Record: 18-8
Playoff Position: 3rd seed
Games Remaining: 8

PRECAPS: San Antonio Stars | Connecticut Sun | Dallas Wings | Washington Mystics | Seattle Storm | Phoenix Mercury | Chicago Sky | Indiana Fever | Atlanta Dream | New York Liberty | Minnesota Lynx

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Pre-Break Recap

There are only two problems with the Liberty’s great season — namely, the Sparks and Lynx. New York has been the best team in the Eastern Conference and is enjoying another fantastic season from MVP candidate Tina Charles, but the Liberty are still trailing Los Angeles and Minnesota in the overall standings.

The Liberty took some time to find their bearings, dropping three of their first five games, but the team soon corrected the course. They ripped off winning streaks of six and four games and are 16-5 since the start of June. New York is leading the league in rebounds per game with 39.3 and ranks third in assists per game with 18.8, and is holding opponents to 79.6 points per game, good for the third-best defense in the league.

Pre-Break Highlight
June 29: Shorthanded Liberty Take Down Lynx

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On paper, this should have been an easy win for Minnesota. New York was missing Tina Charles because of an injury and the 13-2 Lynx were coming into town as heavy favorites. Things seemed to be going according to plan up until midway through the fourth quarter, as the Lynx held a 15-point lead with just under seven minutes left.

Sugar Rodgers, however, was having none of it. The Liberty guard led a 17-2 run and added a tying three to force overtime, then scored five straight in the extra period en-route to a career-high 30 points and a stunning OT win. Amanda Zahui B. scored a career-high 17 while making her first career start and Shavonte Zellous added 15 off the bench.

3 Standouts

Tina Charles

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The 2012 MVP is having her best statistical year as a pro, leading the league in both points (21.4) and rebounds per game (9.6) while adding a career-high 3.7 assists per game. Charles is a legit contender to win her second MVP trophy and performances like her near triple-double (23 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists) against the Eastern Conference rival Sun have solidified her position as one of the game’s elite players.

Sugar Rodgers

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Rodgers is enjoying a breakout year in New York; she is setting career highs in every major statistical category, averaging 14.7 points per game while shooting 43.5% from three-point range.  She has become a consistent second option on offense and her inside-outside combination with Charles is becoming lethal.

Kia Stokes

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The second-year center is growing into a real force in the paint. She currently ranks seventh in the league in rebounding with 7.6 and sixth in blocks with 1.5. Her emergence has helped the Liberty become the league’s best rebounding team with 39.3 per game, well ahead of their closest competitor.

Season in Photos

Click here to view more images from the Liberty’s season

Post-Break Preview

The Liberty are in the driver’s seat for a first-round bye, holding a 4.5-game lead over the fourth-place Fever. With just one game left against an over-.500 team on the schedule and the impending return of Epiphanny Prince from injury, New York can set its sights on catching up to the second-place Lynx (3.5 games ahead).

Beyond that, the Liberty will once again chase their first-ever championship as the lone remaining member of the WNBA’s Original Eight teams without a title.