Liberty star Breanna Stewart had a simple personal goal for this season.
“To be better than I was,” she said earlier this week.
Much of the talk once Stewart arrived at training camp had been about how good she felt.
But in Saturday’s preseason opener, Stewart showed just what good shape she is in.
Her run was short.
She logged less than 12 minutes of action, but she made the most of her time on the court.
Stewart looked like she was already in midseason form.
She scored the Liberty’s first 12 points of the second quarter in a span of a little more than two minutes.
Stewart got downhill and attacked the basket with ease.
She drained both of her 3-point attempts.
Everything seemed to be clicking for Stewart, who finished with 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting.
“Stewie just does what she does, obviously, getting downhill, being able to play in space,” Jonquel Jones said. “I think our offense this year is just really well suited for her and going to give her more spacing and ways to kind of facilitate as well so, obviously she’s going to be great.”
Saturday was a good start for Stewart.
Here are three other takeaways from New York’s 109-92 loss:
Welcome back, Han Xu
Han couldn’t wait to play in front of Liberty fans once again.
She got her chance Saturday and made the most of it.
Han finished with a team-high 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
She drained a 3 and went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line in 23 minutes.
The Liberty even dabbled with a jumbo-sized lineup featuring her, Stewart and Jones that had even Caitlin Clark stunned.
“It was funny because me and Caitlin were checking in at the same time and she was like, ‘Man, that big lineup for you guys is massive,’” Jones said. “I was like, ‘Yeah man.’ I think it can be really good for us, so I’m excited to be out there with them, two really talented, really special players.”
Han may have looked a little lost at times on the defensive end.
Overall, though, it was a good day at the office for Han.
DeMarco’s debut
New Liberty coach Chris DeMarco punctuated his debut on the Barclays Center sideline by getting a technical foul.
“I loved it,” Sabrina Ionescu said of DeMarco’s tech. “He winked after.”
Overall, though, the Liberty’s preseason opener was a mixed bag of sorts.
There were individual standout performances, including Anneli Maley, who played big minutes off the bench.
There were some not-so-pretty moments as well.
The Liberty committed 24 turnovers, which the Fever turned into 29 points.
But those miscues are part of the growing pains of implementing an entirely new offensive system.
Still, Jones believes Saturday “was a good first game for us.”
“The offense flowed really well for us,” she said. “It felt good being out there and understanding where we’re supposed to be offensively. … So I think we just go up from here.”
Key players’ absences loom
The Liberty are still missing several important players.
Satou Sabally, Rebecca Allen and Marine Fauthoux were ruled out for Saturday’s game for what the team called “reconditioning.”
Leonie Fiebich, Marine Johannès, Pauline Astier and Raquel Carrera are among the players who have yet to report to camp as they finish up their overseas commitments.
Their absences obviously impact lineup combinations and building chemistry.
“It’s not easy, especially because we’re all trying to learn the new system and understand our role and how it all works,” Ionescu said. “But I’d say Chris has done just a really, really good job in terms of being really clear, understanding how it is we’re all going to fit in, how it’s supposed to look.
“[DeMarco has] kind of preached that it’s not about being the best team now, it’s about continuing to buy in and learn. When the new players come in, they’re not going to be overloaded with 30,000 plays that they have to learn on Day 1 — we only have about two, so they’re kind of going to be able to pick up where we left off. Hopefully they can just fit right in seamlessly and continue to learn.”
