WNBA PLAYOFFS ROUNDUP: Liberty win Game 1 in Eastern Conference finals; Lynx

“They had 40 points off their bench”. “Tina dominated the game all over”.

Playing a day after they advanced out of the first round for the first time in five years, the Liberty didn’t show any signs of fatigue. We let her know: “look, those shots are for you”. “When you get into a playoff environment, your senses elevate tremendously, and we’re learning about each other at a rapid pace”. She was just getting started, scoring 10 of the Liberty’s next 13 points sending the Liberty crowd into a frenzy. Two Stokes putbacks broke ties at 14 and 16, and Rodgers hit back-to-back threes with less than a minute to go to give the Liberty a 26-18 lead at the end of the first quarter.

New York center Carolyn Swords didn’t play after injuring her foot in Game 2 on Sunday which the Liberty won by 18 points. He’s performing Mass at the Garden on Friday and the building is closed today to prepare for it.

“I watched her play in college a lot”, White said. “[It’s the] Pope…. arena availability is tough sometimes”.

The first two quarters were night and day, with the Mystics rushing out to a 25-15 lead. Still the 7,000 fans that were at the Garden was loud and supportive. The Mystics shot 44.6 percent from behind the arc in those three games (25-of-56), and that’s something New York coach Bill Laimbeer and veteran guard Tanisha Wright pointed out as needing to improve for the Liberty to make a long playoff run. New York led 48-42 at the half.

The Liberty took control in the third quarter, limiting the Fever to seven points and.125 shooting (2-of-16). On the offensive end, Rodgers and Prince hit 3-pointers while Charles kept finding Stokes for open lay-ins. New York was the top rebounding team in the league this season (thanks to Charles and Kiah Stokes), and Indiana will have to combat that with a team approach and simply can’t afford lopsided rebounding totals.

Lest you think Coleman is simply a Steve Novak in Indiana, the reason her success is so vital to the Fever is her ability to mirror what Catchings does on the floor, both when Coleman’s spelling her and when she’s providing an additional versatile threat when White chooses to go small. Prince made the free throw and gave New York a 20-point lead.

“That and-1 down the stretch was the biggest dagger for us, ” Catchings said. “My coach and my teammates were trying to tell me they had confidence in me and to keep shooting”.

And I had that conversation with my brother after I had that one with a minute left, and he said to me, ‘You see? “I could play another game right now”.

It definitely didn’t feel good for the Fever on Wednesday; only Shenise Johnson scored in double figures (12). She is always going over things in her head, considering the possibilities, trying to account for whatever she and her team might face next. We didn’t have the focus we had in the Chicago series.