New York Liberty Hold Chicago Sky To One Point Fourth Quarter In 59-49 Win

Implied by the fact that the New York Liberty held the Chicago Sky to one point in the fourth quarter today is that they held them without a field goal. In doing so, the Liberty became the first team in WNBA history to hold their opponent to 1 point in a quarter since the four quarters format was adopted in 2006, according to a Liberty release.

Also noteworthy about that defensive effort: the Liberty held Sky center Sylvia Fowles without a field goal for the entire second half.

10 months ago Nate Parham 10 comments 0 recs |

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I think that if a team can't even make one basket in a quarter

then it has to be because of the fact that the team which only scored one basket had an exceptionally bad shooting streak, moreso than because of “great defense”.

That said, from glancing at play by play, I don’t think Fowles even threw up one shot, so I don’t know if that’s because of great D by NY or because she was playing very passively….

by thewiz06 on Aug 4, 2011 4:08 PM EDT reply actions

That's an awfully long time for the whole team to just forget how to shoot.

These people are pros. You’re not going to have the whole team just fall off a cliff and start playing like they’ve never seen a basketball for that long on their own. You’ve GOT to credit D in there for not giving them good looks, or at least not the looks those specific players want.

by Shannon Cotterell on Aug 4, 2011 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions

I think that New York must have just

FRANCHISE-LOWED Chicago!

1 point? Even Tulsa can score more than 1 point.

by ttdomi on Aug 4, 2011 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

Add another new word to urban dictionary from the folks at Swish Appeal

where career-highing and franchise-lowing happens.

by thewiz06 on Aug 4, 2011 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Yes, I would give NY credit for getting Chicago out of an offensive rhythm

but a quarter like this has to be an anomaly as well for any team, even Tulsa or Washington. All of these players can easily make 10 jumpshots in a row with their eyes closed if there wasn’t a man putting a hand in their face most of the time.

by thewiz06 on Aug 4, 2011 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Or, you know, you can just take it directly from the coaches and players that it was the D

``We just weren’t doing what we needed to do,‘’ Fowles said. ``The defensive pressure picked up in the fourth quarter and we just couldn’t handle it."

``I think our players got more invigorated, excited as we saw them wearing down,‘’ Liberty coach John Whisenant said. ``We finally wrestled the lead from them, we never had it until then and that probably empowered us somewhat and it probably discouraged them. That’s what our defense is meant to do.’’

``I don’t know if we played that well defensively in any single game this season,‘’ Pondexter said ``To see that just shows you how we’re staying with our game plan, how hard we’re working, and how much we’re believing in Coach Whis’ defense.’’

by Shannon Cotterell on Aug 4, 2011 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions

even then I still think a pro team should be able to make shots with good defense of "superb defense"

we can agree to disagree here. I’ll watch the quarter and give my take.

by thewiz06 on Aug 4, 2011 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions

later tonight.

by thewiz06 on Aug 4, 2011 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree that there must be clearly poor shooting going on...

I just think the poor shooting is because of the defense, not that it’s happening in a vaccuum. The defense takes the other team out of their rhythm, and then you wind up with poor shot selection as a result, and then you have poor shooting.

You can’t say a pro team is more likely to just all magically simultaneously shoot bricks, unless you’re saying we’re going to find out the whole Sky team has food poisoning from wherever they ate last night and they were all puking in between the 3rd and 4th quarter. Then I’d buy that the Sky just spontaneously imploded moreso than the NY D was just really really good.

by Shannon Cotterell on Aug 4, 2011 6:25 PM EDT up reply actions

I think watching the fourth quarter will help resolve it.

Three things to watch:

- Hollingsworth and Vaughn inside.

- Ball handling against pressure from Sky guards

- How many uncontested shots the Sky got.

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Aug 4, 2011 6:38 PM EDT up reply actions