September 20, 2023
Locked On Women’s Basketball: How Jonquel Jones, New York Liberty advanced to WNBA semifinals
By The Next
Howard and Jackie react to the Liberty's playoff series victory against Washington
On the latest episode of the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast, host Howard Megdal and New York beat reporter Jackie Powell recap the Liberty’s wild elimination game victory against Washington and another standout performance from Jonquel Jones. Her 12th career playoff double-double propelled the home team to its first playoff series victory since 2015. Jones finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks.
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Howard and Jackie started their discussion with Jones and how she has found her role in her first season with the Liberty.
“She clearly was the key to mismatching the Mystics and to exploiting the Mystics,” Jackie said. “And so that role is you know, getting the ball to JJ either on a deep seal, or having her in pick and roll, able to create, which let me tell you, that was so fun. Watching her create on pick and roll like, Oh my God, I feel like in watching her these past few years, I didn’t really get to see that. And initially, in a Liberty uniform, we didn’t get to see it so much. Either it was more JJ would be trying to seal or she’d be setting screens on the perimeter or she’d be on the perimeter waiting for a kickout. But to see JJ just sort of ISO one-on-one, you can really see how talented and how skilled she is. And it’s not just the scoring, it’s it’s the rebounding, it’s how she pursues the basketball.”
They also talked about other big contributors like Kayla Thornton who finished with a quiet, but commanding stat line at Barclays Center.
“You can look at the box score and you can see okay, they’re not flashy, but the numbers are the numbers,” Jackie said. “We’re talking six points and three rebounds. Two of which were offensive rebounds. No way do they win this game without Kayla Thornton doing what she did.”
Howard wrote about the Washington perspective for our sister publication, The IX, and you will not want to miss his latest installment of Basketball Wednesday.
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