WNBA: Is Liberty's Distant Past Also New York's Future?

(Guru note: For those who haven't yet caught up with the Guru's twitter account @womhoopsguru, here are some quickie notes at the top of this post so as not to foul the narrative below. On the way to catching the (cheaper Jersey Transit) train in Trenton for Friday night's game in New York, the Guru made a quick mall stop to check something out and upon emerging from the car in the parking lot, he thought he heard a familiar voice. Sure enough it was South Carolina and former Temple coach Dawn Staley, along with her good friend Rene Flint, the wife of Drexel men's coach Bruiser Flint, and the couple's daughter Jada Flint.

Not much talk other than quick greetings because of the train to catch.

Also, the Guru was joined for the night in New York by Carl Lavin, a former high command editor at The Inquirer, also the Guru's former employment place, who is now with Forbes.com. The Guru, incidentally, also plans to be in Connecticut Sunday for the Washington game.

And finally, with a bunch of radio wannnabes in attendance from Hofstra's student broadcast group that always does a great job at Colonial Athletic Association media days, the Guru was surprised that his good Philly friend, Pride women's media contact Stephen A Gorchov was not on the scene.).

By Mel Greenberg

NEW YORK -- The fan lifers in Madison Square Garden that have followed the New York Liberty since the WNBA's inception in the summer of 1997 have had to rely on nostaglia several times in recent years with some exceptions to remember what it was like to be in pursuit of a league championship.

True New York has never won the top piece of hardware attainable in the postseason but in most situations the other side was just a bit better or, in the case of the former Houston Comets dynasty, just better period.

Suddenly, however, despite the dominating 23-4 record of the Seattle Storm in the West, there are no certainties at this hour in terms of how the conference battles will play out and who will be left standing just before the focus will quickly change to the USA Basketball national team bid to win the FIBA championship next month after the playoffs.

But what is real at the moment is that the New York Liberty has very much fought its way into the hunt for a title and once again can boast of a top-of-the-line superstar in former Rutgers all-American Cappie Pondexter.

In what has become virtually redundant since the All-Star break is that New York won another key game Friday night, beating the equally hot Washington Mystics 85-77 before an announced crowd of 11,465 although the visual in the arena would make one wonder whether the turnstiles down below in Penn Station are linked to the same computer system as the Liberty's.

For the past month, New York had been the desperate runner on the track just behind the leaders unable to penetrate the upper mix that will yield playoff participation.

But after Friday night in the noose-tight Eastern Conference race, New York (16-11) moved into a tie with Washington (16-11) for third place a full three games ahead of the fading Connecticut Sun (13-14).

Impacting New York elsewhere Friday night, the 95-93 win by the defending conference champion Indiana Fever over the Atlanta Dream at home in Conseco Fieldhouse means the Liberty is just a game out of first with Washington behind the virtually tied Fever (17-10 .630 and Dream (18-11 .621).

The momentum of the 9-2 run since the All-Star break is certainly a thrill to the Liberty lifers recapping recent past exploits.

The problem in this particular crazy year is that nothing is still certain just ahead. One watching Pondexter do her thing again matching the Mystics' Monique Currie, the former Duke star, with a game-high 23 points, can certainly be encouraged. That performance was supported by the vastly-improved outside shooting of Leilani Mitchell, the former Utah star, who had 15 points and connected on 4-of-6 three pointers, especially three in the second quarter as the Liberty rolled to a 40-26 halftime lead.

Advantages these days are never large enough, however, in a league which seems to have more rallies than the Tea Party crowd trying to gain access to the federal governing slots in Washington.

The Mystics made a late push at the finish to make the game closer than it seemed as former Rutgers star Matee Ajavon, once a teammate of Pondexter, finished with 20 points.

Former Maryland star Crystal Langhorne, the native of Willingboro, N.J., in suburban Philadelphia had a quiet night with just four points.

Liberty coach Anne Donovan admitted to being "not happy" with the subs in the game at the end when the huge lead narrowed.

