Soon after the Dallas Wings defeated the Indiana Fever, the Minnesota Lynx secured the first playoff spot in 2025. This line alone is enough to get the New York Liberty to press the panic button. After all, watching their arch-rivals get ahead in the run despite being the defending champions feels pretty awkward. However, apart from looking at Lynx’s progress, the Liberty has a lot of its own issues to be concerned about. And one of them is injuries. With Natasha Cloud suffering an injury scare, head coach Sandy Brondello recently came up with an update.
Taking on the Connecticut Sun, the Liberty was short-handed, with Cloud missing out. Suffering a nose fracture, the concerns around the 33-year-old intensified. Thankfully, things are seemingly looking a bit better, with Brondello giving some upbeat news.
Sandy Brondello Comes Up With Some Positive Natasha Cloud Update
The Liberty was never in question about their playoff contention, but all of that changed recently. With consecutive losses, the New York Liberty faces do-or-die moments without injured stars in the 2025 WNBA playoff push. Ranked fifth currently, there are many permutations and combinations going on at the moment. Much to their relief, head coach Brondello stated that Cloud will be back for the game against the Washington Mystics.
In a recent update on X, formerly known as Twitter, Madeline Kenney wrote, “Sandy Brondello said Natasha Cloud has a slight fracture in the nose and is expected to be back Thursday.”
Sandy Brondello said Natasha Cloud has a slight fracture in the nose and is expected to be back Thursday.
— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) August 26, 2025
Well, this bit of news does feel like a breath of fresh air for the team. After all, following a long hiatus, Liberty star Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu are back in business, too. And adding Cloud to the mix will surely make the New York-based outfit much stronger. Till now, Cloud has appeared in 36 games. Averaging about 29 minutes per game, Stewart has 10.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game to show for. Moreover, with Liberty’s tie-breaker chances against the Atlanta Dream shifting, Cloud’s coming back is of utmost importance.
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New York Liberty To Benefit From Natasha Cloud’s Comeback As Their Tie-Breaker Chances Take A Blow
Liberty is currently fifth in the WNBA table. Making things worse, their recent loss against Atlanta has complicated things further. With Dream winning, they have now tied the regular season 2-2. And this means that if the calculations come down to a tie-breaker, Liberty might be in a pickle. As per the rules, in case of a tie, the side with the better record against the .500 will go through. But this won’t stand for Dream and Liberty, as they both are 12-11.
Thus, things will eventually come to the head-to-head point difference, which unfortunately favors the Dream at plus 14. And this is one of the main reasons Cloud will be a crucial piece of the puzzle for Liberty. The 33-year-old has an average of 1.3 steals with an impressive 42.8 percent shooting from the field. Her three-point shooting has also been impressive at 32.6. Thus, with reinforcements coming in, it now remains to be seen if Liberty can turn things around.