Breanna Stewart is back.
The New York Liberty's All-Star forward returned to the court on Monday night for the team's 81-79 win over the Connecticut Sun after a weeks-long layoff due to a bone bruise in her right knee. She dropped 19 points and had five rebounds in the narrow win over the Sun, which pushed the Liberty to 23-15 on the season and snapped a two-game losing skid.
Stewart said before the game that she wanted to return for the team's "playoff push." She added that she's "happy to be back" after four weeks rehabbing with the team's training staff.
Sabrina Ionescu returned on Monday night, too, after she missed Saturday's game with a foot injury. Ionescu finished with 11 points, nine assists and seven rebounds against the Sun. Jonquel Jones also had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Leila Lacan led the Sun with 22 points off the bnech, and Aneesah Morrow added 18 points and 15 rebounds. The Sun cut the game back to two points and had a look at a layup to tie things up in the final seconds, but Ionescu came up with a huge late block to seal the deal.
Stewart sustained her injury during a July 26 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. The injury sidelined Stewart for 13 full games in addition to the game in which Stewart was injured in the game's opening minutes. The Liberty have struggled in Stewart's absence, too. The loss to the Sparks was the first of four straight with Stewart sidelined. The team ended up going 5-9 with Stewart out.
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The Liberty had the second-best record in the WNBA (17-6) at the time of Stewart's injury, but entered Monday's contest in fifth in the league standings behind the Lynx, Dream, Aces and Mercury. While the Lynx have control of the No. 1 seed with a six-game lead over second place, the race for the No. 2 seed is very much up for grabs with the Dream, Aces, Mercury and Liberty within two games of each other.
Will Stewart's return break midseason swoon in New York?
Stewart's return provides the Liberty with a significant boost at a critical time in the season. A two-time MVP and seven-time All-NBA selection, Stewart was named to her seventh career All-Star game this summer.
Entering Monday night, Stewart has averaged 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.9% from the floor. She returns with seven games remaining on the schedule to a loaded roster featuring Ionescu and fellow former MVP Jonquel Jones. The Liberty also added two-time All-Star former Finals MVP Emma Meesseman as a free agent at the All-Star break.
The Liberty are hoping that Stewart's return can get them back on the winning track and competitive in time for the postseason as they seek to repeat as WNBA champions.
Though Monday's game wasn't great by any means, the Liberty at least had their two stars back on the court together at the same time. In order for any playoff push to be successful, that's the first step.
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