Another win for the surging Mercury, more questions for the Liberty.
WHITE PLAINS, NY — Tuesday night in Westchester, the New York Liberty struggled to solve many of the problems that have plagued them over their 4-8 start.
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- Your Day in Women’s Basketball, October 22: UConn settles with women’s basketball coaches
- Your Day in Women’s Basketball, October 12: Sabrina Ionescu is ready to ball
- Your Day in Women’s Basketball, September 28: All-Rookie team announced
- Your Day in Women’s Basketball, September 10: Dream are (mathematically) stayin’ alive
The result, an 83-69 loss to the Phoenix Mercury, leaves more concern than ever that the Liberty are digging a hole that will be difficult to climb out of, given the level of play on display by the eight teams currently slotted to make the WNBA playoffs.
Here’s what we learned:
Diana Taurasi is classic
She turned 36 on June 11, but somehow Diana Taurasi just doesn’t slow down. She entered Tuesday night’s game with a player efficiency rating of 23.3, which would be her best full-season mark since 2013, and a true shooting percentage of .624, which would be her best mark… ever. And she did little to hurt either number on Tuesday, putting up 11 points in the first quarter on 4-for-4 shooting, including three from deep. By halftime she was up to 17, moving without the ball and taking full advantage of the expert playmaking of Briann January.
Taurasi has scored in double figures every game so far this season save one, when she scored just nine. But it is the full Taurasi experience this season. She’s at 28.3 in assist percentage, best mark since 2014 for Taurasi. You might remember who won the WNBA title in 2014, too: the Phoenix Mercury.