The New York Liberty suffered an 80-63 loss against the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday, Aug. 30. It was their sixth straight loss, prompting star forward Breanna Stewart to give an honest assessment of the team's standing ahead of the playoffs.Following their loss, Stewart said that the Lberty are running out of learning opportunities and need to improve as soon as possible."This is obviously a learning opportunity, but we're kind of running out of opportunities for growth at this point. We need to just actually be better," Stewart said.Stewart had 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting on top of six rebounds and three assists. Meanwhile, Emma Meeseman led the team with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting.Sabrina Ionescu didn't play against the Mercury due to a toe injury.The game started close, but the Mercury went on to outscore the Liberty, 43-24, in the second half to pull away and deal the defending champions a blowout loss.Kahleah Cooper put up 22 points, built on five 3-pointers, to lead the Mercury, who improved to 25-14, good for the fourth spot in the standings. Meanwhile, the Liberty sits in the fifth spot with a 24-16 slate.With the current standings, the two teams could find themselves pitted against each other in the first round of the playoffs, with the Mercury having the homecourt advantage as the fourth-seeded team.Breanna Stewart gives harsh reality check for the defending champion LibertyBreanna Stewart showed frustration with the current form of the Liberty after the loss against the Mercury. After the game, she said that the team isn't in their championship form yet and have to move in that direction as the playoffs come near.“I think what was said is, like it’s not good enough,” Stewart said. “It’s not going to cut it, any of the things we’ve done today.“This is not championship-level basketball at this point, and everybody needs to recognize that and understand that we need to get there and that starts with the mindset and then putting it onto the court."The Liberty won last year's title as the top seed in the WNBA regular season, losing only eight games.This year, the team has struggled to deal with higher-seeded teams.