New York Liberty’s winning streak comes to end in excruciating loss to Phoenix Mercury, 99-93
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
That game was a whole lot of fun until the very end. Tucked away on Tuesday night 10:00 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network/Fubo TV/not WNBA League Pass opposite Game 5 of the NHL Finals, two of the WNBA’s best teams were been squaring off.
The New York Liberty, playing the second of two games out West, are certainly in the W’s top tier, riding an eight-game win streak as we near the Commissioner’s Cup Final, which they will kind of host.
The Phoenix Mercury, though? Top tier might be a stretch, but since the return of Britney Griner, the Mercury are 3-1, playing their best ball of the season. With Rebecca Allen, ex-Lib, back in the lineup as well, Nate Tibbets’ vision for his Mercury has come into focus. Behind an embarrassment of riches on the perimeter, they’re capable of unloading an avalanche of threes with one of the league’s scariest interior threats now as a complement.
Said Sandy Brondello before the game: “They’ve got more of an inside-outside attack because they’re playing toward their personnel now, which makes them even more dangerous. They’ve got a lot of players that are shooting, what, 40-plus percent from the 3-point line? So that makes it really dangerous when you’ve got a dominant inside player like that. It’s another good test for us, because I think this is a really dangerous team that’s going to get better and better.”
Phoenix was more than just a test for the Liberty on Tuesday night, and their process of improving reached new heights in a back-and-forth shoot-out that was destined to go down to the wire from tip.
Immediately, Breanna Stewart got going with a welcome sight: threes. After entering the game at shooting 17.5% from deep, a career-worst by a couple orders of magnitude, she shot 4-of-4 from deep on her way to a 28/4/5/5/1 stat-line on 10-of-15 shooting, even hotter than the 103º it was outdoors.
Stew York thought the desert needed a lil rain ☔️ Vote for the Libs to #LIGHTUPTHEVALLEY ️ at All-Star: https://t.co/GVBxBhSKhF pic.twitter.com/WYYHNfOzVQ— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) June 19, 2024
Stewie wasn’t the only one making it rain from deep. Every starter hit multiple threes, most accomplishing that by the end of the first half, during which the Liberty built a dozen-point lead on the Mercury.
But somehow, the infamous Second Quarter Libs showed up once more, as the hosts closed the half on a 21-7 run to take a four-point lead into the break. The game ebbed and flowed with the rhythm of the 33 total turnovers the teams would combine for.
When the Liberty got sloppy, particularly in transition, the Mercury crawled back into the game; and when the Mercury got sloppy in the half-court, it led to open transition looks for New York.
Yet, outside of the turnovers, it was a brilliant offensive performance, both ways. Phoenix’s second-quarter run was certainly aided by some defensive breakdowns from their guests, but Diana Taurasi & Co. picked apart every single one.
Allen hit five triples to score 17 points, often lost in transition defense, while Taurasi hit four triples herself, many of which came on blown defensive coverages in the half-court. Specifically, the Liberty weren’t able to locate her after she would set the guard-to-guard screens Phoenix has become known for a third of the way into the season.
Spain/Stack action for Diana Taurasi, Betnijah is late on the switch. I think this is on Stewie not communicating early enough (surely they've scouted this action) pic.twitter.com/j7HgOvA8pj— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 19, 2024
Brondello and Stewart took turns analyzing the problem, with the head coach saying, “I think it was an execution thing. We were supposed to switch fair bit. We have our switching groups, I just think Diana is, very crafty, we overreacted on any kind of penetration, and you know, they they’re great shooters.”
Stewart saw the problem similarly, saying, “I think that we just needed to lock in on our coverages. Sometimes we’re trying to get to our matchups when it’s like, there’s a person right in front of us. So knowing the importance of guarding the your matchup, but also, we were over-running a little bit and kind of creating offense for them.”
And yet, the Liberty grabbed a 12-point lead when player resumed in the third quarter, led by even better 3-point shooting than what they were up against. After three quarters, New York had hit 17 triples, one shy of tying both a franchise and league-wide record. It’s no wonder all five staters hit double figures, with Jonquel Jones scoring 17 points to aid Stewie’s big night.
Unlike previous games though, the bench could not support them. Leonie Fiebich, Kennedy Burke, and Ivana Dojkić combined for just five points and one triple, and failed to capitalize on the Liberty’s momentum at the end of the third quarter, as the starters took breathers.
This led to an early re-entrance for the starters in the fourth, and while the core four all reached 35 minutes, they couldn’t recapture that first half magic. Somehow, they’d end the game with 18 triples, still an impressive feat, but muted by a cold final frame.
It set us up for a classic finish, which we mostly got, aside from an abhorrent refereeing performance. After letting the game breathe early on, ticky-tack fouls abounded at the game’s climax, and the flow was largely lost.
On back-to-back possessions, trailing 83-80, Jones was called for an offensive foul that can only be described as imaginary, before a game-tying Kayla Thornton three was waved off. You just have to see it...
KT's potential game-tying three, waved off by this offensive foul. Good call? pic.twitter.com/eZ2i0dSVsj— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 19, 2024
Said Brondello: “I mean, we looked back at it, but I had used my challenge earlier. Kind of bummed I did that now ... Really no explanation at all. So hopefully I get one, at some stage.”
Refereeing adversely affected both teams, and the Liberty had chances to come back and notch a win, but the zebras’ greatest sin was taking center-stage at the end of an awesome 40 minutes of hoops.
Even on the game’s deciding play, a Britney Griner offensive put-back to increase Phoenix’s lead in the final seconds to two possessions, the Liberty bench was furious about what they perceived as missed over-the-back call on Kahleah Copper, which probably wasn't a foul in a vacuum, but could have been in the context of what had been called during that fourth.
Liberty get a crucial stop, but give up only their FOURTH o-board of the night, and Britney Griner celebrates her game-clinching put-back pic.twitter.com/pMRTf56nyu— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 19, 2024
It’s much more rewarding, though, to appreciate Griner’s effort on the play and her joy afterwards. BG tied Taurasi with a team-high 19 points, adding two blocks and winning her minutes by 15 points. She shot 8-of-13, and contributed greatly to Phoenix’s 3-point shooting, even if she didn’t make one herself.
Let Brondello explain: “She’s a great screener. She gets us on the screen a fair bit, forcing a little bit of a switch and over-rotation behind the ball and that created a lot of easier looks for them ... we didn’t navigate around those screens.”
There was also the matter of keeping Jones on her religiously, as the Libs seemed more reluctant to switch their dominant center out to the perimeter as well, not for fear that she couldn’t guard, but out of necessity. Who else can match up with BG?
While that remains to be seen, we do know these two teams can match up with each other. After New York notched a three-point victory back at the Barclays Center in May, Phoenix got their lick back on Tuesday, a blow softened by the knowledge every winning streak has to end, and how damn fun that game was to watch.
Okay fine, it was still pretty painful, even if the teams did combine for a WNBA-record 33 threes.
“Sometimes a loss is great for the lessons that we can learn, and we’ve got a lot of busy schedule coming up. So we’ll learn from this and then move on and get ready for LA.”
Final Score: Phoenix Mercury 99, New York Liberty 93
Next Up
Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images
The Los Angeles Sparks come to town...twice. The first of the two matchups at the Barclays Center is scheduled for Thursday night. Tip-off will be at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings