New York Liberty star Leonie Fiebich found out the hard way what happens when you cannot back up your words. Fiebich had claimed her side would avenge the first loss against the Atlanta Dream, but fell short. Now none other than former Dream player and WNBA legend Chamique Holdsclaw has called her out following the Liberty’s second straight loss to the Dream, 85-63.
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“Let’s talk about something we discussed before the game, a little banter back and forth, Angel and Fiebich. Fiebich, this is a lesson. If you’re going to talk the talk, you got to walk the walk.
“You wind up with a big doughnut. You can’t do that. I’m a hooper. Like you got to come and produce. You got to keep that in the back of your mind. And hopefully this fuse her and fuse her team as they approach the playoffs.” Holdsclaw said while appearing on the USA Sports Network.
Leonie Fiebich’s claim came after New York Liberty’s 95-84 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Monday night, when the French forward took issue with Angel Reese saying the Liberty looked tired.
“Coming off a back-to-back for them, I thought they were tired. And I could see it in their eyes, and I think those are little things. … I kept telling the team, ‘They’re tired. Keep wearing them down.’” Reese said after the Monday night game.
Fiebich did not stay silent and responded to Reese’s comments by vowing that the Liberty will win the next game against them.
“Obviously, back-to-back is always hard, especially since we have more than half of the team coming off the World Cup, right?” Fiebich told Liberty beat reporter Myles Ehrlich.
“It’s hard, but not an excuse. Physicality is going to go up, so we just got to play through it. We’re going to take on the challenge. They can feel good about the win. It’s good, cool for us. We’re gonna win the next one,” she added.
The New York Liberty indeed had the most players going to the World Cup, with seven in total. However, Fiebich continued that she is not using it as an excuse and the Liberty will take the W in the next game regardless.
But that was far from reality, as the Dream beat the Liberty by 22 points, an even more comprehensive victory than the previous one. Moreover, Leonie Fiebich’s performance was brutal. In 16 minutes, the German star did not score a single point and had three turnovers. She missed both attempts from the field, including one from outside the arc. Fiebich recorded only two rebounds as well.
Angel Reese did not have her greatest performance either, but still managed to score six points, six rebounds, and three assists. Allisha Gray led the Dream with 24 points, as the franchise recorded its 30th win of the season, matching last season’s record.
It is worth noting that Breanna Stewart was missing from this game due to left knee soreness. In the first game, the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup MVP also had issues with Reese after receiving her first technical foul in nine years following a protest of what she felt was a foul on her by Reese that was not called by the officials.
The Liberty did not want to take a chance on their best player in a game that would not count for much. This is because after losing the first game against the Dream, the Liberty’s chances of receiving home-court advantage in the first round of playoffs became next to nothing.
The eighth-place New York Liberty will now face the first-place Minnesota Lynx in the first round of the playoffs, a very difficult battle from the start. This is why Holdsclaw has advised Fiebich to walk the talk, as she hopes the loss against the Dream will fuel her and the Liberty to go all out in the playoffs.