After concluding a five-game home stand with a dominant 91-59 win over the Indiana Fever on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, the Liberty embark on a three-game road swing through the Western Conference, starting Sunday, June 5, against the Seattle Storm at KeyArena at 4 p.m. (PT). The game will be broadcast locally on MSG.
The Liberty won both meetings against Seattle last season, and has taken six in a row in the series. Tina Charles scored 30 points in an 81-77 victory over the Storm last season at KeyArena.
HEADLINES
• The Liberty snapped a three-game skid in grand fashion on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, beating the Indiana Fever, 91-59, in a rematch of the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals. It was the largest margin of victory for New York since a 38-point win over Phoenix on Aug. 14, 2010, and its biggest win in the all-time series with the Fever, topping the old mark of 19 points.
• The win over Indiana marked the end of a five-game home stand for New York. Sunday’s game at Seattle is the first of three-straight road games for the Liberty, which plays six of its next seven on the road.
• Sugar Rodgers led the Liberty in scoring for the second time this season, pouring in 21 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range in the win over Indiana. It was the second 20-point offensive game for Rodgers this season, and the fourth of her career. She leads the Liberty with 18 3-pointers.
• The Liberty altered its starting lineup for a second time this season, inserting Swin Cash at the three and sliding Tanisha Wright to one, reminiscent of the starting five New York deployed for a majority of the 2015 campaign.
• New York has won three-straight games at KeyArena and six-straight in the series.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Kiah Stokes has some familiarity with the 2016 No. 1 overall draft pick that has been enjoying an excellent start to her pro career in Breanna Stewart, as the two won three national titles together at the University of Connecticut from 2013-15. Stokes is coming off her best game of the season, securing a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with eight points and three blocked shots in Friday night’s win over Indian.
Stewart plays inside out, so it is unlikely the two college teammates will always be matched up against one another, but there certainly will be times that the Liberty’s interior defensive specialist will be tested by Stewart. Both players have impressive wing spans and it will be a good test to see how they fair against one another.
STAT CENTRAL
The Liberty found an offensive rhythm in its win over the Indiana Fever on June 3, scoring a season-high 91 points:
• It was the largest margin of victory for New York since beating the Phoenix Mercury by 38 points on August 14, 2010.
• The Liberty secured its largest-ever victory over Indiana. In addition to snapping a four-game regular season losing streak against its Eastern Conference foe, New York topped its previous all-time best win margin of 19 points, which was 74-55 back on June 25, 2002.
• The 91 points scored was the most for the Liberty since a 105-100 overtime loss to the Chicago Sky on June 18 ,2014.
• It was the most points New York has scored in regulation since a 93-88 win over Washington on August 6, 2013.
Tina Charles is known as a great scorer and rebounder, but so far in 2016 she has also been New York’s best distributor of the basketball. Charles has recorded at least three assists in 5-of-6 games this year, and posted two games with six dimes, most recently in the win over Indiana on June 3. Charles is leading New York, averaging 3.8 assists per game.