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The Liberty’s final preseason game, set for Sunday against the Connecticut Sun, isn’t focused on the outcome but serves a greater purpose.
This matchup acts as a vital checkpoint for the Liberty, offering coach Chris DeMarco the opportunity to test various lineup combinations and gauge the team’s grasp of the new offensive strategies. He aims to observe the chemistry, rhythm, and overall progress since their first preseason encounter.
With New York’s roster packed with talent, winning on skill alone is possible. However, DeMarco has stressed since the start of training camp two weeks ago that the team must adhere to a structured process without skipping any steps.
The integration of a new offensive flow and the refinement of defensive strategies is envisioned as a gradual development rather than a rapid overhaul.
DeMarco is intentionally introducing new concepts in stages, focusing on establishing a solid framework over spontaneous play.
He wants the Liberty to focus on establishing good habits right now rather than creating flashy highlights.
“It’s important that we build this thing the right way,” DeMarco said Friday, “and everything we do is for October.”
The Liberty’s first preseason game on April 25 was riddled with flaws.
It was clear timing and positioning remained a work in progress. The team committed 22 turnovers.
Upon reviewing the film, Sabrina Ionescu said the team executed the correct actions less than 30 percent of the time.
The coaches weren’t mad or disappointed by the low execution. It’s to be expected considering the drastic changes the team has made from last season.
“It’s just building from the last one we had,” Ionescu said. “The first one, it was four days into learning the new offense and was a little clunky and everybody was out of position… This is normal. Until everyone starts to learn where they have to go, it’s all a part of the learning process, and so I think this next game for us is first, getting that number above what it was last game, but continuing to build and chip away and little by little everything will feel really easy and not have to think about it.”
Adding complexity to the situation is the fact that the Liberty are not yet at full strength.
Marine Johannès and Pauline Astier joined the team in recent days, but the Liberty are still without Leonie Fiebich and Raquel Carrera, who are expected to remain with their Spanish club Valencia until the season ends later this month.
Others, including Rebecca Allen, Satou Sabally and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, have been limited participants in practice, at times, as they ramp up for the season.
Sunday’s game doesn’t need to be perfect, but the Liberty need to show that they’re making progress as Friday’s season opener draws near.
Are they making the correct reads? Is the spacing more consistent? Are defensive switches happening instinctively rather than being delayed? Are they communicating well? Are they stringing together good possessions rather than executing in isolated instances?
“It’s really about just getting our spacing down for when we drive, what are our relocations going to look like, are we going to reshape,” DeMarco said. “There’s so much for this team to learn just with the new staff for us to kind of figure out what works together so that we can grow together.”
DeMarco plans to add more complexity to the team’s offense as the season progresses. But right now, the goal is to make the simple things second nature so when the time comes for the playbook to expand, players aren’t thinking so much and just executing.
Ionescu said the coaching staff has done a good job at breaking things down to the granular level. They’re explaining the reasoning behind every action and movement, which Ionescu believes is helpful.
“There’s times where your job is to do something that involves nothing with the ball, and as a player, if you understand, like, ‘I’m doing this because it’s creating a shot for my teammate,’ you better be doing it to the fullest of your ability because you have to for the team,” she said. “And so there’s a why to everything no matter what it is we’re doing… I feel like when as a player, when you know all of that, it’s almost like you kind of understand the importance of doing it and with the speed that you have to do it at.”