At first, Kelsey Plum’s comments stung Jonquel Jones.
It was the immediate aftermath of the Liberty’s WNBA Finals loss to the Aces in October, and Plum told reporters inside Barclays Center that, as much because the Liberty were “a team, they’re not a team.”
They contained strong individual players, but they “don’t care about one another,” she said, with the crux of her point — which Plum later said was taken out of context — being that there’s no solution to microwave a superteam.
That hurt since the emotions were fresh, Jones said.
The Liberty’s quest for the franchise’s first title collapsed in Game 4.
Plum’s comments followed.
And in an exit interview with reporters, Jones called her answer “classless,” blasting the Aces star for selecting to “essentially s–t on another person” as a substitute of celebrating their second straight title.
Eight months later, reflecting on what went unsuitable in that series ahead of the primary Liberty-Aces showdown of 2024 on Saturday at Michelob ULTRA Arena, Jones told The Post that “there was some validity” to what Plum said.
The Liberty didn’t possess the identical cohesion that has ignited their 11-2 start — one win shy of matching their franchise-best — in 2024.
The heartbreak of crushed title dreams hasn’t worn off, and that’s something that, at the very least for Jones, might never truly subside.
However the gap in connectivity — and, at its most simple root, time together on the identical court — that served because the Aces’ strength and the Liberty’s shortcoming last 12 months has slowly faded as one in every of the WNBA’s budding rivalries renews.
“[Plum] definitely gave a special perspective,” Jones said Wednesday, “and I saw it. I saw what she saw after I went back and I watched the sport, and it form of felt like we were all attempting to do it individually just attempting to get one win versus coming together as a team and attempting to get a win.”
Through 13 games in 2024, the Liberty have benefited from returning the identical starting lineup and assembled a bench that continues to carve out roles.
They’ve operated — and won — the past three games without start line guard Courtney Vandersloot.
“We’re not perfect,” Jones said, “but I feel like we’re definitely leaps and bounds ahead of what we were last 12 months.”
Still, the Aces loom as the last word measuring stick.
They snapped their first three-game losing streak since 2019 on Thursday, and nearly all of their title-winning roster stays intact.
A’ja Wilson has emerged as an early MVP candidate.
And even when the Liberty can contain Wilson, secondary scoring options resembling Plum and Jackie Young lurk.
To assistant coach Olaf Lange, it became obvious within the Finals that the Liberty didn’t execute the defensive rotations required to match the Aces’ plethora of threats.
The depth — and star-filled construction — of those rosters helped form one in every of the WNBA’s budding rivalries to start with.
The Liberty and Aces faced one another 4 times in August and 4 more times two months later, and each earned statement wins.
The Liberty took the Commissioner’s Cup by 19 points.
The Aces reached the head of the game for a second consecutive season.
They collectively helped set rankings records and epitomized the expansion of the league — before a rookie class of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and others arrived and continued to rewrite the usual for television viewership.
Rivalries, usually, are great for the WNBA, Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said.
However the parity popping up — the Mystics, 0-12 on the time, led the Liberty within the fourth quarter Sunday — doesn’t dilute the Liberty-Aces matchups, Jones said, as each can coexist and can profit the league, even when Brondello and Stewart insisted the Liberty won’t approach this game otherwise despite what unfolded last 12 months.
The Aces were the team that prevented the Liberty from scripting a storybook ending to a 12 months where they assembled a group of stars and tried to figure every part out on the fly.
They were the defense that made the one final stop within the fourth quarter of Game 4 — the Vandersloot miss that provided the backdrop for Plum’s comments that soon became national headlines — and caused Stewart to have lingering regret for the jumper she didn’t take.
“This 12 months’s different,” Stewart said Wednesday. “It’s a latest 12 months. You gotta turn the page from what happened last 12 months.”
But that every one shaped the aura of the Liberty and the Aces and the 40-minute windows where they shared the identical court. And Saturday, the following chapter begins.
