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00:03A disappointing end to the Liberty season.
00:05It came to an end here at the Barclays Center in Game 3 of their WNBA Semi-Final Series
00:10as they fell to the Atlanta Dream 85-83, which means the Liberty got swept.
00:14Now, I predicted a sweep, but it was the other way.
00:17It did not go this way, and you've got to give credit to the Atlanta Dream
00:20as they out-muscled the Liberty in this series.
00:23They out-executed the Liberty in this series, and you saw that again tonight.
00:27Now, the Liberty had a much better effort in Games 2 and 3 than they did in Game 1.
00:31They even had 16 turnovers in Game 2, which I talked about, only 9 tonight.
00:36This was a very closely contested game.
00:38It was very close throughout.
00:40The shooting percentages were pretty even.
00:42The Liberty only got out-rebounded by 1 on the glass.
00:45The turnover margin was also closer in this game.
00:47So there were things you like better about the Liberty's effort.
00:50Effort wasn't a question.
00:51Atlanta just out-executed them down the stretch, and the Liberty fall here.
00:55And it's a very disappointing end to the season, because at the beginning of the season,
00:59when we were doing the show and Madeline, Kenny, and I were talking about
01:02what went on with the Liberty and the expectations for them coming out of the offseason,
01:07it was championship.
01:08That was the talk for the Liberty, and they fall short of a championship here
01:12as they are swept by the Dream.
01:13But after the game, head coach Chris DiMarco, his message was still proud of his team.
01:18Yeah, well, first off, I want to say our players fought like hell.
01:23They played so hard.
01:25And whether it was getting out of that first round and had a chance to play in this one,
01:31or it was just these three games.
01:33Like, I'm so proud of our players and how hard they played.
01:36You can't always count on makes and stuff happens.
01:41But as far as the fight, the attention, the detail, and the effort, it was all there.
01:48Yeah, I just thought we had some missed opportunities throughout.
01:52Basketball is about the possession game, and we obviously struggled those first two games
01:57and made some adjustments and tried to speed the game up a little bit.
02:01They have a hell of a team, a hell of players.
02:03They fought, and I'm just really proud of our team.
02:06Now, while Chris DiMarco was proud of his team, one of the questions that came after this loss to the
02:12Dream
02:13was what is the future for head coach Chris DiMarco?
02:16And he was asked if he was told anything about his future.
02:19And Chris DiMarco said as far as he knew that he would be returning next year as head coach.
02:24Now, when you think about the head coaching situation and following last season,
02:28Liberty firing Sandy Brondello, moving on from her, and then hiring Chris DiMarco,
02:33coach that won a championship, there was going to be a lot of scrutiny
02:35and a lot of eyes on Chris DiMarco and how he coached this team
02:39and obviously fell short of expectations here, did get the upset in the first round over the Lynx.
02:45However, it is a disappointing finish for Liberty to get knocked out by the Dream,
02:50and that's not taking credit away from the Dream, but just the expectations and standards that this team had.
02:55Now, Chris DiMarco was asked that.
02:57He talked about the fact that he expected to be back as Liberty head coach in 2027.
03:02He also talked about the fact that he expects to just get right back to work.
03:05There's not going to be any break.
03:06This is a loss that he's sitting with, the players are sitting with,
03:08and they are going to get right back to work.
03:10However, the players were also asked about whether or not they thought Chris DiMarco
03:16should or would be back in 2027.
03:19And take a listen to what Breonna Stewart had to say.
03:21I think it just jumped to kind of talk a thing about that right now, echoing what they said.
03:30Like, obviously, those decisions aren't ours, but I think, like, my focus and what I'm thinking about right now
03:40is just, like, missed opportunity.
03:44Now, when you hear Stewie there, that is a much different tone than she had last year
03:49when she was asked about Sandy Brandello returning.
03:52Very different tone.
03:52She was almost incredulous that the question was asked.
03:55And the players talked about Stewie did this, too.
03:58The days was not their decision to make.
04:00This was about the front office.
04:01They were also asked about personnel, things with this team, which I'll get to a bit later.
04:05But this was not what they talked about.
04:08And part of the talk in this game was what made Atlanta such a difficult matchup.
04:12But I think when you look at this series, and we talked about this in our Liberty Lately roundtable preview,
04:17what was going to make us a difficult matchup?
04:19And although we all picked the Liberty to win, we knew it was not going to be an easy series
04:23because of what Atlanta brought on the defensive end, their length, their ability to generate turnovers
04:29and then score points off of those turnovers, and the physicality.
04:32They really brought it in every sense.
04:34And you saw the speed of Jordan Canada in this series really frustrate the Liberty guards
04:38as she was able to get into the paint.
04:40And also did a great job of shooting from downtown.
04:43Atlanta is just a really complete defensive team.
04:45And you saw that.
04:46The defense, the athleticism, that really hurt the Liberty in this season and in this series
04:52and throughout the season.
04:53So it didn't really misspeak there.
04:54In this season, that did hurt the Liberty as well, too.
04:57And after this Game 3 loss, Coach DiMarco also talked about what made Atlanta such a tough matchup
05:04for the New York Liberty.
05:05They play a different brand of basketball with some of the switchability on a ball with their physicality.
05:11You know, some of the teams we struggle with, and I'll say with the Valkyrie, it's the same.
05:15It's just a different brand of basketball.
05:17And I actually, I mean, again, I thought our players matched it, if not exceeded it at times.
