Liberty Needs Faster Starts to Snap Slump
The New York Liberty are finding out that sometimes, it is indeed about how you start.
Unwilling to fall on the crutch of Leonie Fiebich and Jonquel Jones' absences, the Liberty aren't avoiding the mirror when it comes to addressing their summer swoon in their first postseason championship defense. Following a 9-0 start, New York (11-4) has dropped four of six, including a 106-91 decision to the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night at PHX Arena.
While there has been no lack of fight on the metropolitan end, at least on the scoreboard, sluggish starts have served as precursors to dire results.
"Something that we have to figure out in our locker room is how to start games better," veteran guard Natasha Cloud noted. "We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole there, and then we had fight in the second half. But when you dig yourself that big of a hole, it's hard to come back against a good team like this."
The Liberty held a lead after the first 10 minutes in all but two but their first 11 games , going 10-1 in that span. In their last three, however, they were tied on Sunday in Seattle, down by three before an eventual comeback against Golden State, and endured a nine-point decade deficit that set the tone for New York's most damning defeat of the season.
New Yorkers blamed themselves, those that Fiebich and Jones were forced to leave behind, in Phoenix with a particular emphasis on the brutal beginning against the WNBA's hottest team. Of note, the Liberty lost seven turnovers in the opening Mercury period alone when they lost only nine in the aforementioned come-from-behind triumph in the Bay Area.
"We didn't execute our game plan in the beginning," head coach Sandy Brondello said. "We had no toughness on defense, and we didn't make them feel uncomfortable one bit ... We've got to get locked in. We've got to be mentally engaged, and that starts with me. I've just got to find a way to get more effort from these players."
Despite the recent misfortune, the Liberty still own the second-best point margin at the end of the first quarter this season at 3.6, barely trailing fellow defending WNBA finalist Minnesota at 3.7.
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.