The Liberty’s 82-77 win over the Valkyries on Thursday put a spotlight on the importance of Jonquel Jones.

Jones, known as the Liberty team’s tough player, was unable to play in the recent victory, marking just her second absence from a regular-season game since 2023 due to discomfort in her right hamstring that acted up on Thursday morning.

Coach Sandy Brondello said Jones is “fine,” though the 2024 Finals MVP was ruled out for the game out of an abundance of caution.

“I never want players to compete unless they are at their best,” said Brondello before the match. “Hopefully, they will recover by tomorrow since we have another game scheduled.”

The Liberty felt Jones’ absence.

During their initial four games, the Liberty managed to score the second-highest number of points in the paint per game, averaging 40.5 points, while the Valkyries are at the bottom of the list with only 24 paint points per game.

On Thursday, though, the Liberty struggled to get into the paint and were outscored in that area 30-18.

New York also was outrebounded 41-36.

“[Jones makes] a huge difference, especially from the rebounding perspective, protecting our rim, and then obviously, she’s at least 10 to 20 points on the board for us,” Natasha Cloud said after the win. “So when you lose your 5 and someone as versatile as JJ — someone that can bring the ball up, shoot 3, trail 3s, play in pick-and-roll, get to the paint, shoot middie — you’re losing a lot.”

It didn’t help that New York’s center depth already was thin with Nyara Sabally out for her third consecutive game because of right knee discomfort.

Brondello said Sabally had an individual workout Thursday and has been shooting.

The third-year center could be back as soon as Friday’s game in Washington, according to Brondello.

The hope is Jones will be back, too.

“I’m not a doctor but the doctor says everything’s fine there and just making sure Nyara is feeling good about it, that’s the most important thing and not bringing her back too soon,” Brondello said. “She’s getting there. … And hopefully on the flight, nothing goes crazy, and we’re hopeful she’ll go tomorrow.”

Thursday was the second of four games the Liberty are scheduled to play in six days.

The Liberty are set to complete their first of two back-to-backs Friday when they play in Washington.

Then, they’ll turn around and host the Sun at Barclays Center on Sunday.

Brondello said she’s been “mindful” to not overload her team, knowing that there’s still a long season ahead.

“We’re building up our conditioning the start of the year,” Brondello said. “Look, we need to win. We want to win. We don’t want to lose a game that we know we’re capable of winning. But hopefully, I don’t have to go too long of minutes with all of them.”

Thursday’s tight game meant each starter logged at least 28 minutes.