2016 New York Liberty season

The 2016 WNBA season was the 20th season for the New York Liberty franchise of the WNBA. The season began on May 14, on the road against the Washington Mystics. The Liberty started the season with two straight wins, before dropping their final three games in May. Two of there losses came in overtime, and the third came by ten points to Minnesota. They won their first two games of June before dropping a road game against Los Angeles. The Liberty went on a winning streak from there, winning their next six straight games, which included four road wins. The streak was broken with an overtime loss to Phoenix on June 26. The team followed that with an overtime victory over Minnesota to finish the month 9–2. The Liberty won five of their first six games in July, with the only lost coming in Los Angeles. Their victories included three point defeats of Seattle and Chicago. They went 2–2 in their final four games before the Olympic break, losing to Minnesota and Indiana, and defeating Connecticut and Washington. They finished July 7–3, and were 18–8 before the break. They won their first game back against San Antonio 84–77. However, the second half of the season did not go as well for the Liberty, as they went 2–5 in September. They only defeated Phoenix and Connecticut. All of their defeats, except a 84–81 loss to Dallas, came by double digits.

The Liberty finished the season 21–13, which saw them finish in first place in the Eastern Conference. They were the third seed in the 2016 WNBA playoffs and earned a bye into the Second Round. They hosted eighth-seed Phoenix in their Second Round game. The Mercury defeated the Liberty 101–94. The game was within two points in the fourth quarter, but a late surge saw the Mercury pull away. A highlight of the season was Tina Charles sweeping Eastern Conference Player of the Month awards, and winning seven Eastern Conference Player of the Week awards. She was also selected to the All-WNBA First Team while leading the league in scoring and rebounding.

Transactions

WNBA draft

Trades/Roster Changes

Roster

Source:

Game log

Preseason

|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | May 1 | vs. Chicago | L 59–93 | Adut Bulgak (17) | Adut Bulgak (12) | Brittany Boyd-Jones (3) | Bob Carpenter Center<br>3,432 | 0–1 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 2 | May 5 | Minnesota | L 74–77 | Sugar Rodgers (22) | Avery Warley-Talbert (6) | Alston, Warley-Talbert (2) | Levien Gymnasium<br>1,028 | 0–2

Regular season

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 1 | May 14 | @ Washington | W 87–76 | Tina Charles (24) | Tina Charles (11) | Lindsey Harding (7) | Capital One Arena<br>11,579 | 1–0 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 2 | May 15 | Dallas | W 79–71 | Charles, Rodgers (24) | Tina Charles (11) | Lindsey Harding (5) | Madison Square Garden<br>10,120 | 2–0 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 3 | May 21 | Los Ageles | L 72–79 (OT) | Tina Charles (17) | Tina Charles (16) | Harding, Wright (4) | Madison Square Garden<br>9,417 | 2–1 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 4 | May 24 | Atlanta | L 79–85 (OT) | Tina Charles (29) | Carolyn Swords (11) | Tina Charles (6) | Madison Square Garden<br>14,503 | 2–2 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 5 | May 31 | Minnesota | L 69–79 | Tina Charles (23) | Tina Charles (11) | Tanisha Wright (4) | Madison Square Garden<br>7,356 | 2–3

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 6 | June 3 | Indiana | W 91–59 | Sugar Rodgers (21) | Kiah Stokes (12) | Tina Charles (6) | Madison Square Garden<br>8,566 | 3–3 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 7 | June 5 | @ Seattle | W 86–78 | Tina Charles (19) | Tina Charles (13) | Sugar Rodgers (5) | KeyArena<br>6,240 | 4–3 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 8 | June 7 | @ Los Angeles | L 77–100 | Shavonte Zellous (12) | Amanda Zahui B. (8) | Tina Charles (4) | Staples Center<br>7,103 | 4–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 9 | June 11 | @ San Antonio | W 90–75 | Sugar Rodgers (22) | Kiah Stokes (10) | Tina Charles (6) | AT&T Center<br>5,219 | 5–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 10 | June 14 | Dallas | W 91–88 | Tina Charles (28) | Rodgers, Stokes (7) | Tanisha Wright (5) | Madison Square Garden<br>7,939 | 6–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 11 | June 16 | @ Connecticut | W 80–72 | Tina Charles (32) | Kiah Stokes (9) | Tanisha Wright (6) | Mohegan Sun Arena<br>4,786 | 7–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 12 | June 19 | @ Indiana | W 78–75 | Tina Charles (26) | Tina Charles (15) | Tina Charles (6) | Bankers Life Fieldhouse<br>7,440 | 8–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 13 | June 22 | @ Atlanta | W 90–79 | Tina Charles (23) | Charles, Stokes (9) | Tina Charles (10) | Philips Arena<br>10,345 | 9–4 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 14 | June 24 | Chicago | W 80–79 | Tina Charles (21) | Tina Charles (13) | Charles, Wright (4) | Madison Square Garden<br>10,120 | 10–4 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 15 | June 26 | Phoenix | L 97–104 (OT) | Tina Charles (26) | Charles, Stokes (8) | Wright, Zellous (6) | Madison Square Garden<br>9,591 | 10–5 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 16 | June 29 | @ Minnesota | W 95–92 (OT) | Sugar Rodgers (30) | Kiah Stokes (11) | Boyd-Jones, Wright, Zellous (3) | Target Center<br>7,721 | 11–5

