Liberty coach Sandy Brondello acknowledged that starting forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton is struggling physically after undergoing knee surgery in July.
Laney-Hamilton scored only five points on 2-for-7 shooting in 26 minutes in Thursday’s Game 1 collapse and loss to the Lynx.
“ ‘B’ wasn’t moving very good. I think you saw that,” Brondello said after Saturday’s practice. “She’s playing. She’s giving everything she can. I think everyone sees that she’s trying. It’s not the same ‘B’ that we’ve seen all season long, but it is what it is.”
Laney-Hamilton had two loose bodies removed from her right knee July 16 before returning to the lineup Aug. 26.
She finished the regular season as the team’s fourth-leading scorer with 11.8 points per game, but she has averaged just 5.9 points over seven playoff appearances, while shooting 29.1 percent from the floor and 18.2 percent from 3-point range.
Breanna Stewart endorsed the news that the WNBA Finals will be expanded next year from five games to a best-of-seven format and the first round will shift to a 1-1-1 best-of-three setup.
The opening round currently has the higher seed playing the first two games at home.
“I think that specifically for the Finals to be able to have a longer series, everyone wants the WNBA season to keep going. And especially the Finals, those are the two best teams, so like, duke it out for as long as possible,” Stewart said. “But I think also the big thing is the first-round matchup, to be 1-1-1, just so when you make the playoffs, you also get [at least] one home game.”
Rookie forward Leonie Fiebich, who was moved into the starting lineup just before the playoffs started, buried 5 of 9 from 3-point range and scored 17 points in her first Finals appearance.
“I think she handled it well,” Brondello said. “I think she gave everything that she could. … Leo’s been great for us. We’re going to need that again [Sunday in Game 2].”
