The Liberty have a defensive stalwart returning simply in time.
Jonquel Jones shall be energetic on Tuesday for his or her recreation towards the Dream at Barclays Middle, coach Sandy Brondello confirmed at Monday’s observe.
There shall be no minutes restriction on the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP, and he or she obtained in reps with the crew for a portion of the observe.
“JJ is going to be back tomorrow, and we’ll go from there,” Brondello mentioned. “… She did live play, so we just took her out near the end [of practice]. Once we got over an hour, that was enough. She got enough of what we needed, and we will get her ready for tomorrow.”
Jones suffered a proper ankle sprain towards the Mystics on June 5.
She solely performed six minutes of the sport, rolling her ankle below the basket earlier than being helped off the court docket.
She went on to overlook two video games, together with the Liberty’s first lack of the season, to the Fever on Saturday, after a franchise-best 9-0 begin.
Could 17. Michelle Farsi/New York Publish
It is going to be an enormous enhance to the Liberty, who had been with out each Jones and Leonie Fiebich — the latter is taking part in for Germany on this 12 months’s Eurobasket.
With the 2 starters lacking, the protection was hurting towards the Fever, who sank 17 3-pointers and scored an alarming 102 factors over the Liberty.
The 31-year-old, five-time All-Star shall be key to have again towards the Dream, who pose a giant problem with Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones below the rim.
“There’s funky lineups,” Sabrina Ionescu mentioned of Saturday’s recreation. “With two starters down, obviously, you could see it was a little bit rusty and not as fluid. And that’s part of what happens when you lose two big pieces to your offense and defense in Leo and JJ. It was a great learning opportunity to figure out how we can continue to build chemistry with everyone on the team.”
Jones is averaging 13.9 factors, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 blocks per recreation this season whereas capturing 47.8 % from the sphere. She can be capturing 42.9 % from past the arc, which is a big soar from 2024 (38.8 %).
