Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Liberty 86, Fever 79: Ray Floriani's Photo Essay

New York City­ - The analytics can reveal significant information about a team, or simply, an individual game. There are times when they fall short of 100% infallibility. The numbers can deceive. Case in point was Tuesday night’s New York Liberty victory. The 86-79 win at Madison Square Garden saw the Indiana Fever, coming up short, committing a 19% turnover rate; not necessarily a disastrous mark, and actually under that revered 20% threshold. Turnovers, though, were the factor that sent the Fever to a 0-­3 record.

A 41­-38 halftime lead soon vanished, as the Fever were guilty of turnovers on their first few possessions of the third quarter. As Indiana Coach Stephanie White lamented, the Liberty converted on each of those lost Fever possessions. All told, the Fever surrendered 24 points off turnovers. While that turnover rate looked fairly innocent, significant damage was done by those miscues.

Turnovers were not the only story here. The Liberty showed a mental toughness bouncing back from an early deficit, that coming after a road loss on Saturday. Leading the way, to little surprise, was Tina Charles with a 21-point effort. It just wasn’t Charles. She had able assistance as, all told, New York had four double-digit scorers on the night.

The Liberty improved to 2­-1. The next three contests are in the friendly confines of Madison Square Garden. Rebounding from that road setback was special. The biggest story was the way the Liberty capitalized on opposition mistakes, even if the numbers only partially tell us.

Always teaching, Indiana assistant coach Gail Goestenkors instructs a player during pregame warmups:
Seton Hall coaches and a few players were in attendance. Here, Ray poses with director of basketball operations Marissa Flagg, a former AAU teammate of Tina Charles:
Former Cal products face each other in an alumni meeting, as the Liberty's Brittany Boyd defends Layshia Clarendon of the Fever:
Seasoned veterans and stars go at it...Tamika Catchings of Indiana, and Tina Charles of the Liberty:
Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer pacing the sideline:
"The Guru," Mel Greenberg, catches up with Indiana coach Stephanie White postgame:

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