On Friday night, Phoenix ousted New York in the first round of the WNBA playoffs, 79-73, to win the series 2-1 and advance to the league’s Final Four. The Liberty needed more from Sabrina Ionescu, just as it did all year.
It’s a good bet no one in town knows who Sabrina Ionescu is. The Liberty rarely promotes her. She seems to be more content staying in the background rather than being the team’s spokesperson.
You rarely hear from her as you do with other New York sports athletes. Her jerseys are seldom seen in these parts. Ionescu could walk around New York, and no one would notice her. When someone thinks of the Liberty, it’s Breanna Stewart, not Ionescu.
But here’s the problem: New York drafted Ionescu as the 2020 No. 1 overall pick with the intention of her elevating the franchise. Now in her fifth year with the team and in the league, she has played like a complementary player, not a star, unlike Caitlin Clark or Paige Bueckers.
Outside of a game-winning shot last year against the Lynx in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, she has not delivered great moments for her team. Quite frankly, she has been a disappointment.
The game seems like it’s too fast, her defense has been atrocious, and she has come off small way too often in big games.
In a do-or-die playoff game on Friday night, Ioncesu once again showed she is not quite right to make the Liberty her team. She scored 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting, but don’t let those numbers fool you. In a big spot, especially when the Mercury went on a 7-0 run after having a 1-point lead at 65-64. That spurt gave the home team a 72-64 lead with five minutes to go.
The Mercury were begging to be beaten on this Friday night. Stewart did all she could. If Ionescu performed in the fourth quarter, we would be talking about a playoff rematch with the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx from last year’s epic WNBA Finals.
We can talk about Ionescu’s toe injury all we want. But Breanna Stewart, who has been persevering through a knee injury, scored 14 of her 30 points in the fourth quarter despite having suffered an MCL sprain a few days prior.
Here’s the problem with Ionescu: She may be too soft, unable to handle physical play, and that shows most on the rebounding side of the game. The team needed her to come up big this season with Stewart missing most of the season, but that didn’t happened. Yes, the Liberty made the playoffs, but never challenged for a place in the top echelon of the WNBA.
Ionescu could have been that player to overcome Liberty’s deficiencies. That’s what stars are supposed to do. But she just never got it done, and five years into her career, one has to wonder if she ever will be that alpha player.
Unless she improves her shot selection or has a stronger heart, it’s a safe bet that we’ve seen her at her best. If so, that’s just not good enough.
