Sam Torres Jr. : WFUV Sports
Liberty lose their second game in a row after winning three straight.
So much for home-cooking. After winning three straight games at home, the Liberty believed they had turned a corner, but lost to the San Antonio Stars on the road. Heading back home, the Libs (7-13) thought they had a good shot at winning their fourth game out of five Friday night, but lost to the Los Angeles Sparks (8-11) 68-54.
The main problem for the Liberty was the same as always; mental errors. When asked what went wrong, head coach Bill Laimbeer explained, “We are a very fragile team, both personnel wise and the mental perspective, when something goes wrong it affects us too greatly.”
That ‘something’ occurred in the 2nd quarter this time around. After a blistering start for Tina Charles (eight points, five rebounds) and the Liberty in the first quarter that saw them lead 20-17, the team would go on to be outscored 25-13 in the second. The offense fell apart as the Liberty failed to feed Charles the ball, and subsequently turned over the ball six times, leading to nine Sparks points.
Past the mental lapses and sloppy turnovers that constantly spell trouble for this Liberty team, Cappie Pondexter was unable to register a single point. Laimbeer would go on to mention after the game that Pondexter’s injury suffered last game has severely limited her. When asked her about her status for next game he said day-to-day.
However, Cappie refused to blame her injury on the team’s poor offensive execution. “I’m not going to talk about injuries…I’m never using that as an excuse, I just didn't have it tonight and hopefully the next four days I can rest up and be ready for Wednesday,” she said when asked about her ailing ankle.
She would still go on to reflect Laimbeer’s belief that the team is currently mentally weak. When asked about the game she said, “We have to stop beating up on ourselves…for some reason we kind of put our heads down and we don't fight back…thats just been our character all year long.”
Hopefully, the Liberty can fix their identity and learn to keep a level head through adversity. We will see Wednesday afternoon 11:00 AM ET when they face the number one team in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Dream (13-5).
To hear comments from Laimbeer, Cappie Pondexter, and Tina Charles, click on the links below:
