New York Turns Garden Into Thump Tower Again, Rallying to Beat Minnesota and Clinch Playoffs

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEW YORK – For the first time since 2004 the WNBA Atlantic seaboard triad of the New York Liberty, Washington Mystics, and Connecticut Sun are playoff-bound and the Indiana Fever have become a postseason spectator.

All this became official with the results of Sunday's games when the New York Liberty pulled another huge rally, this time to upset the Minnesota Lynx here in Madison Square Garden 70-61 to clinch a spot while Washington in Indianapolis beat the Fever 87-72 to also claim a spot after a year’s absence while at the same time the loss knocked out the Fever snapping what was a WNBA-record 12-straight postseason appearances.

Meanwhile up North, the Connecticut Sun, which previously clinched a spot for the first time since 2012, put a dent in the Phoenix Mercury’s drive, beating Diana Taurasi, Britney Griner and the duo’s teammates 99-66 to stay in the hunt for the second seed and at least hold third at 19-10, two games behind the defending Los Angeles Sparks (21-8) and two ahead of Washington (17-12)  and New York (17-12).

Phoenix (15-14) is still likely to make the eight team field trailing the fifth seed position by two games but leading the seventh 1.5 points over Seattle and Dallas, who are tied at 14-16.

Seattle helped itself in Sunday’s other game in which the Storm put a temporary halt to the Chicago Sky’s aspirations, beating the Windy City crew 103-66 to tie idol Dallas for the seventh spot with four games left while Chicago (11-18) was sent back to ninth outside the playoff loop 1.5 back.

So the San Antonio Silver Stars (7-23) and Indiana (9-21) are lottery bound for what is considered a lucrative draft next spring with Atlanta (10-20) facing elimination on the next Dream loss or Seattle and Dallas win.

Minnesota (22-6) still holds the top spot and bye to the semifinals despite Sunday’s loss in a game in which two top Lynx stars were sidelined with injuries – the ongoing one from a fractured hand to All-Star Lindsay Whalen and a sprained left ankle to Rebecca Brunson.

Los Angeles (21-8) is in second for the other double bye at the moment trailing Minnesota by 1.5 games for overall home court advantage with Connecticut (19-10) still good enough for third and a first-round bye two games behind the Sparks.

Washington, which has been playing without superstar Elena Delle Donne, bounced back from Friday’s 89-79 home loss that gave temporary momentum to Phoenix (15-14) before Connecticut put a stop two days later.

In the game here, for the second straight Sunday at home, New York extracted a huge rally to beat two of the top three teams in the league after trailing by 11 and then going ahead by as much as 14 in the second half after doing likewise to Los Angeles last week.

In between New York won at Connecticut Friday night.

For the second straight season the playoffs, which follow the close of the four-month 34-game schedule that occurs on Sept. 3, will be under a revamped format in which the best eight teams regardless of conference affiliation make the field and the first two rounds are one-and-done affairs.

A year ago New York had the best record in the East but was third best overall and after a first-round bye was upset at home by Phoenix, which also pulled an opening round road upset.

On Sunday the Liberty defense held Minnesota to a season-low 61 points on the heels of the Lynx’s 111-51 win at home Friday over Indiana.

New York topped Minnesota 42-28 in the second half.

Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer, who won three WNBA titles guiding the former Detroit Shock in the last decade, low-keyed the clincher pointing out the expectations were well beyond that milestone.

“We were supposed to make the playoffs,” he said. “Now it becomes mental. We know who we are physically, we know who we are role-wise, we know who we are as a basketball team.

“Now it’s about every minute of every play, bringing that focus for 40 minutes. If we do, we’re a very fine basketball team. If we don’t, we’re vulnerable like you saw in the first half. So I think we know who we are.

“We think we’re solid across the board. We think we have lots of weapons and we play good defense. It’s just a matter of the energy level, the commitment to the mental toughness and determination of executing both offensively and defensively.”

He noted Minnesota has that toughness and his team is working to get there.

Tina Charles had 19 points and nine rebounds for New York, while Epiphanny Prince had 15 points, and off the bench Sugar Rodgers scored 10.

Maya Moore had 22 points for the Lynx, while Simone Augustus  had 13. New York was able to limit Sylvia Fowles, offensively, holding her to seven points, though on defense she grabbed 15 rebounds.

At one point several weeks ago Minnesota seemed poised to perhaps finish with the best-ever record for the regular season but has stumbled in recent games, other than Friday, in part to the absence of Whalen.

“We stopped putting the ball in the hole,” said Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, a former star player at La Salle University in Philadelphia out of South Jersey, of Sunday’s performance in the second half. “You have to give New York credit for their defense, they were pretty turned up in terms of their physicality.

“New York has been defending at a high level. It’s their identity, it’s what they do. I thought they got that done and they were playing off their defense. We were not surprised at this game. We didn’t handle it very well. I don’t know if we were assertive enough or aggressive enough,” Reeve said.

“I thought we had good flow to start the game. I liked where we were to start the game and that just kind of waned as the game went on.”

New York next heads to Indiana on Wednesday, hoping to finish in the third seed spot of a year ago, while Minnesota, the top seed last season, next hosts Phoenix on Tuesday.

In Washington’s win, Emma Meesseman had 21 points, while Tierra Ruffin-Pratt and Kristi Toliver each scored 18 points and Ivory Latta scored 12. Krystal Thomas pulled down 11 rebounds.

Marissa Coleman had 20 points for Indiana, former Temple star Candice Dupree scored 18,  Jeanette Pohlen-Mavunga had 13 points, and Erica Wheeler scored 12.

Seattle, which is 3-0 since the coaching change that put Gary Kloppenburg in charge in an interim capacity for now, trounced Chicago 103-66 as second-year pro and former UConn star Breanna Stewart had 19 points and nine rebounds, Jewell Loyd had 17 points, as did Alysha Clark, while Sami Whitcomb scored 10.

Stephanie Dolson was the only Chicago player in double figures with 10 points.

At the casino in Unxasville, Conn., the Connecticut Sun handcuffed Phoenix as Jonquel Jones had 20 points and eight rebounds, Courtney Williams scored 16, Alysha Thomas had 17 and 122 rebounds, Jasmine Thomas had 14, and Shekinna Stricklen scored 12.

Britney Griner had 18 points for the Mercury, Monqiue Currie Scored 12 but Diana Taurasi, who scored 25 Friday night in Washington, was held to seven points.

Connecticut next hosts Dallas on Wednesday night.