After losing all but three games of her rookie season in 2020, Sabrina Ionescu got off to a strong start in 2021.
On May 18, she recorded a triple-double in a win over Minnesota, scoring 26 points with 12 assists and 10 rebounds, helping the Liberty start the year 3-0.
But since that point, both Ionescu and the Liberty have struggled. In Ionescu’s last 10 games, she’s averaged just 7.8 points per game while shooting just 28.6 percent from the floor, and the Liberty are just 3-7 as a team. She has not eclipsed the 20-point mark during that stretch, and hasn’t scored in double-digits since May 24.
Ionescu missed a couple of games with left ankle tendonitis, which is noteworthy since that’s the same ankle that was surgically repaired in November following an injury last July.
But Ionescu insists she hasn’t felt much frustration with her personal struggles, and instead is focused on doing everything she can to help the team win.
“I’m not frustrated at all, honestly. I’m just excited that there’s another opportunity to play,” Ionescu said ahead of Saturday’s game with the 5-8 Atlanta Dream. “This season’s so long, there’s so many games, so I’m just excited that we hit a little adversity and we have to grow from that. There’s not really any frustration, I would say though, or issues with any of that.
“We’re really not worried about (our recent losses) as long as we’re just continuing to grow and focus on the present moment and where we’re at. The past games, the future games don’t really matter. What matters is the game tonight. That’s really what’s important to us, so as long as we can come in and try to win every possession and do the best that we can, win or lose, we’ve done our job.”
At 7-8, the Liberty find themselves in fourth place in the East and eighth overall in the WNBA standings, but Ionescu believes in her teammates, saying that they’ll continue to rely on their strengths to turn things around.
“It’s just how basketball works. Some nights the ball’s going to go in and we’re going to shoot 45, 50 percent from three, and other nights it’s not,” Ionescu said. “So, it’s just figuring out ways that we can continue to score, continue to get into our offense and not rely on that.
“We’re still going to shoot all year long, all season long, because we have players who are shooters. Not really getting down about the last couple games but just continuing to look forward and stay confident in our shots and our shots that we get as a team is what’s really important.”