Stewart, Liberty aim to bounce back against Wilson, Aces on TSN
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The defending WNBA champion New York Liberty look to get back on track Tuesday night as they host the Las Vegas Aces at Barclays Center on TSN.
Watch the Liberty host the Aces LIVE at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on TSN1/3/4 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
It is a matchup that features the past two WNBA MVP winners in A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. After a dominant 2024 season that saw Wilson capture MVP for the third time in her career, she is averaging 21.9 points and 9.0 rebounds this year for Las Vegas.
Stewart, the 2023 MVP winner, is leading the Liberty in points (19.8) and rebounds (6.4), one year after helping New York win its first-ever WNBA title.
After starting the season with nine straight wins, the Liberty have come back to earth. They are 3-6 in their past nine games and have struggled without centre Jonquel Jones, who has been out of the lineup since Jun. 21 with an ankle injury. Without Jones in that time span, New York is 2-4.
Sabrina Ionescu has had back-to-back 20-plus point outings in the past two games for New York. In Sunday’s 79-70 loss to the Storm, Ionescu had 22 points with nine rebounds, six assists and had five threes.
In Las Vegas, it hasn’t been the Aces of recent years as the team has struggled to string together consecutive wins, have done so just three times this year.
It hasn’t been a seamless transition for Jewell Loyd, who is in her first year with the Aces after a blockbuster trade from the Storm landed her in Las Vegas. Through the first 18 games of the season, Loyd is averaging just 10.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists. It’s a drop off from her last year in Seattle where she had 19.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
The Aces addressed the forward position last week, trading a first-round pick to the Dallas Wings for NaLyssa Smith.
Smith has appeared in two games so far for Las Vegas and had a strong outing on Sunday against Connecticut, scoring 11 points with 10 rebounds and two steals in an 86-68 victory.
In their last meeting on May 17, Stewart had 25 points as the Liberty picked up a 92-78 victory. New York is 7-2 at home this season.