Charles, Boyd get Liberty back on track

However, getting her the ball in the post has been a struggle. Starting guard Bria Hartley knows it. “We want to get the ball inside more,” Hartley said prior to the Atlanta game. “In that last game [Minnesota] killed us with points in the paint.” Against Atlanta, feeding the ball down low was a focus for her and the team,  “We want to get some more high-low actions and skip passes so we can throw it [down low].”

New York outscored Atlanta 42-22 in the paint on Tuesday night. Charles led the team with 29 points and was 8-for-9 at the line.

“I think once I’m able to get acclimated in the paint, it opens things up for my teammates,” said Charles postgame. “It allows me to facilitate and get [my teammates] the ball, regardless of if I’m getting double-teamed. Sometimes that’s our best offense, me being double-teamed and being able to find somebody.”

That was the case against Atlanta. By the first quarter, Charles knocked down 11 of New York’s 17 points. No starter for the Liberty had more than two buckets. However, the Liberty’s success is ultimately predicated on other players being able to step up. Everyone in the league knows when Tina Charles is on the court, she is the target.

Moving the ball

At the half, New York served up 11 assists and led the Dream 34-24. By the third quarter, Atlanta forward Angel McCoughtry more than doubled her halftime points tally to get the Dream with in one. McCoughtry recorded a career-high 39 points—13 in the fourth quarter alone—to keep Atlanta in the game.  That is when Brittany Boyd got things moving for New York, literally.

Heading into the final ten minutes, Boyd had five assists in just over eight minutes of work. She finished the game with a career-high 11 assists. She surpassed Teresa Weatherspoon’s franchise-leading mark of 10 assists (for a player with no field goals) and became the first player in WNBA history to reach 11 helpers in under 20 minutes of play.

“First and foremost, I’m thankful to be able to play this game again,” said Boyd who has dealt with injuries the past two seasons. “My job is to [make] energy plays and get up-and-down the court and once my number is called, to add to the game.”

A sign of good things to come?

In her seven minutes of play in the fourth quarter, Boyd helped open up the offense. At the end of the third, only Charles (20 points) and Shavonte Zellous (13 points) were in double digits. Additionally, bench points sat at six points through 30 minutes. In the fourth quarter, Kia Nurse alone contributed seven points to the 16 bench points recorded in the frame.

“Brittany bought a lot of energy and gave us a nice boost when we needed it,” reflected Smith postgame, ““The way she moves the ball is impressive. The way she can plant her feet in the paint and find people especially because people cannot keep her front. She does a really good job putting a lot of pressure on the ball handlers.”

Ten games into the season, the Liberty have work to do if they hope to reach the playoffs. “We definitely cleaned up some things,” said Boyd after the 79-72 victory in front of a home crowd of 1,627.  “But, this is something to build off of.”

Head coach Smith agreed, “I hope [this win] is a building block for us … I hope it’s something that we feel how it felt to play that d[efense], how to fly, and how to move the ball and that we just build off of it.”

New York is hoping the muscle memory will carry them through discomfort and fatigue, especially staring down a west coast road trip against Las Vegas and the top seeded Los Angeles Sparks.