Add The New York Post on Google The Liberty may not know the immediate status of two of their biggest stars. But they know who they’ll be playing when the playoffs open Sunday.
New York’s 83-65 loss to the Atlanta Dream gave the Liberty the eighth and final seed in this year’s playoff field.
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They’ll face the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the best-of-three first-round series starting Sunday in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
But there’s concern regarding Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
Jones exited the loss with a left foot injury. She appeared to trip on a fan’s foot on a step-back 3 attempt late in the third quarter. She headed to the bench with a towel on her head with 3:58 left in the third quarter.
Stewart came over to comfort Jones. Assistant coach Courtney Paris, who works closely with Jones, followed.
Shortly after, Jones headed to the locker room. The team later confirmed she would miss the remainder of the game with a left ankle injury.
The Liberty were already without Stewart, who was ruled out hours before tipoff with left knee soreness.
Coach Chris DeMarco said Stewart’s absence in Wednesday’s game was “precautionary,” though he was noncommittal about her availability for the playoffs, which begin Sunday.
“I’m not sure yet on the workload piece or the availability,” he said. “It’s soreness right now. The play that happened in the last game, just not feeling great. But yeah, hopefully she’ll be ready for the playoffs.”
The Dream overwhelmed the Liberty from the jump. They attempted 13 more shots in the first half than the Liberty.
New York trailed by 15 points at halftime. The Liberty’s 26 first-half points were the fewest New York has scored in a half since 2022.
The Liberty’s reserves made things interesting late. They cut the Dream’s lead to seven twice in the fourth quarter, but Atlanta held on.
New York finishes with a 26-18 record — a loss more than a year ago under Sandy Brondello.
The Liberty will anxiously await updates on Stewart and Jones, while also looking ahead to the Lynx, who spent most of this season looking like the team nobody wanted to see in the playoffs.
Recently, though, the Lynx look vulnerable and on the verge of a potential collapse.
The Lynx enter Thursday’s final day of the regular season with the league’s best record at 32-11. They secured the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs Tuesday night thanks to the Portland Fire beating the Golden State Valkyries.
But Minnesota’s recent slump is hard to ignore.
The Lynx have lost four of their past five games. Two of those losses came after the FIBA World Cup break. One was at the hands of New York, which rocked the Lynx 93-81 on Friday.
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Tuesday’s 96-77 loss to the Indiana Fever was considerably uglier.
An additional concern for the Lynx is the status of rookie phenom Olivia Miles, who was a late scratch Tuesday with a left calf injury.
