After clinching a postseason berth their last time out, the New York Liberty look to move closer to securing home-court advantage in the first round on Sunday when they host a Chicago Sky team fighting for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Liberty (17-12) entered Friday's home game against Atlanta knowing it would clinch a playoff spot with either a win over the Dream or a loss by Chicago (11-19).

The Sky fell to Connecticut 80-75 - a final that was announced at the end of the third quarter inside Madison Square Garden - allowing New York to clinch its ninth postseason berth. The Liberty then withstood a late surge from Atlanta to win 82-71.

New York has won its last two games after dropping its first two coming out of the month-long Olympic break, including a disappointing 69-60 home loss to Chicago on Aug. 28.

"When they announced (the Sky had lost) we could have folded just because we had already clinched," said Liberty center Janel McCarville, who scored a team-high 21 points Friday. "Everybody had it in the back of their minds that we needed to win this game, come out and prove to ourselves and everybody else that we're a better team than we were the last time we were home."

The Liberty are also trying to secure home-court advantage for the opening round of the playoffs. New York, which had a six-game winning streak at Madison Square Garden end with last week's loss to the Sky, is battling Detroit for second place in the East.

"There are still more games to be played," Liberty coach Pat Coyle said. "There are still a lot of things to play for, like home-court advantage."

The Sky are in fifth place in the East, three games back of Indiana for the final playoff spot with four games remaining.

Chicago won its first three games after the Olympic break, but then lost to Seattle 70-62 on Thursday and lost to the Sun on Friday. The Sky entered the fourth quarter Friday tied at 58, but they turned the ball over six times in the first five minutes of the final period to fall behind by nine.

"It's not like this was our first back-to-back (games) of the season," said Candice Dupree, who had 13 points. "It's something everyone in the league has to do. You can't use it as an excuse. It's something you have to play through."

Jia Perkins led the Sky with 18 points on Friday, and had 19 in the victory over the Liberty last week.