The New York Liberty ended their seven-game homestand with a four-game winning streak, coming back from a 12-point third-quarter deficit to defeat the Indiana Fever 83-75 on Saturday at Barclays Center. The Liberty ratcheted up their defensive pressure in the second half and used their size advantage on offense to get the Fever into foul trouble, living at the foul line late.
Breanna Stewart led the way with 30 points and eight rebounds and became the seventh player in WNBA history to attempt at least 20 free throws in one game. She shot 18 of 21 from the line. The two-time MVP also added four steals.
“Our defense really dictated our offense, we got up, we got aggressive,” Stewart said postgame on the broadcast.
New York is the lone undefeated team (2-0) in the Eastern Conference in Commissioner’s Cup play, setting up a critical road matchup against the Atlanta Dream on Thursday that will likely decide the East’s representative in the Cup final June 30.
Fever guard Caitlin Clark scored 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting and had seven rebounds and nine assists.
New York’s pressure changed the game
The Liberty were riding a three-game losing streak — all of those games coming at home — and trailing by eight in the third quarter to the Phoenix Mercury last week when head coach Chris DeMarco finally unleashed the full-court press. New York finishing the period on a 23-0 running, forcing six consecutive turnovers to end the quarter, and hasn’t looked back.
Three wins later, that pressure helped turn the tide against the Fever. Even against a sure-handed point guard like Clark, the Liberty denied the initial inbounds to Clark and tested Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell’s ability to bring up the ball. The pressure didn’t create many live-ball turnovers, but it did limit Indiana’s time running its offense. The Fever couldn’t get enough movement in their half-court sets when they took eight seconds to cross the timeline. Indiana was scoreless in the final 3:27 of the third quarter and scored only 18 points in the fourth, while the Liberty scored 41 points during that stretch.
The inability to score compromised the Fever’s defense, as New York set up early and identified mismatches. Indiana is already undersized relative to the Liberty, as New York started three players who are at least 6-foot-4, and the Liberty pinpointed which players to attack once they pushed the pace off of misses.
Indiana couldn’t defend without fouling
After two rough defensive outings led to a team meeting earlier in the week, the Fever responded well Thursday against Atlanta, limiting the Dream to 71 points on 34 percent shooting. Indiana had a decent defensive start against New York, but it was fool’s gold, buoyed by a terrifically terrible jump-shooting performance from the Liberty. New York made two 3-pointers all night, both coming from Marine Johannès in the first quarter. Once the Liberty realized it wasn’t their night from beyond the arc — their season average is 28.5 3s per game but they attempted only 18 — and started punishing the Fever inside, Indiana had no hope.
The Fever had a nine-point lead near the end of the first half and fouled on three straight shot attempts, allowing New York to cut the margin to three by halftime. They committed three more fouls in the bonus to end the third quarter, and that was just the prequel for the horrors of the fourth.
The Liberty were in the bonus less than halfway into the fourth quarter, scoring 14 points at the free-throw line even before Indiana started intentionally fouling. Indiana couldn’t keep anyone in front and then had to defend tentatively due to foul trouble. Boston couldn’t be aggressive on the glass after controlling the paint well in the first half. Clark had to sit after picking up her fifth foul with 6:26 left, limiting the offensive upside, and the Fever saw their lead once again slip away.
Isolations keep coming at Clark
Clark has been the most frequent defensive target of isolation attacks this season — by a large margin — and New York returned to that well Saturday.
Pauline Astier repeatedly found success driving at Clark with the rest of the floor spaced. The Fever had to stay home on Jonquel Jones and Stewart on the perimeter, leaving Clark on an island in the middle of the court. With the Liberty trailing 62-57 in the fourth, Astier went after Clark to draw a foul and cut the lead to three. Two possessions later, Clark found herself switched on Stewart, who muscled her way through Clark for another trip to the line. That foul forced Clark to sit for 2:26.
When Clark returned, Astier once again went after the Fever guard. She isolated on Clark to hit a layup to put New York up four. The next time down, Indiana tried to switch but that allowed Astier to find Jones for a finish inside. On the ensuing possession, Astier once again drove at Clark and scored at the basket.
The Fever offense wasn’t exactly inspiring with Clark off the court, as Mitchell was unable to score through the long arms of New York’s defense. That meant Clark had to stay on the court and not foul on defense, but that resulted in a layup line to finish the game.