A season low at exactly the wrong moment
New York is going to the WNBA playoffs. Thursday night at home offered no evidence that the Liberty intend to do much once they get there.
Golden State won 79-60, holding New York to its lowest point total of the season. The Liberty shot 30.2 percent from the floor, also a season low, and converted 7 of 31 attempts from behind the arc. That 22.6 percent night from three accounts for most of the 19-point margin on its own.
“I feel like today was a bit of a step backwards,” guard Rebecca Allen said. “I just don’t think that we should ever lose like that on home court.”
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Eighth place, decided by a tiebreaker
At 23-16 the Liberty have split their last six games. Dallas holds the identical record, and the tiebreaker puts the Wings seventh and New York eighth, which is to say last in the field. The difference between a first-round matchup they can win and one they cannot may be settled inside the next week.
Rebekah Gardner treated Thursday as usable material rather than a warning. “Progress isn’t linear,” the guard said. “It can sometimes go up and down. It’s good that this happened before the playoffs so we can learn from it.”
Saturday afternoon brings Chicago to New York for the final meeting of the season series. The Liberty have taken two of the first three.
Chicago arrives short-handed
The Sky are 15-24 and out of contention, though the shape of their season resists a simple reading. They won three straight before dropping their last two, the most recent an 87-81 defeat at Connecticut on Tuesday.
“A lot of teams in this league, us included, I don’t think our records are indicative,” head coach Tyler Marsh said.
Injuries explain part of that. Natasha Cloud played 16 minutes against the Sun with a right knee problem, DiJonai Carrington four with a foot issue, and both sat out the second half as a precaution. Sydney Taylor has been on a minutes restriction since returning from a groin injury. Whether any of the three gets meaningful time on Saturday was still unresolved on Friday.
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