2016 New York Liberty season

2016 New York Liberty season
2016 New York Liberty season
Coach	Bill Laimbeer
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Attendance	9,724 per game
Results
Record	21–13 (.618)
Place	1st (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Lost in Second Round to Phoenix
Team Leaders
Points	Tina Charles – 21.5 ppg
Rebounds	Tina Charles – 9.9 rpg
Assists	Tina Charles – 3.8 apg
Media
Television	MSG Network (MSG), MSG Plus (MSG+)
	← 2015 season 2017 season →

CoachBill Laimbeer

ArenaMadison Square Garden

Attendance9,724 per game

Record21–13 (.618)

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.^[1] 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.

[1]

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	12	Adut Bulgak	Canada	Florida State
2	24	Ameryst Alston	United States	Ohio State
3	36	Shacobia Barbee	United States	Georgia

Date	Details
February 1, 2016	Signed Shavonte Zellous^[2]
February 1, 2016	Re-signed Carolyn Swords^[3]
March 8, 2016	Signed Swin Cash^[4]
April 18, 2016	Signed Lindsey Harding^[5]
May 2, 2016	The Liberty acquired Shoni Schimmel from the Atlanta Dream in exchange for their second round pick in the 2017 WNBA draft.^[6]
May 11, 2016	The Liberty acquired Amanda Zahui B. and Dallas' second round pick in the 2017 draft in exchange for the Liberty's first round pick in the 2017 draft.^[7]

Eastern Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
3 - New York Liberty	21	13	.618	—	10–7	11–6	11–5
4 - Chicago Sky	18	16	.529	3	11–6	7–10	8–8
5 - Indiana Fever	17	17	.500	4	8–9	9–8	8–8
6 - Atlanta Dream	17	17	.500	4	11–6	6–11	9–7
e - Connecticut Sun	14	20	.412	7	8–9	6–11	4–12
e - Washington Mystics	13	21	.382	8	5–12	8–9	8–8


First round Single elimination (Sept. 21)			Second round Single elimination (Sept. 24 and 25)			Semifinals Best-of-5 (Sept. 28 – Oct. 6)			WNBA Finals Best-of-5 (Oct. 9 – 20)



						1	Minnesota Lynx	3

			3	New York Liberty	94	8	Phoenix Mercury	0

5	Indiana Fever	78	8	Phoenix Mercury	101				1	Minnesota Lynx	2

8	Phoenix Mercury	89							2	Los Angeles Sparks	3

						2	Los Angeles Sparks	3

			4	Chicago Sky	108	4	Chicago Sky	1

6	Atlanta Dream	94	6	Atlanta Dream	98

7	Seattle Storm	85

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

2016 New York Liberty season

WNBA draft

Trades/Roster Changes

Roster

Game log

Preseason

Regular season

Playoffs

Standings

Playoffs

Statistics

Regular season

Awards and honors

References

Related Articles

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Tina Charles	32	32	33.7	43.9%	34.7%	81.2%	9.9	3.8	0.8	0.8	21.5
Sugar Rodgers	33	33	30.5	40.5%	41.3%	84.2%	3.7	2.4	1.1	0.5	14.5
Kiah Stokes	27	0	24.1	64.1%	—	62.7%	7.4	0.7	0.7	1.4	6.9
Shavonte Zellous	33	1	23.3	40.3%	19.2%	85.1%	2.5	2.2	0.9	0.2	8.8
Tanisha Wright	29	28	23.0	40.1%	23.5%	71.7%	2.3	3.6	0.9	0.2	6.7
Lindsey Harding	5	3	22.8	32.0%	0.00%	100.0%	2.8	3.6	0.2	0.0	3.6
Brittany Boyd	33	9	19.7	36.1%	16.7%	72.8%	2.5	3.6	1.6	0.1	6.5
Swin Cash	31	23	19.5	37.9%	12.5%	68.3%	3.4	1.4	0.7	0.5	5.3
Carolyn Swords	34	34	17.5	57.1%	—	68.6%	4.6	0.7	0.2	0.6	5.2
Epiphanny Prince	6	0	13.8	40.0%	36.4%	100.0%	1.5	0.7	0.3	0.0	5.2
Rebecca Allen	21	6	13.3	45.9%	56.7%	86.7%	1.7	0.5	0.4	0.5	5.7
Amanda Zahui B.	33	1	11.3	44.9%	18.8%	78.7%	3.2	0.4	0.3	0.7	5.0
Shoni Schimmel	17	0	4.5	55.0%	56.3%	80.0%	0.5	0.6	0.2	0.1	2.1
Adut Bulgak	7	0	3.3	45.5%	50.0%	75.0%	1.3	—	—	—	2.0
Ameryst Alston	1	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Tina Charles	Peak Performer: Points	September 20, 2016	^[9]
	Peak Performer: Rebounds	September 20, 2016	^[9]
	All-WNBA First Team	October 14, 2016	^[10]
	Eastern Conference Player of the Month	June 2, 2016	^[11]
		July 7, 2016	^[12]
		July 26, 2016	^[13]
		September 20, 2016	^[14]
	Eastern Conference Player of the Week	May 23, 2016	^[15]
		June 6, 2016	^[16]
		June 20, 2016	^[17]
		June 27, 2016	^[18]
		July 6, 2016	^[19]
		July 22, 2016	^[20]
		September 5, 2016	^[21]
Tanisha Wright	WNBA All-Defensive Second Team	September 30, 2016	^[22]

v t e 2016 WNBA season by team
Draft Playoffs Finals
Eastern	Atlanta Dream Chicago Sky Connecticut Sun Indiana Fever New York Liberty Washington Mystics
Western	Dallas Wings Los Angeles Sparks Minnesota Lynx Phoenix Mercury San Antonio Stars Seattle Storm
← 2015 WNBA season 2017 →