Liberty riding 4-game win streak into Lynx matchup

New York seems to have finally found its groove.

After a little bit of a hiccup, Minnesota seems to have righted the ship.

And now the WNBA has a juicy Sunday matchup when the Lynx invade Madison Square Garden to take on the suddenly invincible Liberty, who have won four straight.

The Lynx won the first two meetings between the two this season.

Minnesota won at the Garden in a blowout on May 18 when all five starters scored in double figures.

On July 25, the Lynx held on for a 76-75 win in St. Paul, Minn. Maya Moore dropped in 27 points, but it was Lindsey Whalen who hit the game-winning shot.

The Liberty won't have to deal with 14-year veteran Whalen this time around. She'll be out for at least another two weeks after having surgery to repair a broken bone in her left hand two weeks ago.

Renee Montgomery replaced the Lynx floor general, and understands how important Whalen is to the team's success.

"I ask her every day, 'Man, is your hand healed yet? You ready to come back?'" Montgomery told the Minneapolis Star Tribune with a laugh, as she prepared last Monday for a second week as the interim starter. "We're a different team (without her)."

The Lynx struggled in Whalen's absence, winning once in four games. But Friday against Indiana, the Lynx put on a show that might never be repeated in a pro basketball game.

Minnesota (22-5) scored 37 straight points on its way to a 59-point victory. At one point, the Fever went scoreless for 11 minutes. The margin of victory was the highest in league history.

After scoring 61 points on Wednesday in a loss to the Seattle Storm, the Lynx lit up the scoreboard for 68 first-half points. And after suffering consecutive losses for the first time this season, Minnesota was ready to respond to its first taste of adversity this season.

"Our coaching staff challenged us, and we challenged ourselves as leaders," Moore told reporters. "This was truly a team win. It's something that will remind us of what we can be when we're all together and locked in."

The Liberty is coming off an impressive win as well after taking down the Connecticut Sun, the top team in the Eastern Conference.

After some midseason tinkering with his lineup, coach Bill Laimbeer is seeing the fruitions of hard work. The Liberty (16-12) have won four in a row and still have a shot at overtaking the Sun for the top spot in the East.

With six games remaining in the regular season, New York (along with Washington) is just two games behind Connecticut.

Before the Liberty and Lynx last met, one team -- Minnesota -- was trending upward while New York was scuffling.

Liberty star Tina Charles wasn't too worried, saying that time was on New York's side.

"We know we're a good team," Charles said. "At times, it's just we still have to figure it out.

"A lot of teams are able to figure it out at the beginning of the season, they have experience like in Minnesota and L.A., and then you have teams that are still figuring it out along the way and that's where we are."

Well, it looks like the Liberty figured things out and the Sun might be hearing footsteps after dropping an 82-70 decision on Friday to New York. The Sun had won 12 of 14 games until Charles poured in 24 points to end Connecticut's eight-game home winning streak.

Charles, the former University of Connecticut star, registered 18 first-half points as the two teams matched bucket-for-bucket. Not bad considering she almost didn't play.

"Tina Charles, we didn't think she was going to play tonight," New York coach Bill Laimbeer told the Hartford Courant. "She had a little bit of back spasms, and as of (Thursday), she was not going to play.

"(Friday) she said, 'I don't think so,' and then she said 'OK' and she played a phenomenal basketball game."

New York held the Sun to 34.3 percent field-goal shooting. The Liberty will need that kind of performance on Sunday against the Lynx. Against Indiana, Minnesota shot 59.2 percent from the field.