NEW YORK — With less than 90 seconds to go, Stefanie Dolson stepped back from the huddle and waved for the crowd to get to its feet and get loud.
The 7,102 at the Barclays Center, filling all but the curtained-off nose-bleeds, responded, calling “We want Han,” to get Han Xu off the bench for the finish. This is the kind of response those who assembled this potential juggernaut and cultural-icon-in-waiting, the New York Liberty, envisioned.
The game, too, was another reminder of what this assemblage of players, several of the best in the world in the prime of their careers, can become and what it could mean for women’s professional basketball in this media and entertainment capital.
“I don’t think anyone would sit here and say that’s not what they think they can be,” said Sun coach Stephanie White, after the Liberty’s emphatic 81-65 win Saturday, a game televised by CBS. “Certainly, on paper, you look at this roster and you think they have an opportunity to be exceptional.
“Now, we’ve seen a lot of these teams like this that have had opportunities to be exceptional, some of them have gone on to do that, some of them haven’t.”
On days like last Sunday, when the Liberty beat Indiana 90-73, running away in the first half, or Saturday, when they outscored the Sun 25-13 in the third, this looks like that “super team.”
At other times, like the season-opening loss to Washington or the sluggish first half against the better-than-expected Sun, the Liberty (2-1) look like a work in progress, like a skyscraper still surrounded by scaffolding.
“Just settling in,” said Breanna Stewart, who eventually took over the game in the way her fans at UConn are so used to seeing. “Our spacing. We were wanting something so badly that we didn’t have the patience to wait for the second side. Once we made reversals, and got them in motion, we were able to do that in the second half.”
A lot of X’s and O’s there, but what it comes down to, when a team is put together like this, with Stewart coming from Seattle as the offseason’s most prized free agent, Jonquel Jones, also a league MVP, acquired from Connecticut, Sabrina Ionescu, the top pick in the draft, and Courtney Vandersloot, acquired from Chicago to be the court general, it comes down to chemistry. How long will it take for these pieces, each so spectacular as individuals, to form a cohesive team.
And this is why, in all sports, some “super teams” end up disappointing, like the other tenants at this address, the Nets, did so spectacularly. Molding multiple stars, each used to being a previous team’s dominant player, is not as commonplace as, say, Geno Auriemma has so often made that process look in Connecticut.
“The thing that separates them is, which teams are willing to give up self for team,” White said. “Which players are willing to make the extra pass, set the big screen. Which players, while understanding that they can take the big shot, are making the extra pass to get somebody else the big shot. It’s in certain moments, knowing when to take over and when to let go of the reins a little bit.”
Last Sunday, Stewart went crazy, scoring a franchise record 45 points, half the Liberty’s total. hitting 15 of 21 from the floor, 9 of 9 from the line. Saturday, she struggled with her shooting, 7 for 16 and 4 for 7, but she “knew when to take over.”
The Sun (3-1), by the way, are not the blow-it-up and start-from-scratch project some, including me, anticipated. They are tough-minded, well put together by GM Darius Taylor and coached by White. They induced six early turnovers and led almost the entire first half, by as many as eight points.
In the third quarter, Stewart had 11 points and four steals. She finished with 21 points, six rebounds, six steals and four blocks. With Jones in foul trouble and limited, Vandersloot had 18 points and 10 assists, and Ionescu had 17 points.
Just as important, for chemistry’s sake, the Liberty had 25 assists on 32 baskets and 16 points off the bench. New York’s role players keep the roster from appearing top-heavy, and its post players can pass, like Dolson, with five assists off the bench. Good day for the ex-Huskies; Tiffany Hayes scored 16 for the Sun.
The Liberty, pushed into a half-court game, made their adjustments.
“Not very good in the first half, better in the second half, but still not as good as we want to be” coach Sandy Brondello said. “You saw near the end, you know in basketball, you have your sets, but it’s really about playing to each other. We had Stewie moving around, pinching, setting the screen and we got more open looks by the movement.”
When it starts to click in Brooklyn, the Liberty look unstoppable, “a match-up nightmare,” White said, “with balanced scoring in all areas and players capable of going off at any minute and a high-IQ team.”
Given the winning background these players have, particularly Stewart, who won four national championships at UConn and two WNBA rings with Seattle, it’s hard to imagine this would-be super team going the way of the Nets. With the expanded 40-game season, there will be ample time, too, to get this collection of talent to mesh together.
And what has been the missing piece for the WNBA? A championship team in New York, where franchises are supposed to win, become league flagships and weave themselves into the city’s fabric, the way the team that was supposed to play on this parcel of land in downtown Brooklyn, the Dodgers, once did.
The Liberty, after moving from The Garden to Westchester to Brooklyn three seasons ago, have what it takes to be all of that. This could be their summer – if it all comes together.
“When you see those teams that are so-called ‘super teams’ that come together and play together and play well together and sacrifice self for team, that’s when they win championships,” White said. “Connected teams win. I believe that with all my heart.”