NEWARK — Memo from Liberty to Madison Garden Square officials: Please expedite transformation on arena; our first game in The Rock was a disaster.
The Liberty could have been the best story in the WNBA, maybe even on the New York sports scene considering the basketball and hockey teams are done, the NFL teams are in labor strife, the Mets are a woeful bunch and the Yankees can’t beat the Red Sox.
With a new coach and general manager, and a revamped roster, the Liberty shockingly won its first two games of the season, both on the road. They returned from Indiana yesterday morning for the back end of a home-and-home with the Fever and when the fourth quarter started, New York led by eight.
They were 10 minutes away from opening 3-0 and winning their home opener. Ten minutes.
“We’ve won a couple of close games on the road and it’s sad for us to come back in out home opener here at Prudential and blow our lead and lose the game,” acknowledged the new coach and GM, John Whisenant.
Sad is a perfect word to describe the final 10 minutes. The Liberty (2-1) scored just 10 points, or one per minute, and surrendered 24 as the Fever scored an 86-80 win.
New York had stolen an 81-80 win at Indiana Friday night despite blowing an 18-point lead. Last night they blew a 14-lead.
Home sweet home? Nope. This is where the Liberty will play for the next three seasons while the Garden undergoes it’s $100 million transformation.
The Liberty took an 8 a.m. flight back to Newark yesterday morning and got a few hours of sleep in a nearby hotel. The Fever (2-1) also were on the flight, which is why the Liberty weren’t about to use travel or fatigue as an excuse.
“Welcome to the WNBA, 2011,” said guard Cappie Pondexter, who had 13 points, one of four Liberty players in double figures. Essence Carson had 23.
“It’s no reason to lose a game,” added Pondexter. “So what? So what we had to sleep in a hotel? So what we had to be on the same flight as Indiana? So what? We led the whole game.”
After trailing 29-27 after the first quarter the Liberty took a 49-45 lead to the locker room at halftime. They extended it to 66-52 with four minutes left in the third.
But Indiana, which got 19 points from Tamika Catchings and 17 from Katie Douglas, simply dominated the fourth quarter. When Catchings made two free throws with 1:36 left the Fever had taken an 81-80 lead and the Liberty failed to score after a Kia Vaughn basket with 2:59 left.