To compete with or completely beat the Liberty, you’re going to need some strength in the frontcourt. In fact, it takes a level of prior skill to perform multiple things on both ends of the floor.

The Liberty are of course the highlight of this, led by the (Finals) MVP tandem of Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones. Stewart can and has moved all over the floor offensively and is used as a scorer and playmaker at all three levels.

Jones is a post-demon (free) and a versatile screening partner, capable of causing problems as a screener and pop threat in ball screens. Her growth in playmaking (3.2 career assists, 18.3 assists) made running the offense through her a viable, deep option.

Defensively, the Stewart-Jones tandem caused a lot of headaches. Stewart was able to handle every match that was asked of her throughout the (post)season. Jones was a steady disruptor on the perimeter, but crucially held his own when asked to play higher up the floor.

Their ability to play off each other grew throughout the year. Stewart could erase gaps at the top of the floor, and do so with a degree of aggression, because she knew Jones was behind her to clean up any mess. Jones was able to transition easily, knowing that Stewart and her massive wingspan could provide similar relief.

Per Second Spectrum, when Jones defended a ball screen outside of drop coverage (switching, hedging, full-on blitzing), opposing offenses yielded a paltry 0.84 points per possession. Stewart was right there with her (0.83) in stinginess.

Crucially, both players have recorded at least 200 of those reps this season, joining a list of 27 players that also included Lynx duo Napheesa Collier (0.73) and Alanna Smith (0.76).

You could always feel when the Stewart-Jones tandem was on the ground. That was compounded when they faced teams with frontcourt options they didn’t trust as scorers. During the finals, we saw the Liberty treat the Dream’s Naz Hillmon, the Aces’ Kiah Stokes and the Lynx’s Myisha Hines-Allen as backup points to mess things up elsewhere.

To close the gap with the Liberty, you either need star talent up front or players reliable enough to make their assist decisions more difficult.