Liberty visit the Sky before coming home (?) to Barclays

There are weight classes for a reason. The New York Liberty found that out the hard way when they took on the Eastern Conference leading Connecticut Sun in Westchester. Despite a few valiant runs, the Sun were too much to handle and handed the Liberty their third straight loss on Sunday.

The opponent tonight will be the Chicago Sky. Things have been going well for the Sky as they’ve won five out of their last six games, including Saturday’s game in Atlanta against the Dream.

Where to follow the game

The game will be broadcast on Twitter. Tip off after 8 PM, in between all the talk about feral hogs.

Injuries

Nothing new to report for NY.

Katie Lou Samuelson and Jamierra Faulkner are out.

The game

Chicago won the first meeting last month.

You give the ball up a lot, and you lose. The Liberty have lost the turnover in six out of their last nine games, which partially explains why they’ve gone 3-6 in that time span. Coach Katie Smith spoke about the team’s turnover woes after Sunday’s game:

Fortunately for NY, Chicago has the lowest opponent’s turnover rate in the W this season so tonight is as good a time as possible to cut down on the turnovers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if both teams are looking a bit ahead. For the Sky, they have a huge road game on Friday against the Las Vegas Aces. For the Liberty, they’re coming to Brooklyn for their only game at Barclays Center this season on Sunday against the Seattle Storm.

Player to watch: Allie Quigley

It pays to have All Stars on your squad. For the Sky, their All Star backcourt of Allie Quigley and Courtney Vandersloot have paced the team throughout the year. The Sky is second in team three point percentage, and a lot of that is thanks to Quigley's team leading 47.5 percent from deep. It's been a while since Quigley and the Sky last saw the playoffs, so if the team can continue building on the work they’ve been doing, they’ll have a chance to make a nice run in the fall.

If the Liberty want to stop their losing streak, Kia Nurse is going to need to put a big game together. As it so happens, Nurse has been struggling during the team’s three game slide. In those games, Nurse is shooting 23 percent from the field and 21 percent from three point range. As Nurse goes, so does the team and the longer her slump lasts, the further away NY gets from sneaking in to the playoffs.

Jam session

Yesterday, Toni Morrison passed away at the age of 88. Ms. Morrison’s influence on American life is unmistakable, and at GQ, Damon Young puts her historical importance into even greater perspective:

But mostly Toni Morrison belonged to black people. And she belonged to us because she loved us and saw us. And because she loved us and saw us, she told the truth. About America. About Americans. About love and about sex and about God and about fear and about our bodies and all the things that can happen to them. About who we really is and how that exists in concert with who we tell ourselves we want to be. About the metastasizing sickness of white supremacy and how it collapses time and begrimes the air we breathe.

For those of us who aren’t as familiar as we should, you can check out some of her poems here and grab some of her novels when your schedule allows you time. Also, listen to the speech she gave in 1993 when she won the Nobel Prize.

• New York Liberty Game Notes - New York Liberty