On Monday night, the New York Liberty took a tough loss against the Atlanta Dream. The team’s final game is on Wednesday also against the Atlanta Dream. The Liberty currently sit in eighth place in the playoff rankings, but could jump up a little bit with a win on Wednesday, though they will not be able to earn home-court advantage.
With this knowledge, how do the Liberty secure a win in their final regular season game against the team that bested them just two days prior?
The Liberty started off strong, with a moderate lead for most of the first half. Pauline Astier controlled the court with ten points in the opening ten minutes of the game, the highest total between both teams. Sabrina Ionescu backed her up with five in the same time. Jonquel Jones took the lead in the second quarter, tallying seven points.
Despite these singular efforts, the Dream’s combined scoring left the Liberty with only a one point lead to end the first and trailing by three points to end the half.
From there, the Dream took complete control of the game. The Dream were up 73-62 by the end of the half. Allisha Gray came out swinging with 12 points in the third, closely followed by Rhyne Howard at ten. The highest scoring Liberty player was Breanna Stewart, who only had six points in the third. Though New York had more defensive rebounds in the third, they also had four turnovers to the Dream’s zero.
Though the teams both scored 22 points in the fourth, the lead was too far for the Liberty to catch up with by the end of the frame. They only lost by 11 points, the final score being 95-84, but the gap likely felt wider. The Liberty were on a roll post-FIBA break and needed every win they could get before the playoffs for better seeding.
With just under two minutes remaining in the game, it appeared as though Angel Reese slapped the ball out of Stewart’s hands. Frustrated with the missed call, which she discussed in the press conference, she earned her first technical since 2017.
If you take away the Liberty having significantly more turnovers than the Dream, the game seemed less disparate on paper.
Post-game, Stewart spoke about the issues in transition, especially in the third quarter. Both Stewart and head coach, Chris DeMarco, stated that they felt there were some missed calls that should have gone their way. DeMarco also said that the team needs to stay organized and discussed the nature of the game being the second in the Liberty’s back-to-back.
While Wednesday’s game may not be the most crucial now for seeding, the Liberty need to get their heads on right and inspire momentum moving into the playoffs, which start on Sunday, September 27.
