Courtney Vandersloot adjusting to rare minutes off bench after Libertys Game 1 lineup switch
In the second year of its superteam era, the Liberty are on a quest to avenge last year’s WNBA Finals fallout with all five core players having another regular season of chemistry under their belt.But despite the Liberty’s full bill of health heading into the postseason, the starters don’t look the same as they did a year ago.Accomplished veteran Courtney Vandersloot played off the bench in the Liberty’s 83-69 Game 1 win over the Dream on Sunday.Instead of the 2021 WNBA champion starting at guard, the Liberty went with rookie Leonie Fiebich, who tallied a team-high 21 points in her 16th start of the season — but her first start unrelated to a teammate injury.It was Vandersloot’s first time coming off the bench in a WNBA game since 2017, when she was with the Chicago Sky.Vandersloot, a 14-year veteran, took the news in stride when she had a conversation with head coach Sandy Brondello about her postseason role at practice Saturday.“Leo has stepped in and has been huge for us with injuries and everything.
So, the starting lineup wasn’t new to her and I think that you saw that right away,” Vandersloot told reporters after the game.“She’s comfortable out there.
She fits perfectly with that group.For me, my mentality didn’t change.
It was the same.I just wanted to be able to be a spark off the bench.
It’s definitely new to me in terms of, yeah, it’s going to take me a second to adjust to this because it is different.I just don’t have that experience, which is fine.
It’s going to take some time.“But I was really happy for Leo.I think it was a really great adjustment for us.
And, you know, she was incredible tonight.”The adjustment is one that Brondello plans to stick with for the postseason, which continues with Game 2 Tuesday at Barclays Center when the Liberty will try to close out the best-of-three and earn a semifinal berth.The change was made to avoid a “chunky” offense, as it was described to Vandersloot, spreading out t...