So while the glow of victory made the Liberty torch light up again in central Manhattan, the sobering counter-thought is the next four games are at a Minnesota Lynx team (Sun) fighting for a playoff spot in the West, at Atlanta on, gulp, Friday the 13th, with a quick one-night turnaround hosting Pondexter's former Phoenix team, and then another visit from Indiana.

As great as things have been, the opportunity is there to be greater but also to avoid the next week suddenly turn grusesome.

But Donovan, who will be heading to coach Seton Hall after the season, is pleased with the effort on both ends of the court and the shot that's still alive at a regular season conference title.

"We've been surviving for quite a while just looking at ourselves and taking one game, one day, at a time and focus just on Liberty basketball," she said after the Washington win that tied the season series at 2-2 with one left. "That's how we've been able to climb the ladder, focus on defense, focus on getting better every day. I don't have to talk to this team about working hard. So, yeah, we're getting it together at the right time."

Pondexter is elated to be able to pursue a title for the second straight year after being part of Phoenix's winning combination last season.

"We've just been playing great basketball," the native of Chicago said. "We want to make the playoffs. I think this organization deserves it. I think the people of New York deserve it. I'm just happy to get there, so let's just take it one step at a time."

The Liberty have also been able to gain some big road game triumphs.

"I've always said if you can win on the road, you can win the championship, because in the playoffs you have to do that," said Pondexter, whose team rallied at Indiana in Game 4 last season before winning at home in the deciding Game 5.

"We're having fun, we're trusting each other and we have a great coaching staff."

Pondexter played for Donovan on the USA gold-medal Olympic winners in 2008 in Beijing, China.

"It's weird, because she's not a yeller, she's really quiet," said Pondexter who played for another Hall of Famer at Rutgers in C. Vivian Stringer. "But you can see her drive, her intensity and her winning attitude.

"When I made the decision to come to New York I wanted Anne to be here."

Pondexter's comments are reminiscient of 2001 when the former Charlotte Sting, then coached by Donovan, got off to a 1-11 start and ended up playing the eventual Los Angeles Sparks in the finals.

Dawn Staley, who was playing for Charlotte during her fledging coaching career at Temple in Philadelphia, had made a speech near the end of the losing run to the team.

"I said, `Let's get this turned around and win this for Anne," Staley said at the time.

Meanwhile, with some spacing from the Connecticut Sun both Washington and New York had a margin of error for a loss in Friday night's game.

"Every game is important, we know it in the East," Washington coach Julie Plank said after Friday's loss followed two big wins at Indiana and Atlanta. "We had been playing well and I'm really disappointed in our defense tonight. That's the reason we win games, that's the reason we lose games.

"I don't want to talk margin of error. We haven't made the playoffs yet. We have two big games next at Connecticut (Sun) and then at home (Tues). We have to be ready."

Actually, as woeful as things look these days for the Sun, a sweep over the Mystics could turn things around quickly if Connecticut launches a run because Washington also is entering a tough stretch that can go either way.

And the Sun would have a tie-breaker with Washington in clinching the series in a finish at fourth for both teams, which wouldn't be the case in a deadlock with New York.

One final thought off Friday night's matchup is that the Washington bench has former Liberty assistant Marianne Stanley, the Upper Darby native who starred at Immaculata, assisting Plank with the Washington team she once served as a head coach.

With New York vice president Carol Blazejowski now having gotten the Liberty's temporary home in Newark, N.J., at The Rock across the Hudson River about to be signed off in contract talks, attention can be turned to Donovan's successor.

The three-summer hiatus is made necessary because of renovation work in The Garden.


One believes that if Stanley is interested in the Liberty coaching position she could get strong consideration since many felt she had a shot as heir apparent to former coach Patty Coyle, another Philly native, in Stanley's previous stint with New York.

She would also reunite with the Rutgers alums, especially Kia Vaughn whom she helped develop further during Rutgers run to the NCAA title game in 2007 when she assisted Stringer for two seasons.

