Ever since Patty Coyle replaced the fired Richie Adubato earlier this month, she has uttered the same refrain time and time again: “I don’t want them to play great, I want them to play solid.”

For the most part, the Liberty have given Coyle what she’s wanted, particularly during the team’s recent three-game winning streak.

But both that streak, as well as the team’s run of solid play, came to an end Friday night when the Liberty were nearly run off the floor in an 88-79 loss in Detroit.

After last night’s game against Connecticut (13-13) at Radio City Music Hall, the WNBA shuts down for a month because of the Olympics, and the Liberty hoped that Friday’s loss was an aberration, especially since if it were followed by a repeat performance they would have four weeks to think about it.

“I thought we didn’t play very well,” Hammon said following the defeat in which the Liberty found themselves down 14-4 and then by as many as 20 points early in the second half. “I don’t think we could have played much worse in the first half.”

Although she and Elena Baranova scored a team-high 12 points, Hammon was a prime culprit, committing seven turnovers.

The Liberty could ill afford a similar effort last night, since the league’s Eastern Conference is riddled with so much mediocrity that only two games separate first place Charlotte from cellar-dwelling Washington.

A win over the Sun could propel the Liberty, which entered the game 12-12, into first place if Charlotte lost. A second straight defeat, however, could drop them all the way to fifth.

Regardless of the outcome last night, the Liberty figure to be improved when the schedule resumes in September. They will remain at Radio City for four games while the Garden is converted back to a basketball arena following the Republican National Convention.

And for those games, the Liberty hope to have the services of Tari Phillips, who has been out with a fractured hand.

Her absence has been felt, particularly since the loss of Ann Wauters to a broken foot. The team’s inside play has at times been woeful and in such a close race, the slightest disadvantage could leave a team out of the postseason.

“We didn’t have the intensity we needed,” Coyle said of her team’s performance in Detroit. “I stressed to them how important it was that we have it every game because there is so little margin for error.”

The Liberty would do well to follow that lesson. If not, they will have a long time to regret it.