00:00The New York Liberty opened up an eight-game homestand with a huge victory, 89-79 over the Los Angeles Sparks here at the Barclays Center.
00:08And this was a win that after this game, head coach Sandy Brandello said was a must-win for her team.
00:14Now, that's an interesting comment to hear from a head coach this early in the season in July.
00:19But the Liberty, they had not been playing well coming into this one.
00:22They lost five of their last seven games.
00:24And honestly, in this victory, though it was a 10-point victory, they were not strong in the first half.
00:30They were down four at halftime, but everything changed in the third quarter as they were powered by defense.
00:36A 27-6 run sparked the Liberty in the third quarter.
00:40They outscored the Sparks in that quarter, 32-18 overall.
00:44And the players talked about it afterwards, particularly Natasha Cloud, who led the team with 23 points and seven assists.
00:50She said the defense sparked this victory tonight, and it did.
00:54However, Liberty still don't look like they are in championship form.
00:57And one of the things that they have been talking about that they need to get better as a team is getting off to better starts.
01:03And they didn't do that in this game again.
01:06They had to have a huge third quarter.
01:07Third quarters have not been great for the Liberty, but they did have a huge one tonight, as mentioned here against the Sparks.
01:14So the Liberty are hoping that this is something that they can build on.
01:17Four starters were in double figures tonight, as I said, led by Natasha Cloud with her 23 points.
01:22But even though this was a must-win that head coach Sandy Brondello talked about, it's all about how the Liberty can now start to string wins together, particularly where they'll have some home cooking here in the month of July.
01:34And their next test coming up will be a revenge matchup.
01:38They'll try to get some revenge on the Seattle Storm.
01:40They will be here at the Barclays Center at 1 o'clock.
01:43That's the tip-off for that one.
01:44So Liberty will look to make it back-to-back wins here and back-to-back wins at the Barclays Center.
01:49But a fantastic win for them tonight, 89-79.
01:52Still know there's work to be done for them to get back to championship form.
01:57But the Liberty are playing well, at least to start this homestand here in Brooklyn.
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