LOS ANGELES – The rivalry between the Liberty and Las Vegas Aces appears to be due for a sequel.
The first quarter is scheduled to take place on Tuesday when the two teams meet for the first time this season.
It will be a prelude to next week’s Commissioner’s Cup Final, which will be held at Barclays Center for the first time.
But before Team Liberty can even consider the possibility of winning a significant share of the $500,000 prize pool, they have a lot of work to do.
The 12-4 Aces represent New York’s biggest challenge yet, and the Liberty are coming off their worst loss of the season.
Coach Chris DeMarco has one major thing he’s looking for in his team on its four-game West Coast trip.
“The biggest thing is consistency, putting together 40-minute games, offensively and defensively,” DeMarco said before Sunday’s loss to the Sparks. “I just want consistency — not just from a game plan standpoint but from an effort standpoint.”
DeMarco didn’t get his wish in the Liberty’s bloody 98-97 setback to Los Angeles to start this road trip.
It was a tale of two halves for freedom.
They led by as much as 17 points in the third quarter before suffering a stunning collapse.
This wasn’t the first time the Liberty had blown a double-digit lead.
The question now is how Liberty will respond with its competition on deck.
Will they bounce back?
Or will they continue to flounder?
Betnija Lani Hamilton has missed two straight games after receiving an injection into her surgically repaired knee.
She was cleared to play on Sunday but rode the pine anyway.
Coach Chris DeMarco said Laney-Hamilton did not play as part of the team’s “reintegration” plan.
He did not disclose the details.
It hasn’t been an easy season for Laney-Hamilton, who is having a proven year after signing a one-year, $400,000 contract with New York.
She stepped away from the team early on for “personal reasons.”
Upon her return, she was moved to the bench.
Laney-Hamilton averaged 6.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 11 games this season.
Sato Sabally finally moved into Liberty’s starting lineup on Sunday, replacing Marin Johannes, who came off the bench for the first time this season.
“We thought it was time for Sato,” Di Marco said when asked about the lineup change. “It’s hard to get her the minutes we want off the bench, so we just wanted to have a lot of size and have a lot of confidence in our ability and our size to make threes to be able to defend and everything that goes with that.”