Breanna Stewart turned to her coach, Chris DeMarco, seated next to her at the Liberty press conference table after a crushing three-point loss in Game 2 of the semifinals. “Am I the one saying it or you?” Stewart asked, pointing at DeMarco. He shrugged, ceding the floor to his player. Stewart went on to explain the night’s events to the media: She asked the referees at the end of the game if the Liberty still had a reset timeout and heard them say no. Instead, New York heaved the ball up the floor in the game’s dying seconds in a fruitless attempt to level the score. Whether the officials miscommunicated or gave Stewart wrong information, the Liberty staff’s failure to recognize that the team still had a reset timeout in a narrow playoff matchup was a substantial blunder—one a head coach would likely want to comment on. But DeMarco instead demurred.
That moment, following the penultimate game in New York’s season, was a telling microcosm of the Liberty’s year. Whose team was this, and what was its identity? Those questions were never answered, and on Friday night, after the Dream completed a sweep that ended New York’s postseason run, the Liberty players still seemed to be searching for resolution.
