Liberty Preparing for the Playoff Wars

Added by Darius Amos on August 24, 2011.

As I’ve done all season long, I gave the Liberty the benefit of the doubt. I completed 90 percent of a blog post following the team’s loss to Seattle last week, touching on points of inconsistency, lackadaisical play and a plea for veteran leadership. Instead of pressing send, however, I highlighted the text and hit the delete key. My thinking: Let me give them one more game before I rip them, after all, the Libs are in line to make the playoffs and they did finally score wins against Washington and nemesis Connecticut.

So I put a lot of weight on New York’s game against Phoenix last night, and I have to admit, the Lady Libs answered the call with an exciting 74-70 victory. They proved to me that their late-game collapse against the Storm on Aug. 20 was probably a fluke because the second half of most games after the all-star break has belonged to New York. The Liberty’s 25-point fourth quarter against Phoenix is further evidence of that.

Everyone knows that the Liberty live and die with Cappie Pondexter, and we witnessed that in the previous two games. Against Seattle, Pondexter shot 5 of 13 and scored a mere 12 points. It’s not surprising that the Liberty lost that game by a single point. But we know that performance was out of the ordinary – we’re used to seeing her dominate.

Against Phoenix, Pondexter saved her best for last. In front of a national audience watching on ESPN2 (aside – camera work is so much better on ESPN than on MSG and LiveAccess), Pondexter scored 17 of her 25 points in the final quarter to guide the Libs to the come-from-behind win. Want to know an even more clutch stat: all of those fourth quarter points came in the final six minutes, when New York was trailing Phoenix by six points. Ugh, I can’t take it… Pondexter is just unbelievable, unstoppable and just unreal!

I’ve said it time and again, Cappie will be Cappie. We can always expect the best from her. My main concern is simple: what is everyone else doing? The supporting cast will determine how deep the Liberty advance in the playoffs. If everyone is hitting on all cylinders and playing the way we’ve seen during New York victories, there’s no reason to expect anything less than a trip to the Finals.

Plenette Pierson and Nicole Powell have to score points (and stay healthy) in the front court, and Kia Vaughn and Quanitra Hollingsworth must establish themselves in the paint. Save the loss to Seattle, those four have done their jobs. Combined, the four scored 39 points and grabbed 20 rebounds against the Mercury.

Head coach John Whisenant has shortened his bench, and along with Essence Carson, those four will see the most minutes in the front court down the stretch. Though their aggressiveness, especially on defense, puts the team in hot water (think fouls) quite often, we’ve come to accept that this is the nature of the team. As long as they perform consistently, score points and clean the boards, we can’t ask for much more.

With six regular season games remaining, the Liberty needed last night’s win in a desperate way. They proved that they can beat a good playoff team on the road, and they showed their true colors by coming back against a good Phoenix team. They’re now faced with a home-and-home against Chicago to close out the month then four September games against playoff-bound teams, including two against league leader Minnesota and the finale at Connecticut.

Last weekend, I was primed to ask, nay demand, that the real Liberty team please stand up. I realize now that I don’t have to do that. By beating Phoenix, the Libs took it upon themselves to show everyone who they really are.