05:22And at the end of the day, like, you know, some shots go in, some don't.
05:26And you're battling for loose balls.
05:27And, like, where's the whistle going?
05:28All that stuff matters.
05:30And I just thought we had the right focus.
05:32And, you know, they had a little bit of a lead.
05:33We fought back, had our own lead.
05:35And we just didn't close.
05:36So, again, good team, well-coached team.
05:40And, yeah, really, I really think going forward, we know exactly what it's going to take with teams like this.
05:50And going forward, when you look at this series, anytime it comes to the playoffs and it's done and you
05:54look at the series,
05:55you're looking at the team that knocked you out.
05:57And what does your team need to do to get to that next level?
06:01Now, this is a team that has a championship core.
06:03There are four players still on this team that are from that 2024 team that won it all.
06:09But now you're starting to play different teams.
06:11And can you match that level of physicality?
06:13Can you match that level of athleticism?
06:16And one of the questions that's going to be asked about this Liberty team going forward into this offseason is,
06:21is the roster construction right?
06:23And I think it's more than a fair question.
06:25Do the Liberties need to make tweaks to their rosters to be able to play with teams like the Atlanta
06:30Dream,
06:31like the Golden State Valkyries who are still playing,
06:33and gave the Liberty a lot of trouble this season?
06:36It'll be interesting to see what Jonathan Kolb and company do,
06:38not just in terms of personnel in coaching, but also in the players on the floor.
06:43And Brianna Stewart was asked about that and if the Liberty needed to do anything to tweak to their roster
06:49going forward
06:51and what she would like to see or thinks that the team needs more of.
06:53And this is what she had to say.
06:55You know, you see Atlanta and they really just work well together.
06:59I think that for us, it just took a while to find our identity,
07:06what we were going to do defensively and how we were going to kind of play with teams.
07:10So I'm not going to tell you exactly what we need because I just I don't think that's appropriate.
07:17But defense is really what, like people say, defense wins championships.
07:25It's true.
07:26It does.
07:27And Atlanta, they have three of the top players, the top three in steals, you know,
07:34and it's no compare and contrast because we're the New York Liberty.
07:38But like we just needed to, like, really understand our identity a little bit better from the jump.
07:44I think the most interesting thing that Stewie said there was about this team not knowing their identity from the
07:50start.
07:51She had another quote in a press conference where she said that playing a season is not like cramming for
07:56a test.
07:56You have to know that identity from the jump.
07:59And the Liberty just never really got there this season.
08:01And Maddie and I have talked a lot about how inconsistent the team has been this season.
08:07You never really felt like they had any consistencies.
08:09They started to play a little bit better towards the end of the season.
08:11You saw that in the first round matchup against the Minnesota Lynx, which appeared to be a very good matchup
08:16for them.
08:16But you also saw this season the teams that they struggled against, as I mentioned, like Golden State, like Atlanta.
08:23So now that bodes the question, what is next for the New York Liberty?
08:27And that's a really loaded question because you're going to have to think about, OK, Jonathan Cole said that he
08:34needed to get the next coaching hire right when he moved on from Sandy Brondello.
08:38Did he get it right?
08:39Does he need to tweak that again?
08:41Should we tweak that again?
08:43Do players on the roster need to be changed?
08:46What do the Liberty need to do?
08:46I think they could use some more athleticism.
08:48I think they could use another two-way guard on this roster that could really help them.
08:53Those are all things that are going to have to be answered in his offseason.
08:56Is Satsu Saboli part of the plans in 2027?
08:59Chris DiMarco talked about how she could have helped in this Atlanta series, and this would have been a fantastic
09:03series for her.
09:04I do agree with that, and I do think Satsu Saboli would have been a huge help.
09:07But obviously the focus is on her getting healthy and then being able to return in 2027.
09:12So this offseason is going to have a lot of questions for the New York Liberty.
09:16We're not done here on Liberty lately, as Maddie was not able to be with me for this, but she
09:22will join me next week.
09:23We are going to do a debrief of the season.
09:25We'll do a deep dive, look more ahead into what the Liberty need to do.
09:28So there's more coming away on Liberty lately.
09:30We'll have you covered throughout the offseason, but it is a disappointing end for the fans that were here at
09:35the Barclays Center,
09:36and they gave their team a nice ovation coming off the floor.
09:39Fans wanted to see more.
09:40They wanted to see their team get back to the WNBA Finals.
09:43This is a team that had been there two seasons in a row before last season,
09:48and now two seasons where they have not gone to the WNBA Finals.
09:51But as Stewie also said, getting to the WNBA Finals is not easy.
09:55And when you have experience like they do, and they've lost a lot of experience on this team
09:58with only four players that have been on that 2024 championship team, it's hard to get back.
10:03And I think the liberty of finding that out and what's next for them is going to be,
10:06how do they retool, and how do they not have wasted opportunities with Brianna Stewart still playing at a high
10:13level?
10:13And I know she doesn't want any more wasted opportunities,
10:15and this organization seems to be very focused on trying to get back to the mountaintop.
10:19So that's something we will definitely talk about.
10:21This offseason will break down more next week.
10:24But it was a fun season here covering the Liberty at the Barclays Center.
10:28So much more to come your way on Liberty, ladies.
10:30So for the last time here in 2026, Dexter Henry signing off from the Barclays Center.
10:35We'll catch you with more stuff on the next edition of Liberty Lately.