Breanna Stewart’s confidence in her game is easy to see, so when she was asked Thursday, before the Liberty practiced at Barclays Center, if her FIBA World Cup MVP had a bit more meaning since she hasn’t been the focal point of the WNBA MVP conversation, her answer reflected that.
asserted
answer → see → that
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you → get → things
tRY IT NOW“I know what I do on the court, and everybody else knows what I do on the court,” the Liberty star said.
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star → try → court
“Sometimes people, they just get used to greatness when it’s so consistent, I guess.
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I → get → greatness
But more than anything, during her 10 days in Berlin as part of the Team USA squad at the World Cup, her focus was on winning.
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focus → win → Cup
Stewart was an instrumental part in helping the U.S. win its fifth consecutive FIBA World Cup title, which included toppling France in the gold medal game.
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which → help → game
“There was enough talk about all the things, about it [being] France’s time and whatever,” Stewart said.
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Stewart → be → things
“I wanted to do whatever I could to win that game.
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I → want → game
And if that made me MVP, then that made me MVP.
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me → make → ?
With the World Cup behind her, Stewart’s focus shifts back to the Liberty and the home stretch of the WNBA season.
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focus → shift → season
The Liberty have clinched a playoff berth, but their seeding in the postseason is far from solidified with four games left in the regular season and a date with the league-leading Minnesota Lynx right out of the break.
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seeding → clinch → break
Stewart — who scored 22 points in the gold medal game against France and averaged 12.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game during the tournament — found there are parallels between what she took away at the World Cup and the stretch of four games in seven days that the Liberty have to end the regular season.
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Liberty → score → season
“Knowing how important these four are, and Chris [DeMarco, head coach] talked about it a little bit [Wednesday], but the mindset and mentality of doing whatever it takes,” Stewart said.
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Stewart → know → whatever
“I think that sometimes with USA Basketball or with national team, you’re constantly just, like, going, right?
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you → think → team
You have to give 1,000 percent, and that’s the same here.
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that → have → percent
“It’s like, don’t save it, because we have a deep enough team.
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we → ’ → team
We have people that can come in and do things just as well.”
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that → have → things
The Liberty’s busy final week of the regular season won’t be an easy one, with the Lynx being the first team they’ll face while also having two games against the Atlanta Dream to close things out.
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they → face → things
The Liberty, who have had plenty of ups and downs this season and were 4-3 in seven games going into the break, could still finish as high as third or as low as eighth depending on how things shake out.
“I think it’s all about who finds their chemistry first after a break and we had many players home, it’ll be a challenge,” Leonie Fiebich said of Friday’s game against Minnesota.
“We know that we have a great team here, but we had some up and downs during the season, and just, like, finishing strong,” Marine Johannes added.
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Johannes → have → season
The Liberty will go into Friday with DeMarco anticipating every player to be available, though he warned that things could change.
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things → go → Friday
Outside of injured forward Satou Sabally, the Liberty had everyone on the court for practice in Brooklyn.
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Liberty → have → Brooklyn
“It’s nice to have the whole team together again, that’s for sure,” DeMarco said.
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DeMarco → ’ → team
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