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 17 | July 1 | @ Phoenix | W 99–88 | Tina Charles (31) | Tina Charles (10) | Tanisha Wright (6) | Talking Stick Resort Arena<br>11,606 | 12–5 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 18 | July 3 | @ Los Angeles | L 67–77 | Tina Charles (27) | Carolyn Swords (11) | Charles, Wright (3) | Staples Center<br>10,003 | 12–6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 19 | July 6 | Seattle | W 78–74 | Charles, Wright (18) | Kiah Stokes (11) | Sugar Rodgers (7) | Madison Square Garden<br>9,852 | 13–6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 20 | July 8 | @ Chicago | W 88–85 | Tina Charles (29) | Tina Charles (9) | Tanisha Wright (6) | Allstate Arena<br>5,633 | 14–6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 21 | July 10 | San Antonio | W 75–65 | Amanda Zahui B. (14) | Carolyn Swords (11) | Brittany Boyd-Jones (4) | Madison Square Garden<br>9,790 | 15–6 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 22 | July 13 | Atlanta | W 86–62 | Tina Charles (18) | Tina Charles (9) | Wright, Zellous (3) | Madison Square Garden<br>11,317 | 16–6 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 23 | July 15 | @ Minnesota | L 70–88 | Tina Charles (15) | Tina Charles (14) | Shavonte Zellous (4) | Target Center<br>8,123 | 16–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 24 | July 17 | Connecticut | W 83–76 | Swin Cash (16) | Tina Charles (10) | Charles, Rodgers, Wright (3) | Madison Square Garden<br>9,464 | 17–7 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 25 | July 20 | Washington | W 88–81 | Rebecca Allen (19) | Charles, Zahui B. (9) | Brittany Boyd-Jones (7) | Capital One Arena<br>12,778 | 18–7 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 26 | July 21 | Indiana | L 70–82 | Tina Charles (25) | Tina Charles (13) | Boyd-Jones, Wright (6) | Madison Square Garden<br>11,253 | 18–8

|- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 27 | August 26 | @ San Antonio | W 84–77 | Sugar Rodgers (18) | Tina Charles (10) | Charles, Zellous (4) | AT&T Center<br>6,831 | 19–8

|- style="background:#fcc;" | 28 | September 1 | @ Indiana | L 77–98 | Tina Charles (22) | Tina Charles (11) | Boyd-Jones, Charles (6) | Bankers Life Fieldhouse<br>6,524 | 19–9 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 29 | September 3 | Phoenix | W 92–70 | Tina Charles (23) | Tina Charles (15) | Brittany Boyd-Jones (6) | Madison Square Garden<br>10,026 | 20–9 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 30 | September 7 | Seattle | L 78–102 | Tina Charles (22) | Tina Charles (9) | Tina Charles (7) | Madison Square Garden<br>8,159 | 20–10 |- style="background:#bbffbb;" | 31 | September 9 | Connecticut | W 89–82 | Tina Charles (23) | Tina Charles (10) | Brittany Boyd-Jones (8) | Madison Square Garden<br>9,482 | 21–10 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 32 | September 11 | @ Dallas | L 81–84 | Tina Charles (29) | Tina Charles (10) | Brittany Boyd-Jones (10) | College Park Center<br>5,662 | 21–11 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 33 | September 13 | Washington | L 62–75 | Tina Charles (22) | Tina Charles (11) | Brittany Boyd-Jones (6) | Madison Square Garden<br>8,345 | 21–12 |- style="background:#fcc;" | 34 | September 16 | @ Chicago | L 68–92 | Cash, Swords (15) | Allen, Swords (8) | Brittany Boyd-Jones (6) | Allstate Arena<br>7,295 | 21–13

Playoffs

|- style="background:#fcc;" | 1 | September 24 | Phoenix | L 94–101 | Tanisha Wright (21) | Tina Charles (9) | Charles, Wright (5) | Madison Square Garden<br>10,227 | 0–1

Standings

Playoffs

Statistics

Regular season

Source:

Awards and honors

References