Stewart Dealing With Sore Knee
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Shara Talia Taylor
Sabally Paces Mercury To Force Game 3
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
The New York Liberty struggled to make shots and ultimately fell to the Phoenix Mercury 86-60 in Game 2 round 1 of the WNBA playoffs this past Wednesday evening at home at Barclays Center.
The Liberty fell behind in the second quarter and were unable to regain the lead. New York’s shot accuracy declined, but did increase thier defense as the game progressed, however the Mercury maintained their defense and made more baskets.
“We’re a way better team than what we showed today, so I was just disappointed with that,” said New York head coach Sandy Brondello. “I think we turned the ball over and gave them easy baskets on transition.”
The Liberty had 15 turnovers in the game and gave away 25 points. The Mercury had nine turnovers giving New York seven points.
Both teams were aggressive to start and were tied at 25 by the end of the first quarter. New York fell behind and was outscored 26-12 in the second quarter. The Liberty made 52% of their attempted field goals in the first quarter and about 18% in the second. The Mercury made 47% of their attempted field goals in the first quarter and about 57% in the second.
“It seemed like in the first quarter we were kind of getting easier looks at the basket and then really from the second quarter on, there was no wide open really anything,” Stewart said about the difference between the quarters in the first half of the game.
The Liberty trailed the Mercury 51-37 at half time and 69-47 by the end of the third quarter. New York further declined in the third quarter as they were outscored 18-10 and made 13% of their attempted field goals. Phoenix made 47%.
However, New York continued to fight. New York had blocked four shots in the game and had five totals steals. Phoenix had two blocked shots in the game and 10 steals. Seven of the Mercury’s steals were in the first half of the game and three in the second half. The Mercury scored 51 points in the first half of the game and 35 in the second half.
“Literally the ball was not going in the basket, but that’s what they’re going to bring,” Stewart said. Phoenix is a great team and there’s a level of physicality that comes with them and making sure we handle that better come Friday.”
Teams were tied 1-1 in the series when the Liberty returned to Phoenix for game 3- against the Mercury on Wednesday.
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