Liberty, coming off tough loss, take on Fever (Jul 28, 2017)
The New York Liberty will try to climb back above .500 when they visit the Indiana Fever on Friday night in Indianapolis.
New York (10-10) won two of its past three games but is coming off a one-point loss on the road to the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday night. The contest against Indiana marks the Liberty's second game of a grueling five-game road trip that also features stops in Chicago, San Antonio and Los Angeles.
As the Liberty look to take another step forward in their pursuit of a playoff berth, Indiana (8-14) is hoping to regain its home-court advantage. The Fever lost four games in a row on their home court, with their last victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse coming June 15 against the Atlanta Dream.
New York coach Bill Laimbeer likes what he has seen from his players heading into their matchup against the Fever. He recently shuffled the lineup by moving Epiphanny Prince from point guard to shooting guard and placing Bria Hartley in the starting lineup at the point.
Center Tina Charles leads the Liberty with 20.7 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Prince is averaging 12.6 points per game to go along with a team-best 3.5 assists per contest.
"The structure that we have right now is good for us," Laimbeer told the team's official website. "We're pushing the pace better. We're getting easier baskets. We have good role definition."
Forward Candice Dupree leads Indiana with an average of 13.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Dupree was the Fever's lone representative in the All-Star Game last weekend.
Guards Erica Wheeler (11.1 points) and Tiffany Mitchell (10.5 points) also are averaging in double-digit scoring for the Fever. Guard Briann January is on the cusp of double digits with 9.9 points per game.
The Fever have lost seven of their past eight games to slip far out of the playoff race. However, players continue to battle hard during a difficult season that includes crowded flights on commercial airlines.
"I give our players a lot of credit, because I don't know how they do it," Fever president and general manager Kelly Krauskopf told the Indianapolis Star. "We take very early flights, depart at 6 or 7 a.m., to go between cities to play another game after we just played the night before. They're such troupers and good sports in terms of trying to find the time to get their rest and get enough sleep."
