Liberty’s Blockbuster Pairing Shoots Team Forward

BROOKLYN — Ever a staple on a summer blockbuster slate, the latest action buddy movie is full development on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, home of the New York Liberty.

The formula is repetitive yet lucrative and effective, no doubt evidenced by the ongoing box office success of “Bad Boys For Life.” Two protagonists, whose differences collide in literally explosive fashion thanks to a screenwriter’s pen, eventually develop a respect and camaraderie that begins begrudgingly before morphing into a genuine partnership that produces multiple sequels.

The relationship between Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones certainly skipped a few steps. Animosity hasn’t existed beyond the comedic type … Jones promised to block each of Ionescu’s shots when the two do battle at the WNBA All-Star Game later this month … but it’s certainly hard to see where the two would find common ground.

Both have written different chapters of the WNBA record book: Jones’ forte is in the interior while Ionescu takes it outside. Ionescu is fulfilling hype generated upon her selection as the top pick of the 2020 draft out of Oregon while Jones, while also a first-round pick, had to make a name for herself as a small school alumna (George Washington).

Ioenscu, the longest-tenured New Yorker, has had her share of lieutenants on the floor as she continues to pen her metropolitan legacy. Often those relationships, both past and present, have been defined by common ground, be it Brooklyn longevity (Bec Allen, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton), similar skillsets (Courtney Vandersloot), or the Pac-12 sisterhood (Reshanda Gray, Michaela Onyenwere, Nyara Sabally).

Yet, they’re making it work, the progress evidenced by the Liberty’s franchise-best 17-3 mark that has them situated atop the WNBA leaderboard during a brief break over the Independence Day holiday.

“It’s fun to see,” head coach Sandy Brondello noted. “You wouldn’t be in this league if you didn’t have great skills. But these are two of the best players in this league and they make each other better by their combination. I think, with time, they understand how they can help each other.”

“JJ, setting screens, we call it the blind pig, where she can bounce it. She’s a really good passer at finding Sabrina. Handoff action, where she gets separation when teams are getting aggressive on her. Sabrina can get her open because of her great passing, her ability to find her, make plays out of that.”

On paper, Ionescu and Jones’ fusing chemistry shouldn’t be a headline. Good vibes flow when a team wins, put two and two together.

This type of one-on-one, however, continues to partly defy the idea that the Liberty’s assembly of All-Stars lacks unity, a theory put forth by Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum following the team’s four-game set in last year’s WNBA Finals. While Plum offered a semi-retraction and the Liberty have focused only on their controllables, the Ionescu-Jones relationship offers a sterling counter.

“When I came in, I wanted to have that connection with her, just be a really good teammate for her,” Jones said of joining the homegrown Liberty star upon her own entry in 2023. “Our chemistry has grown as we spent more time together and you can see it on the court … It’s a blessing to have a teammate like her.”

“Just to be able to see how it’s grown through the good and the bad (has been great),” Ionescu said after a June 30 victory over Atlanta. “You want to have a great relationship with your post player as kind of lead guard and to be able to have that with JJ and continue to kind of push one another to get better (is amazing). “She finds me and helps me become a better player with or without the ball.”

Cinema tickets are somewhat sold through one-liners and on-screen chemistry, which Ionescu and Jones have proudly boasted: upon being informed that Jones would reach her fifth WNBA All-Star Game following a 76-67 win over Minnesota on Tuesday, a hoarse Ionescu, battling an illness that somewhat muted her influential voice, pounded the Barclays Center media room’s podium in celebration and declared she was so happy.

That, of course, when it was revealed that Jones would be one of her opponents. Jones is set to rep a WNBA contingent against an assembly of American stars that will represent the country in the Paris Olympic Games’ women’s basketball competition.

On the Barclays Center floor, each woman’s skillset is rubbing off on each other, a piece of the other seamlessly transferred over like the way Chris Tucker taught Jackie Chan how to dance to Edwin Starr’s “War” in the original “Rush Hour.”

Jones is averaging a career-best in assists … 3.4 a game seems low, but she had less than two entering this season … while also reaching three-point success rates not seen since her opt-out of the Bradenton bubble in 2020, which served as Ionescu’s rookie year.

For her part, Ionescu has invaded the interior, averaging a career-best in scoring at 18.7 a game amidst an over 10 percent increase in two-point attempts as compared to last season. Ionescu is also averaging a season-best 6.5 assists, many of which have gone to Jones: following Ionescu’s 31-point outing in a one-sided win over Los Angeles on June 21, Myles Ehrlich of Winsidr noted that the guard found Jones for points on 46 occasions over the first 16 games … already beating last year’s prior total of 39 (that number has since raised to 55 in the ensuing four regular seasons games).

True to form, Ionescu demanded that Jones “buy (her) lunch!” upon obtaining such knowledge. What the two have provided on and off the floor, however, has proved to be enough sustenance for New York’s potential return trip to the Finals … one that, the Brooklynites hope, has an alternate ending.

“I think she understands how much I believe in her,” Ionescu said. “Through the good and the bad, we’ve had to figure it out. I’ve had to figure out ways to continue to better my passing and in trying to get her open, figure out where she thrives. But, at the end of the day, I want to see her succeed just as much as she does. So, for me, it’s just about using my ability to pass and score and to create for her, for the rest of my teammates.”

“When you play with someone as good as her, it makes my job easy,” Ionescu continued on a fearful note for future metropolitan opponents. “I’d say we haven’t even really scratched the surface. We’re just getting started on ways that we can continue to help one and it’s exciting to know that.”

Jones perhaps returned the favor in another recent postgame media scrum: as reporters surrounded the 2021 MVP, a familiar voice queried about her status as a “double-double machine.”

“It feels great,” Jones said to a moonlighting Ionescu. “But I’m surrounded by even greater teammates who get me the ball. So what can I say?”

The dribbling dyad in the seafoam force returns to action on Saturday afternoon when New York hits the road to face the Indiana Fever (1 p.m. ET, CBS).

Make sure you bookmark All Knicks for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!