28 visit to Chase Center as she was still working her way back from a back issue.
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But Ionescu feels ready — eager even — to take on the Valkyries on Thursday in Brooklyn in what could be a possible preview of a first-round matchup.
“It’s exciting to kind of be able to match up against a team that I haven’t really played a lot this year,” Ionescu said after Wednesday’s practice. “And it’ll be fun to just go out there and really test our offense.”
One of two things can happen Thursday: Either the Liberty offense gets stagnant and becomes the latest victim of Golden State’s elite defense, or it passes the major test that Ionescu hinted at.
The Valkyries are the only team the Liberty have yet to beat this season, and a big reason why has been Golden State’s stifling defense.
Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty handles the ball against Azzi Fudd of the Dallas Wings on July 7, 2026, at Barclays Center. Michelle Farsi/New York Post In both losses, the Valkyries held New York to its two lowest scoring outputs of the year: 70 and 67 points.
But the Liberty are far from the only team to struggle with the Valkyries pressure.
That’s a credit to coach Natalie Nakase and her staff. The players have a true understanding of what she wants them to do. They overwhelm opponents with collective and seemingly never-ending effort and focus. They know when to help, rotate and recover.
Gabby Williams and Veronica Burton — two All-Defensive team candidates — apply pressure at the point of the attack. Kiah Stokes — another All-Defensive team candidate who’s second in the league in blocks — is a fierce rim protector patrolling the paint.
Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton (22), guard Tiffany Hayes (15), and guard Kaitlyn Chen (2) congratulate their teammates during a game against the Dallas Wings in the second quarter at Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on Monday, August 17, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect The defensive versatility on the roster allows others to plug the holes.
The Valkyries make teams work for every point. As a result, they’re the only team this season to allow opponents to average fewer than 80 points per game.
“From what I see is they just help each other,” Leonie Fiebich said. “They’re in a shell, they’re constantly helping each other out, rotating. They’re a good rebounding team — that helps, too.”
A lot of the Valkyries success stems from slowing the opposing team’s best scorers.
In Monday’s statement win against the Lynx, the Valkyries held Olivia Miles (averaging 19.7 points per game), Napheesa Collier (18.1) and Kayla McBride (18.1) to a combined 29 points.
Coach Chris DeMarco believes there’s “a lot” the Liberty can take out of that game in preparation for Thursday. But in order for the Liberty offense to be successful, it boils down to one critical — and quite frankly obvious — thing.
“Just execution,” DeMarco said. “Just understanding where we want our shots to come from. We want to play with pace.”
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The Valkyries are going to try to slow the Liberty down as they’ve done all season. They’re going to impose physicality from the jump. New York needs to counteract that by playing its style, which is rooted in constant ball movement, taking a lot of 3s and trying to push in transition.
“They play really solid, good team defense,” Ionescu said. “We’re a lot bigger, and so I think it’s just making sure we’re using the right mismatches and continuing to dictate on offense and not let their defense dictate what we want to do.”
“It’ll be a really good test for us, especially toward the end of the season at seeing where we’re at, what we need to improve on, what we need to work on, but also knowing our strengths and what we do offensively and really trusting in that,” she said. “Not letting their defense … make us tentative or soft. We know we can match up really well against them and get to our spots, face the floor, really use … mismatches in the post to our advantage.”