At first, Kelsey Plum’s comments stung Jonquel Jones.
It was the immediate aftermath of the Liberty’s WNBA Finals loss to the Aces in October, and Plum told reporters inside Barclays Center that, as much because the Liberty were “a team, they’re not a team.”
They contained strong individual players, but they “don’t care about one another,” she said, with the crux of her point — which Plum later said was taken out of context — being that there’s no solution to microwave a superteam.
That hurt since the emotions were fresh, Jones said.
The Liberty’s quest for the franchise’s first title collapsed in Game 4.
Plum’s comments followed.
And in an exit interview with reporters, Jones called her answer “classless,” blasting the Aces star for selecting to “essentially s–t on another person” as a substitute of celebrating their second straight title.
Eight months later, reflecting on what went unsuitable in that series ahead of the primary Liberty-Aces showdown of 2024 on Saturday at Michelob ULTRA Arena, Jones told The Post that “there was some validity” to what Plum said.
The Liberty didn’t possess the identical cohesion that has ignited their 11-2 start — one win shy of matching their franchise-best — in 2024.
The heartbreak of crushed title dreams hasn’t worn off, and that’s something that, at the very least for Jones, might never truly subside.
However the gap in connectivity — and, at its most simple root, time together on the identical court — that served because the Aces’ strength and the Liberty’s shortcoming last 12 months has slowly faded as one in every of the WNBA’s budding rivalries renews.
“[Plum] definitely gave a special perspective,” Jones said Wednesday, “and I saw it. I saw what she saw after I went back and I watched the sport, and it form of felt like we were all attempting to do it individually just attempting to get one win versus coming together as a team and attempting to get a win.”
Through 13 games in 2024, the Liberty have benefited from returning the identical starting lineup and assembled a bench that continues to carve out roles.
They’ve operated — and won — the past three games without start line guard Courtney Vandersloot.
“We’re not perfect,” Jones said, “but I feel like we’re definitely leaps and bounds ahead of what we were last 12 months.”
Still, the Aces loom as the last word measuring stick.
They snapped their first three-game losing streak since 2019 on Thursday, and nearly all of their title-winning roster stays intact.
A’ja Wilson has emerged as an early MVP candidate.
And even when the Liberty can contain Wilson, secondary scoring options resembling Plum and Jackie Young lurk.
To assistant coach Olaf Lange, it became obvious within the Finals that the Liberty didn’t execute the defensive rotations required to match the Aces’ plethora of threats.
The depth — and star-filled construction — of those rosters helped form one in every of the WNBA’s budding rivalries to start with.
The Liberty and Aces faced one another 4 times in August and 4 more times two months later, and each earned statement wins.
The Liberty took the Commissioner’s Cup by 19 points.
The Aces reached the head of the game for a second consecutive season.
They collectively helped set rankings records and epitomized the expansion of the league — before a rookie class of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and others arrived and continued to rewrite the usual for television viewership.
Rivalries, usually, are great for the WNBA, Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said.
However the parity popping up — the Mystics, 0-12 on the time, led the Liberty within the fourth quarter Sunday — doesn’t dilute the Liberty-Aces matchups, Jones said, as each can coexist and can profit the league, even when Brondello and Stewart insisted the Liberty won’t approach this game otherwise despite what unfolded last 12 months.
The Aces were the team that prevented the Liberty from scripting a storybook ending to a 12 months where they assembled a group of stars and tried to figure every part out on the fly.
They were the defense that made the one final stop within the fourth quarter of Game 4 — the Vandersloot miss that provided the backdrop for Plum’s comments that soon became national headlines — and caused Stewart to have lingering regret for the jumper she didn’t take.
“This 12 months’s different,” Stewart said Wednesday. “It’s a latest 12 months. You gotta turn the page from what happened last 12 months.”
But that every one shaped the aura of the Liberty and the Aces and the 40-minute windows where they shared the identical court. And Saturday, the following chapter begins.
