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The Liberty keep running away from the pack atop the WNBA standings.
But it’s still not enough. Not even after Tuesday’s 94-74 rout of the Dallas Wings.
It isn’t enough to salve the sting of losing in last year’s Finals.
Not until they get back and finish the deal.
That isn’t a goal they’re shying away from. It’s one they’re owning.
“We haven’t achieved our goal yet,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “It’s about: Can we get better? How do we get better? It’s coming ready to every practice every single time. It’s getting the recovery you need. There’s two months left in the season, and that will go away in a flash, and hopefully we’re the last team to win.”
Brondello, who coached Australia to Olympic bronze earlier this month in Paris, enjoyed her 56th birthday Tuesday with a laugher at Barclays Center.
But the present she really wants — that all her Liberty players want — is a ring.
They came up maddeningly short in a loss to the Las Vegas Aces last season.
Now, the Liberty have come back from the Olympic break with a 103-68 laugher in L.A. then a 79-67 victory at Las Vegas.
But it won’t make up for the Finals heartbreak. Neither will the seven straight wins, or league-leading 24-4 record, four games ahead of the Connecticut Sun.
That’s why there’s no danger of complacency setting in despite their gaudy record.
“We haven’t done anything yet. So that’s really it,” Breanna Stewart said with a shrug. “We like where we’re at. But we know that we have to keep going.”
Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu won the women’s basketball final in Paris, the first Olympic gold for the latter in a triumph that Stewart said will be life-changing for her younger teammate.
But even missing Ionescu — who leads them in both scoring and assists — with a sore neck, the shorthanded Liberty stayed focused.
Former MVPs Stewart and Jonquel Jones kept them that way, Stewart a game-high 26 points and a dozen rebounds, and Jones adding 23 points and another dozen boards.
Courtney Vandersloot shouldered more backcourt creation in the absence of Ionescu with 15 points and 11 assists, both season-highs.
“I mean, our job isn’t done. We have an ultimate goal, and that’s to be in a championship and ultimately win a championship,” Jones said. “So it’s no reason to be complacent. We haven’t achieved anything yet.”
The Liberty put together a 16-5 run to close the first quarter, scoring the final eight points of the period to lead 26-16.
They padded that cushion to 15 in the second quarter, and 16 in the third.
When they saw the lead shrivel to 69-65 seconds into the fourth, Jones stemmed the tide.
“There’s still a long way to go,” Brondello said. “Becky [Hammon, Aces coach] gave us a really good compliment recently after we played them. [She said] we played selfless basketball. That’s the greatest attribute of any team, and for me as a coach, that’s the greatest feedback any coach could give an opposing coach. So that means we’re playing the right way.
“Does that mean we’re a championship team.? No, no. We have to continue to keep working hard and playing in the right way. And hopefully if it does come true, it would be awesome.”
Much of that has been thanks to three legitimate stars and an improved defense. Ionescu, whom teams actively hunted and took advantage of on that end of the floor, is posting her career-best Defensive Rating per Basketball Reference.
“Yeah, it’s the extra effort. It’s understanding that we need everybody to be locked-in defensively, where we’re only as good as whoever the weakest link is. And last year teams did want to exploit her defensively,” Jones said. “But this year she’s really made her mind up to be better in that area, and it helps us be better as a team.”
