After a dramatic Game 1 overtime win, the reigning champion New York Liberty returned home to Barclays Center -- where they were 17-5 in the regular season -- with a chance to sweep the Phoenix Mercury in their first-round series and advance to the semifinals. Instead, they got steamrolled and suffered their worst home playoff loss in franchise history.

The Mercury controlled all aspects of the game, but were particularly dominant defensively en route to an 86-60 win, which evened the series at 1-1 and forced a deciding Game 3 back in Phoenix on Friday night.

"When you want to win and you know what it takes, I think you just do the little things," Kahleah Copper said. "We knew it was about our defense. That's one thing that we can control, so we take pride in that and just being a

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