The last time New York scored 84 points
The Liberty beat the Seattle Storm on July 3 in a one-point thriller. In the final quarter, Tina Charles scored 11 points in the final five minutes of the game to give the win to New York. The Liberty had just lost Hartley and Zahui B. to Eurobasket and remember that hand injury, which kept Allen out for ten games?
But, this team stops while Charles has the ball. With the exception of Nurse at times, against Seattle in early July, most of New York would stop when the 7X All-Star retained possession.
With 5:31 left in the fourth, Charles had the ball inching on the block and there was no one to her left. Her teammates are all on the weakside and were barely moving. When the offense hangs tight and lets Charles move in insolation, that’s not great basketball.
There were a bunch of similarities between both of these 84-point games: over three players scored in double figures, five players shot over 40 percent from the field and New York had 20 assists or over in both contests. In addition to no Charles, a jarring difference was the roster and its depth. Eurobasket was the depleter-in-chief and Charles and Nurse were in fight-or-flight mode. But that’s no way to discover an identity. Two players don’t win championships.