SERIES WINNER: NEW YORK

 

What to Expect:

As the number 1 seed, the 23-11 New York Liberty is the favorite to win this best-of-three series against the 18-16 Washington D.C. Mystics.  However, during the regular season, the Mystics won 3 of their 4 games against the Liberty, even if in 2 of the those 3, Epiphanny Prince didn’t play, and in one, both teams were resting many of their starters in preparation for this playoff series.

Tina Charles is the main attraction of the New York Liberty as the probable 3rd choice for MVP this year behind Elena Delle Donne and Maya Moore.  She averaged 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game this year.  This, coupled with all-star guard Epiphanny Prince, veteran defensive nightmare Tanisha Wright, former Olympian Swin Cash, and potential rookie-of-the-year (or at least a close second to Jewell Loyd) Kiah Stokes, makes the Liberty a dangerous team.  Teresa Weatherspoon and Katie Smith also adorn the coaching staff, so it’s pretty hard to lose if you’re head coach Bill Laimbeer.

The Mystics aren’t without weapons, though.  What they lack in big names, they make up for in medium-sized, well-rounded names.  These include Emma Meesseman and Stefanie Dolson, two young players with their first All-Star game appearances this year, as well as Ivory Latta, the tiny, sharp-shooting point guard.  Kara Lawson has been suffering from back pain as of late that has put her on the sidelines for the last several games, but on or off the bench she gives the team great leadership and consistent scoring at critical moments.

 

Game 1: Washington D.C. 86, New York 83

 

Key Players (Liberty):

Epiphanny Prince- 26 points (68.8% FG), 5 rebounds, 4 assists

Tina Charles- 22 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists

Tanisha Wright- 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists

Swin Cash- 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists

 

Key Players (Mystics):

Ivory Latta- 15 points, 3 assists

Emma Meesseman- 13 points, 10 rebounds

Stefanie Dolson- 13 points, 9 rebounds

Tierra Ruffin-Pratt- 7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists

 

The Liberty got out to an early 21-12 lead behind 3/3 from Epiphanny Prince and 4/7 from Tina Charles.  The Mystics shot only 3/12, were outscored in the paint 10-2, and trailed by 7 going into the 2nd quarter.  Although the Mystics didn’t hit a shot for almost ten minutes, they kept themselves alive by making 11/13 from the freethrow line.  By halftime, they started making shots and tied the game at 36 apiece.

The second half was a back-and-forth battle led by Prince, Charles, and Wright for the Liberty.  Dolson answered in the third quarter for the Mystics, while Lawson took up the mantle in the fourth to keep the game neck-and-neck.  Neither team led by more than 4 points, and at the end of the fourth quarter, the score remained tied at 69-69 and the first overtime of the playoffs began.

Latta hit 2 huge three-pointers at the end of the game, one to send the Mystics to overtime and one to start the first overtime period.  Although the Liberty had several chances to win, they missed some crucial free throws (2 by Wright and 1 by Cash) in overtime 1 that would have given the Liberty a 2-possession lead.  Instead, Meesseman hit a running floater from Latta to give the Mystics another chance at overtime.  They took advantage in the final period, kept making their free throws, and ended up with the 86-83 upset over the Liberty.

They Mystics finished with only 8 turnovers compared to New York’s 14, but overall the game was clean and well-played.  The Liberty were only 16/26 from the free throw line, while the Mystics were 19/24.

 

Game 2: New York 86, Washington D.C. 68

 

Key Players (Liberty):

Tina Charles- 22 points, 5 rebounds

Sugar Rodgers- 15 points, 3 assists, 2 steals

Carolyn Swords- 12 points (83.3% FG), 6 rebounds

Epiphanny Prince- 11 points, 3 assists

Tanisha Wright- 6 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals

 

Key Players (Mystics):

Tayler Hill- 19 points

Ivory Latta- 15 points, 3 assists

Stephanie Dolson- 8 points, 5 rebounds

Emma Meesseman- 6 points, 5 rebounds

 

The Liberty started red hot behind 9 from Epiphanny Prince and 8 from Carolyn Swords to lead 12-6 in rebounding and 23-15 in points at the end of the first.  By contrast, the Mystics shot only 4/18 in field goals in the early going, leading to an 11-0 run by the Liberty to start the second quarter like they’d ended the first.  Sugar Rodgers hit outside shot after outside shot for New York, scoring 9 of her 15 points in the period.  Tayler Hill finally broke the Mystics' scoring drought 3 and a half minutes into the quarter and responded to the Liberty’s run with 12 points of her own, shooting 4/4 from 3-point range.  By halftime, the Mystics had narrowed the lead to 44-37.

The third quarter was all about Tina Charles.  She scored 17 of the Liberty’s 26 points in the quarter on 8/10 shooting, all of them difficult jump shots and one of them even a 3-pointer!  The Mystics couldn’t find a way to stop her, and to be frank I’m not sure if that would have even been possible with the way she was playing.  The Liberty maintained their 20 or so point lead through the fourth quarter and cruised to the final score of 86-68.

Washington only shot 27.7% in their 2-point attempts (they made 57.1% from three) throughout the game.  They also lost the rebounding battle 24-33 and had 8 more turnovers than the Liberty, numbers that make the 18 point victory unsurprising.

 

Game 3: New York 79, Washington D.C. 74

 

Key Players (Liberty):

Tina Charles- 22 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists

Sugar Rodgers- 20 points, 3 assists, 2 steals

Tanisha Wright- 9 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds

Kiah Stokes- 8 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks

 

Key Players (Mystics):

Ivory Latta- 18 points, 7 assists

Tierra Ruffin-Pratt- 17 points (66.7% FG), 4 assists, 4 steals

Kia Vaughn- 10 points, 9 rebounds

Emma Meesseman- 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks

 

Ivory “Crazy Eyes” Latta scored three difficult three-pointers to help put Washington up 25-15 at the end of the 1st quarter.  The Mystics outshot the Liberty 56% to 38% until New York head coach Bill Laimbeer told his players to “get their defensive hats on.” (He’s great for sound bites.)  So they did.  And their offensive hats, and their 18-2 run hats.  Sugar Rodgers outscored the Mystics 14 to 12 overall in the second quarter, New York made 14/15 of their free throws compared to Washington’s ⅔ and NYC had a 45-37 lead at halftime.

Meesseman led Washington out of the half with 6 of a 14-2 Mystics run.  The Liberty were 1/12 in field goals at the 4 minute mark of the third quarter, in large part because Prince had hit only one of her 10 total shot attempts.  They came back with a couple quick threes from Candice Wiggins and the score was an even 57-57 to start the final period.  The fourth quarter went back and forth until the final seconds, both teams playing good defense and hard-earned offense.  With 20.2 seconds left in the game, Prince hit a difficult jumper and Kiah Stokes had an awesome block on the defensive end against Ivory Latta to get them their final 79-74 lead.

So the first-seeded Liberty are now set to face off against the third-seeded Indiana Fever.  The Fever have already pulled off one upset in a comeback 2-1 series victory over the Sky.  Expect this battle to be a defensive grind the whole way through.  Check out the next post tomorrow to read about the Eastern Conference Finals!