Fever Ends Spell

The three-game losing streak came to an end Friday night for the defending Eastern Conference champions when Indiana (17-10) avenged its loss in the last week to Atlanta with a 95-93 win over the Dream in Indianapolis at Conseco Fieldhouse.

The win put the Fever into first by percentage points .630 over Atlanta .621, though both teams are tied at the top in terms of games behind.

Tamika Catchings had a season-high 30 points for the Fever and hit two foul shots with 3.5 seconds remaining to clinch the win. Indiana had blown a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Former Louisville star Angel McCoughtry, last season's rookie of the year, had 31 points for Atlanta, while teammate Inziane Castro Marquez scored 28.

Mercury Continues To Rise

Defending champion Phoenix (14-13), holding second in the West nine games behind Seattle (23-4), which has long since clinched the regular season conference title, made it a two-game sweep in this week's matchupa with San Antonio (10-17), winning Friday night in the Arizona desert 103-87, yet another triple-digit attack on the scoreboard.

The Mercury now have a four-game lead on the Silver Stars, who got tied for third by Los Angeles after the Sparks rallied at home in the Staples Center ovr the forlorn Tulsa Shock 77-70.

The two are actually in a three-way tie with Minnesota (9-16), which was idle, in terms of games behind, though the other two have a .370 win/loss percentage compared to .360 by the Lynx, which will be at Chicago Saturday.

Penny Taylor and Tangela Smith were Mercury co-scoring leaders for Phoenix with 18 points each. It was the Mercury's fourth straight win. San Antonio's Chamique Holdsclaw and Becky Hammon matched game-highs with 21 points each, while Holdsclaw grabbed nine rebounds and Hammon connected on 6-of-8 three pointers.

Diana Taurasi became the third WNBA player in history and fastest ever at 224 games to reach 4,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, and deal 900 assists.

Sparks' Playoff Hopes Still Flaring

DeLisha Milton scored 23 points as Los Angeles erased an 11-point deficit at the Staples Center at home to beat West cellar dweller Tulsa 77-70 to drop the Shock to 5-23 overall, 18.5 games behind first-place Seattle and 5.5 games behind the spot that could mean the playoffs.

Ivory Latta, the former North Carolina star, had 19 for Tulsa.

Rest of the Weekend

The Shock (5-23), the former three-time WNBA champion Detroit Shock franchise, visit Seattle Saturday night where the host Storm will be looking to avenge the loss in Oklahoma earlier this week.

If Minnesota wins at Chicago (12-16) Saturday night and Tulsa loses, the Shock will be 5.5 games behind with five remaining. Off head-to-head tie-breakers, which would still be alive, Tulsa loses out, gets eliminated from the playoffs but becomes the first team officially in the hunt for the No. 1 overall choice in the 2011 draft expected to be UConn senior Maya Moore.

A Chicago loss puts the Sky six games behind the last playoff spot with four remaining, which means playoff elimination for the Sky and another entry into the Maya Moore derby.

Minnesota is still fighting for a playoff spot but owns the Connecticut slot via a draft-day trade in April that could put the Lynx in the derby if the Sun are on the postseason sidelines for the second straight season.

Of course the Lynx, who gave up former Nebraska Kelsey Griffin in the deal with the Sun, will have their own pick in the hunt if they don't make the playoffs and could have two of the four picks if both teams are eliminated, though Tulsa will still have the best overall advantage going into the lotto drawing.

On Sunday to finish out the week, besides the Washington-Connecticut game, Indiana will be at Phoenix with the visiting Fever needing the win to stay in first in the East. San Antonio will be at Los Angeles with both teams in the logjam playoff hunt likely to go to the wire. As mentioned, Minnesota, in a second big game in two nights, will host New York that will be seeking to continue to climb the East, though a loss won't be much damaging unless it sets off a series of setbacks on the tough week ahead.

-- Mel