Liberty coach gets real on Sabrina Ionescu’s shooting prowess

The New York Liberty have struggled to find consistency during this WNBA season, a season in which they were expected to be contenders. But with the second half of the season underway and the Liberty engaged in a tight race for playoff positioning, All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu has started rounding into form. Ionescu dealt with injury concerns earlier this year, but she’s ramped up her play in recent games.

Prior to the Liberty’s game against the Seattle Storm on Wednesday, head coach Chris DeMarco spoke about Sabrina Ionescu’s play this season and how her shooting is a result of both utilizing her teammates and the work she put in during the offseason, as per Myles Ehrlich of the ‘Pull Up’ podcast.

“One, it’s a team effort. Nothing‘s more frustrating in basketball than like you’re trying to run pick-and-roll, and you don’t set up the defense, and then it’s an illegal screen, and then the big’s like, ‘you’ve got to wait,’ or you come and set a screen, the timing’s off, and the guard’s frustrated,” DeMarco said. “But it just shows how much she puts in the work. It’s something she wanted to improve on. She did in the summer. She came back and it shows.

“I do think her patience and the way she’s moved the defense with her eyes and just her cadence all around is very good right now, and it’s creating opportunities for her. But it’s one of those things you have to be in sync with the bigs, or if it’s guard-to-guard, you have to set up the defense. You’ve got to get them on their heels. You’ve got to create space, and I do think she’s done a great job of doing that.”

Ionescu has appeared in 19 games for the Liberty this season, at a little over 31 minutes per game. She’s averaging 16.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists with splits of 43.3 percent shooting from the field, 35.8 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 90.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

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