Daily Briefing — June 23, 2022: Liberty needs no glasses

• Sabrina Ionescu: Excellent At Basketball. Having to do less shot-creation and instead spending most of her time coming off of screens — whether on-ball or off — has put her right back into the comfort zone she was in at Oregon. Boy, is she good.
• Marine Johannès is great, and adding her shot-making and playmaking has had a cascading effect; Natasha Howard, Sami Whitcomb, and Michaela Onyenwere are all being asked to do less for the Liberty, making their lives easier
• Speaking of Howard, her lesser load has allowed her to shine as a play-finisher with less of a creation burder, and she seems to in turn have more energy to shoulder more of a defensive load
• Stefanie Dolson and Sami Whitcomb can shoot again. Who knew.

New York now sits in a tie for eighth in the standings, and only one of its next five games comes against a team above .500. It’s not a make-or-break stretch, but whether the Liberty go 4-1 or 2-3 in these games could easily make the difference in them making the playoffs.

Anyway, All-Star selections! Without further ado, the 10 players who were voted starters (in order of weighted score*):

Backcourt:

1. Kelsey Plum, Las Vegas (1st All-Star nod)
2. Jackie Young, Las Vegas (1st)
3. Sabrina Ionescu, New York (1st)
4. Sue Bird, Seattle (13th)

Jewell Loyd (Seattle) and Skylar Diggins-Smith (Phoenix) were the next-highest, missing out on account of having been rated significantly lower by the media and by the players, respectively.

Frontcourt:

1. A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas (4th All-Star nod)
2. Breanna Stewart, Seattle (4th)
3. Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota (8th)
4. Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles (7th)
5. Jonquel Jones, Connecticut (4th)
6. Candace Parker, Chicago (7th)

Dearica Hamby (Las Vegas) was the next-highest.

Brittney Griner was also named an honorary All-Star and starter.

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But first, read:

• ESPN.com’s Katie Barnes dives deep into Jonquel Jones’ approach the game, her backstory, and the forces that continue to limit her acclaim
• Our Arie Graham takes a look at what Teaira McCowan is bringing to the Wings and the questions around her playing time
• Our Gabriella Lewis stories the record-setting Dream debut of Maya Caldwell
• WNBA.com’s Mark Schindler sits down with Sabrina Ionescu and Natasha Howard to find out what’s been making the Liberty improve and to dive into the pair’s pick-and-roll chemistry

Watch List, Thursday, June 23

(All times in Eastern, Game Of The Day in bold)

Indiana @ Dallas, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network (Local: Indiana Fever Livestream, Bally Sports Southwest)

Phoenix @ Minnesota, 8 p.m., Facebook (Local: Bally Sports Arizona, Bally Sports North)

Washington @ Seattle, 10 p.m., CBS Sports Network (Local: Monumental, JOEtv/Amazon Prime video)

Chicago @ Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m., Facebook (Local: Marquee, Spectrum SportsNet)

Wednesday, June 22 recap

New York (7-10) beat Connecticut (12-6), 81-77. The Sun led for a total of 52 seconds. The Liberty shot 40.6% from three while assisting on 25 of their 31 buckets.

New York was led by center Stefanie Dolson’s season-high 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting (2-3 3pt.), six rebounds, and four assists; combo guard Sabrina Ionescu had a double-double with 11 points on 3-for-16 from the field (2-9 3pt.) and 11 rebounds, plus six assists; big Natasha Howard notched 14 points on 5-for-13 FG (1-4 3pt.), three rebounds, four assists, and two blocks against four turnovers; wing Marine Johannès and combo guard Sami Whitcomb combined for 25 points on 9-for-19 from the field and 7-for-13 from three, five rebounds, and nine assists.

Combo guard Courtney Williams led Connecticut with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting (2-3 3pt.), seven rebounds, and three assists; big wing Jonquel Jones had 12 points on 6-for-14 from the field (0-4 3pt.) and 11 rebounds (four offensive), plus two assists; big wing DeWanna Bonner notched 12 points on 5-for-13 FG (1-3 3pt.), four rebounds, and three assists.

_{*Scores are based 50% on fan votes, 25% on select media votes, and 25% on player votes}