NEWARK, NJ - On the grease board in the New York Liberty locker room the last line proclaimed in bold letters, ‘Fight for 40 minutes'.
Breaking down the 74-64 loss from a spectator and statistical view, it was evident the Liberty gave it an effort for only 20 of those minutes.
Possessions:Atlanta 84
NY Liberty 86
Offensive Efficiency:
Atlanta 88
NY Liberty 74
Liberty coach John Whisenant was puzzled why his team struggled in quarters one and three yet was effective in the second and fourth. A breakdown by quarters follows with the score after each quarter after the table.
The numbers show quite a contrast:
|
|
Points
|
Possessions
|
Efficiency
|
|
Atlanta
|
26
|
22
|
118
|
|
NY Liberty
|
16
|
22
|
73
|
Score: 26-16 Atlanta
|
|
Points
|
Possessions
|
Efficiency
|
|
Atlanta
|
12
|
22
|
55
|
|
NY Liberty
|
24
|
24
|
100
|
Score: 40-38 NY
|
|
Points
|
Possessions
|
Efficiency
|
|
Atlanta
|
25
|
20
|
125
|
|
NY Liberty
|
10
|
20
|
50
|
Score: 63-50 Atlanta
|
|
Points
|
Possessions
|
Efficiency
|
|
Atlanta
|
11
|
19
|
58
|
|
NY Liberty
|
14
|
20
|
70
|
Final Score: 74-64 Atlanta
The quarterly breakdown shows the Liberty were sharp defensively in those even numbered quarters yet strangely deficient in quarters one and three. Why? Whisenant himself still wonders and is trying to find the answer to that question.
The Four Factors:
|
|
eFG
|
FT Rate
|
OREB PCT
|
TO Rate
|
|
Atlanta
|
41
|
24
|
34
|
18
|
|
NY Liberty
|
38
|
16
|
43
|
30
|
Whisenant praised his club's effort on the offensive rebounding end. The rebounding area has been a problem to date but the Liberty enjoyed an edge in offensive rebounding percentage as well as a 41-36 advantage in all caroms. Kia Vaughn (9) and Kara Braxton(6) were the major factors on the offensive glass.
As good as the rebounding turned out, the turnover rate was the direct opposite. Twenty six turnovers for an awful 30% rate, three out of every ten possessions wasted by a miscue. Cappie Pondexter led the way with 7 TOs while Braxton and DeMyra Walker added 4 each.
The efficiency numbers gave us a few surprises.
|
|
Points
|
Efficiency
|
|
Sancho Lyttle, Atl.
|
19 |
24 |
|
Kara Braxton, NY
|
14
|
24
|
|
Angel McCoughtry, Atl
|
23 |
17 |
|
Leilani Mitchell, NY
|
16 |
15 |
Lyttle was very effective inside and out. She shot 7 of 13 fro m the floor while adding 8 boards and 3 steals en route to 19 points. Kara Braxton a bit of a surprise. Her four TOs aside, Braxton did Score 14 points, grab 13 rebounds and shoot 60% (6 of 10) from the floor. McCoughtry scored the game high 23 points but 7 of 20 shooting bit into the efficiency mark. Mitchell shot 5 of 8 adding a 3 assists, 3 turnover effort. Interestingly, Mitchell went 83% (5 of 6) from beyond the arc and 0 for 2 from two point range. Mitchell actually had a 19 efficiency at the half as she was a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor with all of her 16 points.
Notable efficiency turned in DeMya Walker. The Liberty forward shot 5 of 8, scored 12 points for an efficiency of ten. Walker's four turnovers prevented an even better EFF number.
The negative one. On the other end of the spectrum was an efficiency of 'note' turned in by Cappie Pondexter. Over the last five games Pondexter averaged a 19.6 efficiency. On this afternoon the Liberty backcourt star managed a minus 1. The 4 of 17 shooting coupled with 7 turnovers (against 5 assists) were the major contributing numbers in Poindexter's drop off her efficiency average.
Attendance was 6,754. Liberty fell to 4-7 while Atlanta improved to 5-7. Next up[ for New York, a visit by Seattle on Saturday afternoon at the Rock.