It was obvious to Olaf Lange in the WNBA Finals.
The Liberty needed multiple players on offense to generate baskets against the Las Vegas Aces. All layups were contested.
The Aces always forced the extra pass — underneath the basket, on the weak side, basically anywhere on the court.
“And I can’t say that, to the same extent, we forced the other teams to do that on defense,” Lange, a Liberty assistant, said Monday ahead of their game against the Storm at Barclays Center.
So that became an emphasis after the superteam fell short of clinching the franchise’s first title.
The Liberty’s defense, statistically, was one of the WNBA’s best units in 2023 with the third-best defensive rating (99.4).
Their defense, statistically, has remained one of the best through the first week this season, too — they’re tied with the Connecticut Sun for the second-best defensive rating (90.8).
But the need for underlying improvements, especially with rotations and off-ball movement, has remained an under-the-radar point of emphasis.
Lange hasn’t seen the growth at this point, with the “intent” from all players offset by the lack of practice time given the packed slate of games. At some point, though, he’s expecting it to all fall into place.
“It’s just a little bit on the back burner or slow development,” Lange said, “just because we can’t practice.”
To forward Jonquel Jones, it’s “being on a string.” The Liberty have shifted to where they’re supposed to sit in their initial defense, when everything can be scripted and coordinated.
Their issues, Jones said, materialize when the rotations — the third, the fourth, “sometimes even fifth rotations,” she added — begin.
That’s when the scramble begins. And that’s when everything can get clustered.
Midway through the third quarter against the Mystics on May 14, Washington’s Aaliyah Edwards ended up with an open jumper after the ball cycled and cycled and cycled — and ended with Edwards sneaking behind the Liberty defense and standing open for a pass.
There were four passes. There was a screen and a roll that didn’t even feature a pass but added extra movement to monitor.
Edwards didn’t have a Liberty defender within two steps — let alone close enough to contest — when she elevated for her shot.
“Just making sure that you’re not really being reactive, but you’re being proactive,” Jones said Saturday. “And that once one person moves, we all move together.”
The metrics and stats have painted a picture depicting the Liberty as a strong defensive group, though.
They’ve allowed an average of 4.0 fast-break points per game. They allowed just two Saturday against a Fever team intentionally trying to push the pace.
And the Liberty have been able to overcome those areas for growth and win their first three games.
It helped that two of them were against a rebuilding Fever team — with rookie Caitlin Clark and plenty of other young pieces adjusting on the fly — where leads of 20-plus points could’ve been deceiving.
“It’s having discipline to execute what we want and trusting the team behind it,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said. “So I think it really does start without the ball.”
The obvious benefit for the Liberty in the second season with the same starting lineup revolves around their chemistry on offense.
The defensive strides might not matter until the playoffs arrive, until the Liberty inch closer to another showdown with the Aces in a best-of-three or best-of-five series.
Las Vegas, with nearly all of its lineup still intact, too, will continue to make the Liberty beat them with multiple scoring options, continue to force the extra passes and eliminate any scoring lane possible — even on the weak side.
This time, the Liberty might be able to do that, too.
“We can’t have any weak links,” Brondello said, “because when you do, that’s when, you know, the foundation’s not very strong.”
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