Natasha Cloud, Liberty’s ‘missing piece,’ dazzles in team debut vs. Aces: ‘She brings that energy every time’

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In an afternoon slated to celebrate the 2024 New York Liberty championship, a newcomer to the roster addressed the raucous Barclays Center crowd after a 92-78 opening day win over the Las Vegas Aces. 

Natasha Cloud grabbed the mic after her gritty fourth-quarter performance helped secure the win Saturday. The 2019 champion (Washington Mystics) ended the night with 22 points and nine assists to help her new crew open the season with a bang. 

“She was that missing piece,” Liberty teammate Kennedy Burke told the media postgame. “She brings that energy every time she steps on the court, whether it’s defense, offense … she’s going to be that energy player for us.” 

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Need look no further than the fourth quarter Saturday for Burke’s words to ring true. After picking up a fourth foul late in the game, Cloud bookended a critical steal with two hard drives that resulted in opponent Chelsea Gray’s fourth and fifth fouls. 

Coming to a new team, especially one coming off a championship, is no easy task. Not even for a respected veteran like Cloud. However, Cloud embraces any challenge with the way she lives life: loudly. 

Whether you scroll the Liberty’s social media accounts of come to Brooklyn for practice, you will hear Cloud’s voice full of joy, energy and a healthy dose of laughter. Her personality is as infectious as her game is tenacious. In that way, she has molded herself into an undeniable presence in the WNBA. 

Coming out of St. Joseph’s, Cloud was drafted 15th overall by the Mystics, where she played nine WNBA seasons before spending last year with the Phoenix Mercury. In what would be her last game for the Mystics, Cloud was the antagonist for the Barclays crowd. 

A vision born from heartache

Lamenting what she deemed a poor defensive performance, Cloud made it her business to be Sabrina Ionescu’s shadow in Game 2 of the 2023 first-round playoff series against New York. Cloud held Ionescu to 11 points, a far cry from the 29 points she collected several nights before. 

However, it was not enough to stop the Liberty, who swept the series with a 90-85 overtime win in Brooklyn. When the clocks hit zeros, the jeers turned to cheers as the Barclays crowd showed Cloud the ultimate respect: an ovation. 

Flash forward to this WNBA season, and now Liberty fans cheered for Cloud throughout the game, and especially when she grabbed the mic postgame. 

“It’s electrifying,” Cloud said of the Liberty crowd during her first regular-season home game with New York. “I always understood as an opponent that the crowd here and the fans, it’s a sixth man at all times. They have the ability to shift momentum at any given moment.”

And Cloud’s superpower is her ability to shift momentum as well. 

“She’s unselfish, you know,” Breanna Stewart said of Cloud. “She knows when to when to find her teammates, and she knows when to kind of call her own number and use the length and the size that she has to really dictate what she wants.”

“I know I’m like a fiery leader as well,” Cloud told CBS Sports postgame while gesturing a flexing motion, “but I try to lead by example. So if that means just giving a little bit more effort and pressuring Jackie (Young) full court and coming up with a steal, then that’s just what I gotta do.” 

To her, these moments are all part of fabricating momentum, shifting moments. When the Aces threatened to gain only their second lead late in the game, Cloud called her number, as well as game. 

“The more we can get everybody into it, the better for us,” Cloud said.

If Burke is right about her new teammate being the missing piece, imagine the heights the reigning champions can reach with Cloud wearing No. 9 in New York this season and beyond.