WNBA Gamer: New York Second Quarter Offensive and Defensive Attacks Fuel Upset of Los Angeles

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEW YORK – Los Angeles Sparks coach Brian Agler, head of the defending WNBA champions, and New York Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer were in total agreement with why the home team here in Madison Square Garden Sunday afternoon was able to turn around an 11-point deficit at the end of the first quarter into a 14-point victory.

Trailing 27-16 at the end of the quarter when Los Angeles hit a lot of jumpers, New York roared to life with a 20-0 run in the next period that was the large part of a 28-8 advantage to complete the half on the way to an 83-69 triumph that snapped a five-game skid to the Sparks dating back to the 2015 season. 

The game was the only one on Sunday's WNBA card.

Pointing in the direction of the Liberty dressing room, Agler exclaimed, “You’re going to get a lot of answer’s down there how we played from them about the way we they played. Tonight’s game, I think New York had a lot to do with how we played. They were very aggressive. They were committed to having success. They were hungry. They were physical.

“Teams this time of year, when they’re hungry, they usually play like that. And New York’s trying to move up into the standings.”

The win put New York at 15-12, good enough for fifth place in the overall standings, with a magic number of three to return to the postseason where a year ago the Liberty had the third best overall record.

Looking in front of them, they trail fourth place Washington by a 1.5 games, third-place Connecticut, which clinched a first-playoff appearance since 2012 Saturday night, by 2.5 games, and second place Los Angeles, which fell to 19-8 with the loss, by 4 games. 

The Minnesota Lynx, with the best overall record, is just about out of reach of the Liberty holding a 21-4 record and a 7.0 games lead.

Behind New York, the Phoenix Mercury (14-13) sits just a game.

If the playoffs began right now under the revised format of a year ago where the top two teams get a double bye into the semifinals and the next two teams in third and fourth place get a first-round bye, New York in fifth place would get a home game in the opener without the benefit of a bye.

The first two rounds are one-and-done affairs and after being one of the top dominant teams in 2016 but not dominant enough, the Liberty sat round one out and then fell to Phoenix, which was an upset winner in round one.

Los Angeles was the two seed last year and ultimately in a thrilling best of five finals beat the Lynx in Minnesota in the fifth and deciding game in the final seconds.

As for Laimbeer’s take on what turned Sunday’s game around, the former coach of the former three-time champion Detroit Shock, now known as the Dallas Wings with a tweener stop in Tulsa for several seasons, observed, “We’re starting to understand who we are. The game plan was to keep (Los Angeles)  in the perimeter.

“Once we figured that out, we stuck to it and they didn’t make the shots anymore, then we rammed the ball down there throats.”

He also thought Los Angeles got tired in the second period, having arrived here on the heels of a hard-fought 70-64 win at Minnesota Friday night.

“We know that we are a solid defensive basketball team and a solid rebounding team,” Laimbeer spoke of the Liberty positives. “Those are two trademarks you can hang your hat on all day long. You’ll be in every game if you play outstanding defense and you rebound the basketball and limit second shots.

“We know that, that’s been our hallmark for three years. That’s our third year with that. The offense will show how good we can be.”

Laimbeer acknowledged there are still potential speed bumps ahead like the one New York hit in San Antonio to open the month, and big challenges with a visit to Connecticut next on Friday night before hosting Minnesota on Sunday.

Then the Liberty will close out its season slate visiting Indiana, which will either be still fighting at the door to extend the Fever’s postseason streak appearance WNBA record to 13 or looking to the lucrative lottery for the talented 2018 draft.

That stop is  followed by hosting Washington, which is fighting for an upper spot; hosting Chicago, which is involved in a giant traffic jam involving the seventh and eighth spots; San Antonio, likely to be lottery gazing at that point; and finishing at Dallas, which is likely to be readying a first playoffs appearance since the glory days when the franchise was still in the Motor City.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, the team best positioned in the hunt for top seed and fighting to at least hold second, continues its road trip in Washington Wednesday night, leaky newly-named Capital One roof permitting; and then completing the four-game travel stops at Chicago.

 Then comes hosting San Antonio, visiting Phoenix, and then hosting a trifecta of Minnesota, Atlanta, which like many others, could either have qualified, still could qualify, or been eliminated, and playing  Connecticut, which as of this hour could still be alive to take second or at least hold third or fourth to gain a bye and hosting perk.

As for the tale of the tape in terms of who stood out on Sunday, New York’s Tina Charles, the former UConn great who is in the league MVP hunt, scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds; former Pitt star Shavonte Zellous had 19 points; former Rutgers star Epiphanny Prince scored 18 and grabbed seven rebounds, as did Kia Vaughn, another Rutgers alum; in terms of the rebounding stat; Sugar Rodgers had six points off the bench; and former UConn star Bria Hartley had six points and five assists.

Los Angeles got killed on the boards to the tune of a 37-26 deficit, but on the offensive side of things, newcomer and former Baylor star Odyssey Sims had 18 points.

 Though all-everything veteran Candace Parker had 14 points, she shot 4-for 12 from the field. Chelsea Gray had 15 points, reigning 2016 MVP Nneka Ogwumike had 12 points, but veteran Alana Beard was scoreless.

“We just had to be aggressive,” New York’s Zellous said. “Los Angeles has been dominant against us for some time and it’s one of those things you’re tired of losing to the same team.”

Noted Prince, “I thought we were moving the ball well today. I was able to knock down some shots (7-for-13, including 3-for-5 on attempted treys) when my teammates found me and we got the win.”

On beating one of the top teams for the first time this season, having missed a chance at Minnesota, losing by a point last month, Prince said, “It means a lot. L.A. is one of the top two teams in the league and the defending champs. We’re showing we can play with the best of the best.

“I feel like if we can keep it close, we’ll have a chance to be able to pull it through and getting the win was big for us.”

After beating Minnesota to keep hope alive for the top spot, the Sparks took a step back with the loss.

“Obviously, we didn’t want to lose this game,” Parker said. “But I think we need to figure out our issues on the road (L.A. is 7-7 while being 12-1 at home). I think it’s been trouble for us this year. We’re not going to make any excuses – we didn’t play the way we wanted and New York hit shots.”

L.A. hit shots early but Agler, while refusing to make excuses, explained, besides giving credit to New York’s performance, “We got away from the strengths of our team. When we get away from that, we don’t play as well and that’s what happened tonight.

“We fell in love with the jump shot,” Angler alluded to the second quarter rout. “Some teams are going to give you some things and that’s where the veteranship and leadership come in. What’s more important, me taking this open shot they’re giving me right now, or making our team play the way we need our team to play well?

“And that’s always a dilemma. Young players sometimes don’t understand that. Veteran players should understand that. And that’s where we got to get to.”

After winning the title last year following a long drought, there’s been a lot of changes to the roster.

“We know what we have, we have to figure out the best way to utilize our people, figure out the best way for us to play, and we just have to take on everybody that comes at us.

“We’re not worry about who we had last year that’s not here. We’re not worrying about who’s in here, we’re not worrying about these people are new. We’re not worrying about that. We are who we are and we have to work through that,” Agler continued.

“There’s times when we play really well and there’s times we don’t play really well.”

New York opened the game with a somber moment of silence for the victims in Saturday’s violent events in Charlottesville, Va., and closed the night for the fans with a celebrity basketball game in which singer Justin Bieber was one of the players.

New York’s 28 points in the second were the Liberty’s season high for the period as were the consecutive points accrued on the 20-0 run. In that same period on the defensive side it was the lowest point total in any quarter yielded by the Liberty and also the lowest scoring period for Los Angeles this season.