Fever too hot for Libs to overcome
In Tina Charles’ mind the Liberty should have been on their way to the WNBA Finals days ago. Instead they are going home.
On Sunday, the Liberty watched the Indiana Fever rally from an 18point secondquarter deficit in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals to force the deciding contest. The Liberty’s offensive struggles carried over into Game 3 Tuesday night and they were unable to overcome the same margin in the second half before losing 6651 at the Garden.
The Liberty were looking to make their first appearance in the finals since 2002.
“Bottom line is, we should have handled business in Game 2,” Charles said. “That is all it is. They were the better team tonight. That’s it. We were the better team the first game. We were the better team Game 2. We just didn’t pull it out.”
The Liberty, the East’s top seed, shot 33.3 percent from the field in Game 3, including 26.5 percent in the first half. They also committed 21 turnovers. They trailed by 11 points at halftime and 4628 with 4:45 to go in the third.
Coach Bill Laimbeer said his young team’s emotions got the best of it against a veteran club.
“We had anxious people today,” he said. “Look at all the layups we missed, a lot and some of them weren’t even challenged.”
The Liberty came into their first playoff appearance since 2012 with the best regularseason record in franchise history. They beat Washington in three games in the conference semifinals and appeared on the way to dispensing Indiana in two before scoring just 20 secondhalf points in Game 2. The Liberty never recovered.
“We did compete for a championship,” Laimbeer said. “We just didn’t compete in the [conference] finals.”
The Liberty did rally. Candice Wiggins and Essence Carson found their shooting strokes in the third quarter. A 3pointer by Wiggins with 28 seconds left put the Liberty down just 4940 heading to the fourth.
They pulled as close 4945 on a layup by Wiggins with 8:21 to play in the game, but thirdseeded Indiana went on a 100 run to go up 5945 with 5:59 left. The outcome was never in doubt after that.
“Our shots weren’t going down and then we got a little rattled,” Charles said.
Charles led the Liberty with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Wiggins added 15 points. Marissa Coleman paced Indiana with 15 points, Tamika Catchings had 14 and Erlana Larkins added 12 and eight rebounds.
Despite not bringing the franchise its first title, Laimbeer and Charles were happy with the season and excited with the direction of the organization. Laimbeer, who is in his third season, said owner James Dolan told the team in the locker room after the game how much he enjoyed the year. Laimbeer called it a good start and a learning experience.
“It’s going to hurt today. It’s going to hurt tomorrow. It’s going to hurt next week.” Laimbeer said. “But it is still about the body of work and where we want to be. I’ll take this season as is.”