Liberty coach Chris DeMarco on Friday backed Breanna Stewart after the WNBA pool report on the controversial Game 2 ending led some to question the New York star’s account of the events.
Speaking for the first time since Wednesday’s 101-98 loss, DeMarco said “it’s definitely frustrating” how the situation played out over the past 48 hours.
“Breanna Stewart is the model citizen for the game of basketball,” DeMarco said at shootaround ahead of the Liberty’s win-or-go-home Game 3. “She plays the game the right way, she always has… She’s just exactly what you want out of a basketball player. Again, she’s not trying to bait referees. She’s always been honest so yeah, it’s definitely frustrating. She plays the game the right way and you never want somebody to be questioned.”
With the Liberty on the brink of elimination, Stewart didn’t want to spend too much time Friday morning rehashing the reset timeout snafu.
She did, however, say it was “really disappointing” how officials discredited her initial statement that she was told New York had no remaining timeouts.
“You want to have respect between players and refs and players and league and all these things and in order to have respect, you need to build trust and building trust comes with being honest,” Stewart said. “And putting me in a position to question my integrity is really disappointing. And I know who I am and what I stand for and what I heard and that’s that. And I’m going to continue to move on.”
Stewart said she received a text from head of WNBA league operations Bethany Donaphin, but declined to get into specifics.
The Liberty have been heavily criticized for not using their reset timeout in the final seconds of Wednesday’s overtime loss.
With Angel Reese on the free throw line with 4.3 seconds left in a one-possession game, Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu asked the refs whether the Liberty had a reset timeout, which would’ve allowed New York to advance the ball to the frontcourt.
Stewart said two officials told her no. Ionescu said she received mixed information.
“I was confused as well,” Ionescu said. “I take it on me, like, I should have kind of been more demonstrative maybe in the way that I stopped the game. It was just happening really fast at the free throw line.”
Ionescu said she didn’t escalate the situation or call the timeout herself because of the risk of receiving a technical foul, which would’ve sent the Dream back to the free throw line in a three-point game.
“At the end of the day, there’s no pointing fingers,” Ionescu said. “I’m taking accountability as being someone who was on the court and honestly should have known and been more cognizant of that as well.”
After the game, crew chief Fatou Cissoko-Stephens said there was “no direct communication” with New York’s staff about the reset timeout.
Video evidence, though, confirmed Stewart’s story that she asked official Kevin Fahy whether New York had one.
Stewart and Ionescu reiterated they still have trust in the Liberty’s coaching staff despite the blunder.
DeMarco doubled down that his staff knows the rules and “should have pushed harder.” He also confirmed there’s someone on staff in charge of tracking the team’s timeouts.
He called it an “unfortunate situation” but he doesn’t want it to be a distraction as the Liberty trail 2-0 in the best-of-five series.
“It is what it is,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do now.”
Jonquel Jones said she’s never experienced an issue like this before.
“It’s a learning experience for us and a tough place to learn,” Jones said. “But it’s… the semifinals and every game is a learning experience. Win or loss, we look at the film and you figure out ways to be better and as players, that’s on us, and as a coaching staff, that’s on them as well, and we all just come together and we try to be better so that we can win the game tonight.”
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