Natasha Cloud's live-wire personality gives Liberty a spark

The Liberty jersey has been a perfect fit for Natasha Cloud.

Their new 33-year-old point guard has fit in well with her unselfish offensive approach working with the Big Three of Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart and with her tenacious defensive skills.

And she has brought a live-wire and supportive personality, weaving herself into the fabric of the group and being there for her fellow players.

“I think a lot of times that with technology and social media and all that [expletive], we’ve gotten away from just having a normal conversation,” Cloud said recently. “I genuinely enjoy coming into work every single day. I take time with my teammates. I have conversations with them.

“I think I’m an empath. So I can feel when somebody’s aura or energy is off or shifted, which then it’s a question of ‘Are you good?’ And I’m not talking about the basketball player. I’m talking about the human being. Because life goes on, right? This is our job. We come in to do the best we can every single day. But that doesn’t negate your life happening off the court.”

Cloud came from Connecticut in the offseason for the price tag of two first-round picks. She was averaging 10 points, 6.6 assists (good for fourth in the WNBA), 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals, helping coach Sandy Brondello’s team take a franchise-record 8-0 start into Tuesday night’s game against Chicago at Barclays Center.

“I love big Sandy and I love that she continues to remind me just to be myself because it can be really easy in the well-oiled machine as a new player just to kind of fall in line,” Cloud said. “But [it’s] understanding that I’m bringing something different to this team this year that is needed and necessary.

“That’s my dogness on both sides of the floor. Being able to muck stuff up on the defensive end. Get deflections . . . And then offensively just being a facilitator, trying to get downhill, making open shots when they kick out to me but also finding our Big Three.

“I love the way we play,” Cloud added. “We play basketball the right way. The ball always finds the right person. We play positionless basketball. We play that everyone touches the ball. When anyone’s open, that’s the shot that we need to take.”

Burke’s improvement

Kennedy Burke has taken a big jump in her second season serving mainly as a reserve.

The 28-year-old guard/forward went from averaging 3.4 points last year to 9.3 points through the first eight games.

And her three-point shooting? Well, she made just 25.9% of her tries in 2024. This time, she was off to a 59.3% start from beyond the arc, which ranked second in the league.

“She looks comfortable,” Brondello said late last month. “She had a really great training camp. She came in healthy. I think all those things help . . . I kind of told her she was going to have a role leading into this season. I said she had to earn it.”

And she has.

Reese’s numbers

Angel Reese arrived for Tuesday night’s game as the WNBA’s top rebounder, averaging 12.3 in her second season with the Sky.

“She’s one of the greatest rebounders I’ve seen, her ability there,” Brondello said before the game. “But she’s still a young player developing in our league, too.”

The 6-3 forward was averaging just 9.1 points and shooting only 30.9%.

“Some of it is just missed shots and some of it is our ability to put her in position to be more effective,” Chicago coach Tyler Marsh said. “ . . . We continue to work on those things.”