The New York Liberty have relied on physicality and maintaining a size advantage this season. Both their frontcourt and the perimeter are stacked with such imposing players that have allowed the team to win the Commissioner’s Cup and be in a 13-9 spot in the season. Recently, WNBA analyst Zena Keita highlighted a play in which this size advantage was clearly evident in a Liberty game.

“Everyone talks about length,” Costabile said on the No Offseason podcast. “They’re huge. Like the fact that there was one play against the play where Breanna Stewart posting up her person, and Jonquel Jones was like two feet behind posting up her person. I don’t think they realized what was happening. They were both in the paint just trying to post up, and I was like this is demoralizing.”

“At one point, Breanna Stewart comes back in the game for Han Xu, and this is unfair if you’re just looking up at Minnesota, they don’t all have their length right. They don’t have all of their size yet. I felt terrible for Minnesota; they looked small against New York.”

Liberty kept its foundation in place on the physical side during the offseason. They retained their anchors: Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones in first place, while also signing players like Satou Sabally and Han Xu. It doesn’t just give them comfort up front; it also provides depth in the size metric.

Even in the perimeter, the Liberty have a strong presence in Sabrina Ionescu, who has a tall frame at 5’11. On average, the Liberty are the second-tallest team in the league this season. Their average height is 6’2, and is just behind the Toronto Tempo, as per WBB analyst @EJayArrow on X.

This physicality factor doesn’t affect Liberty’s mobility, though. While their longer wingspans in the paint help them in protecting the rim and disrupting passing lanes for the opposition, players like Stewart, Jones, and Sabally are equally fast and relentless. And even with two of them in the paint, it’s far from just imposing on the opposition.

Furthermore, all three players are great shooters from the field, with each boasting a shooting percentage over 40% this season.

A classic example of this frontcourt advantage for the New York Liberty came in their win against Minnesota. Behind Stewart, Jones, and Xu, New York first outrebounded the Lynx 34-31. Chris DeMarco’s team recorded 27 defensive rebounds, while Minnesota recorded 15.

The sheer physicality in that frontcourt helped the Liberty in blocking shots. They capped off the night with 6 blocks against Minnesota’s 1, as per ESPN. It gives a clear reflection of how this Liberty team can literally outplay teams, especially those that lack a bit of size.

The length of the Liberty is suffocating for teams, and this has helped them boast the 6th-best defensive rating in the WNBA.

Another example of how they used length to their advantage was in the game against the Las Vegas Aces when they were up against A’Ja Wilson. Undoubtedly, guarding the best player in the league is a team effort. That is exactly what the Liberty did on the night, as they restricted Wilson to 16 points on 38.9% shooting from the field.

“It takes a second to get used to the size (of New York) and a feel for them,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said post-game. “We are going to look at this as a learning point, but I thought we missed a lot of good looks.

While they have managed to frustrate a few teams with their size, time and again, one team has reminded them that winning games is not just about physicality.

New York Liberty Faces a Tough Loss Against Dallas Despite Size Advantage

In the average-size list of the WNBA posted by @EJayArrow on X, the Dallas Wings are well down the pecking order. They are 13th on the list with an average height of 6’0.35″. But so far this season, they have been able to get the better of New York twice, despite this size disadvantage.

The Liberty’s latest defeat against the Wings came on Tuesday. Competing at the Barclays Center, the Wings handed the hosts an 88-77 defeat. Despite the Liberty’s tall frontcourt, the Liberty got outrebounded 34-38.

Jessica Shepard and Awak Kuier posted 12 boards each. The Liberty’s long wingspans also didn’t help the team much in defending the court. New York allowed Dallas to take 76 shots in the game. The Wings capitalized, scoring 46% of them to put the Liberty on the back foot.

Team veteran Breanna Stewart was quick to highlight it after the loss in the post-game presser.

“I think our performance, it was okay,” Stewart said, as per Liberty’s YouTube channel, when asked about the team’s defense. “Definitely room for improvement. I think the hardest part with some of our schemes is like not completely being out of the play. But, we’re a team as we continue to be more aggressive, good things happen to us. We can’t wait until we’re 17 like that.”

Stewart and Jones did record substantial offensive performances on the night, recording 29 and 17 points, respectively. Even Sabrina Ionescu dropped 14 on the night. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t enough to hold off the wings that rode high on Shepaerd’s 22 points and Paige Bueckers’ 15.

This game was a striking reminder that while the size advantage might sound impressive on paper, the performances won’t materialize until a team gives it their all in every aspect on the court.