LOS ANGELES — Sabrina Ionescu checked out of Sunday’s game with 3:42 left in the fourth quarter.
She never returned to the floor.
Ionescu watched the rest of crunch time from the bench as Chris DeMarco put rookie Pauline Astier in with the starters instead of her.
The Liberty ultimately fell 98-97 in a game they had no business losing.
But this isn’t about the Liberty’s ugly 17-point collapse.
It’s about Ionescu, who hasn’t looked like herself since she returned last week from a lengthy absence due to back soreness.
In a conversation with The Post after the game, Ionescu brushed off any concern that she’s still dealing with discomfort.
“I’d say the last few games, I felt really good in terms of my health and how my body feels,” Ionescu said. “But yeah, I mean, I feel good, I feel like myself, so I think whatever that looks like out there, you know, I’m fine with as long as we win, and maybe not tonight.”
Ionescu didn’t take a single shot in the first half.
She uncharacteristically missed an uncontested layup early in the third quarter.
Ionescu finished with two points on 1-for-3 shooting, three rebounds, two assists and two turnovers.
That was Ionescu’s fewest field goal attempts since June 24, 2021, during her second season in the league.
New York was outscored by seven points when Ionescu was on the floor.
Ionescu has reached 10 points only once in her four games after she was sidelined for three weeks with a back issue.
DeMarco acknowledged that Ionescu’s late-game benching was not due to injury.
But he’s giving Ionescu grace as she gets her sea legs back.
“Getting her back to where she’s comfortable out there,” DeMarco said. “And it’s gonna take time, you know. I thought she had good moments and yeah, it’s just gonna take time.”
Ionescu didn’t think she’d have a big learning curve upon returning to the Liberty rotation.
She said the team installed most of its offensive and defensive principles in training camp.
She had done her best to stay present and aware of any changes the team made during her absence — first with a foot injury, then with back soreness.
But Ionescu’s return has been far from seamless.
She said Sunday she was reading what the game gives her and “not forcing anything.”
“Obviously, we have so much offensive power,” Ionescu said. “For me, it’s just not forcing … staying aggressive but just finding ways to get the ball moving. And when we’re scoring the way that we are, I obviously don’t need to force shots and look for it.
“And I think it’s also different, being the only point guard out there with bigs. My job is to kind of facilitate and get the ball kind of in the right people’s hands and so in turn I got to continue to find ways to try to get open and get some good looks.”
Some of this, though, is on DeMarco to help Ionescu help herself.
Ionescu was a big reason the Liberty ultimately beat the Sky last week.
She didn’t have it going in the first half but hit a timely 3 late and made the game-winning basket.
But even after that game, Jonquel Jones alluded to the fact that Ionescu and the team know it’ll take time for Ionescu to fully find her flow in this system.
“This isn’t like the past, where it’s a system that she’s ran for a few years and she’s stepping into something that she’s really familiar with,” Jones said. “It’s a lot of new circumstances right now with new teammates, new coach, new offense and so things are going to take a little bit of time to materialize but all you can ask for somebody is to just stick with it and have that confidence and to do what she did at the end of the game, just ultimate confidence.”
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