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Liberty-Mystics Preview

Aug 20, 2010 - 4:20 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

New York (20-11) at Washington (20-12), 7:00 p.m. EDT

The surging New York Liberty control their own destiny as they push for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. That would change drastically, however, with a loss to the Washington Mystics on Friday night.

The Liberty are riding a franchise-record 10-game win streak as they travel to face the Mystics, who have won four straight and have their own hopes of earning the top seed.

All four playoff spots in the East have been clinched, with New York (21-11) tied with Indiana for first place and Washington (20-12) a game back in third. The Liberty and Mystics hold tiebreakers over the Fever.

A victory by New York on Friday would clinch at least the No. 2 seed, and would give the Liberty the top seed if Indiana loses later at night at San Antonio.

Since these teams have split their first four meetings, a victory by Washington would give the Mystics the tiebreaker and drop New York to the No. 3 slot with one game to play if Indiana wins Friday. The top two seeds get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Nicole Powell scored 20 points and Cappie Pondexter - third in the league with 20.9 points per game - had 16 as New York won 85-75 at home over Tulsa on Thursday after trailing by as many as seven in the second half.

The Liberty are one game shy of matching Indiana's 11-game run last year for the fourth-longest in league history.

"It's an ugly win, it was a little slow at times," center Taj McWilliams-Franklin said. "I think the true measure of any competitor or any champion is how they come through in adversity and I think we pulled through at the right time. And we're getting ready for another tough one tomorrow night."

Powell left the game with 8:40 remaining in the third quarter after getting hit in the face and did not return, but is expected to play Friday.

The home team has won every matchup in the season series. The Liberty have had trouble containing Monique Currie, who is averaging 18.3 points against them.

New York has fared better in limiting Crystal Langhorne to 11.5 points per game. Langhorne averages a team-high 16.4, and scored 21 in a 76-66 win at San Antonio on Tuesday.

"We're also fighting for first place in the East, and we want to keep playing well going into the playoffs," Langhorne said.