September 16th, 2004: Indiana at New York

New York Liberty 77, Indiana Fever 71

Ebony Hoffman is not 210, Becky Hammon needs to not dance badly, much defense is played, and the Game Notes bid a fond farewell to Radio City.


It was a night of surprises and drama, most of which you people could give less than a crap about. You want to hear about the game and such.

I don't know what it was. Maybe it was Tari coming back. Maybe it was the new one that Patty seemed to have ripped the ladies. Maybe it was the fact that the skeevy guy who'd taken the seat next to mine actually bathed. Maybe it was the same mojo that got the Mets a win. Whatever. Thanks for the show, ladies- y'all made this year's last game at the Hall a night to remember.

Oh, that anthem. *clutches heart* I don't cry easily, but the string duet had me in tears. I'm a sap for violins anyway, and this was a wonderful rendition of the anthem; for the first time I think I felt what everyone says you're supposed to feel during the playing of your country's anthem. Did I mention that the violinists were two black guys with cornrows, diamond earrings, baggy pants, and throwback NBA jerseys? Oh, God, if there's one thing I love more than the violin, it's the obliteration of stereotypes.

*sigh* The dance thing. I swear, I would have applauded for Becky if she hadn't decided to go back to the cheesy dancing. I've said this before and I'll say this again: if Goddess had intended for white girls to dance, She would have made us black.

Okay. Less said about the first half, the better. We aren't exactly talking about stunningly gorgeous gameplay. Point of fact, we're talking about (at tipoff) the fifth and sixth-place teams in a six-team conference. The end of the half, however, was indicative of the direction that the game would take, as Becky took over. It was also indicative because of the very physical play. DeTrina was shaken up real bad- she was in obvious pain, and we're talking obvious to the second mezz here. Kelly Miller hit the deck like a few pounds of bricks after that... coincidence?

Second half- a flurry of Fever threes. Some inspiringly dumb plays, notably Crystal's beautiful pass to Tamika Catchings. More bad calls, more bodies hitting the floor, and more missed free throws from Becky than I've ever seen from her before. And overtime, as if the Liberty were bound and determined to keep this Radio City thing going as long as they could.

Overtime: Becky Hammon, Happy Trails, and defense. Three Indiana players fouled out in the extra period, while only one Liberty foul was called. (Ref whining gets a paragraph to itself- Fever fans, please note the phrasing of the last clause in the previous sentence.)

Indiana plays an incredibly swarming defense that makes people dither and pause and think and mess up. With hesitant players like Bethany and Shameka, and subpar ballhandlers like... er, everyone except maybe VJ... I can see why Indiana caused us so many problems. Natalie Williams still has it, and you do *not* want to get into a tipping contest with her, because she's still got some great setting skills from her All-American volleyball days at UCLA. Mom doubted that she weighs 210. Whatever she weighs, though, there is no way in hell that Ebony Hoffman is 210 at the same height. KFCs all over the greater Indianapolis area must adore this woman. Kelly Miller has a knack for evading defenses, but her ballhandling is highly suspect- if we had a third defensive ace, a guard the way T-Spoon used to be, there wouldn't have been any damn overtime. Tamika Catchings didn't show me much tonight, but she was mostly prevented from doing much; the times when she was able to shake the Liberty defender who had taken up residence inside her shorts, she made things happen, but those times were few and far between. She's not just their star, she's their playmaker. Kelly Schumacher brought an interesting look to the Fever front line, being more long and lean and somewhat quicker than Williams and Hoffman- she had a monster block on Elena in the first half that made me wince and start reciting statistics. Shameka stuffed her right back later on, so that made me happy. Niele Ivey was basically in to give people a breather, though I do believe she had a three. Ditto for Kristen Rasmussen, minus the three element of the scoring.

Hella good game by Becky. For whatever reason, she had a streak of stupid during the middle of the second half, but that was it for the lowlights (okay, that and the robot dancing... again, no.). At the end of the first half and at both ends of the second half, and during the OT, she was on fiyah. Elena was also faaaaaantastic, with a whole lot of great shots, including one up and under and around and in that I still can't figure out, plus her usual array of threes and shots in the paint. Crystal stole Elena's hook shot long enough to get herself a basket, while Vickie absconded with Mark Jackson's teardrop. Neither of them put much else up on the scoreboard, but VJ had seven boards, and Crystal had some fierce defense on Catch'. Bethany started out playing scared, but eventually realized that Natalie Williams probably wouldn't bite off and spit out her head if she tried a shot in the lane, and started driving a wee bit more. Shameka and K.B. currently mix like oil and water- K.B. wants to run it and run it and run it, while Shameka wants to think things out a bit. Unless that's just rookie hesitancy and she will get moving, they can't co-exist. The bench, except for La'Keshia, was all sorts of useless, though it wasn't completely their fault, because DeTrina was injured, and that makes me sad. La'Keshia had a couple of boards and a couple of baskets, and she was tall. Both coaches both almost went Richie on some refs, with the bonus point of Becky saying something that started with an F and ended with a -uck, and wasn't firetruck.

Ah, yes, the refs. The incompetent jerkwads who called themselves the fair and balanced arbitors of the game. Now I know why two of them were surnamed Smith- they were in the witless protection program. Several out-of-bounds calls were utterly wrong. Several travels went un catalogued. Several hacks went ignored. Elena got hit hard with no call. Bethany went up for a shot, was fouled, and then didn't end up with free throws. On the other side of the ball, said Bethany got away with a travel or two, and a hold on a Fever player (Schumacher, I think, but if you're expecting me to remember at 12:30 at night, you should instead be grateful that I am so brilliantly coherent.) Overall, the refereeing resembled a farce, only without the competence. We were lucky a fight didn't break out.

Oh yes, the other highlight of the night: "Hot In Herre", with the solo part taken by a funky-looking violin. Mmmmmmmmmm... oh, Goddess, yeah. If only all hip-hop could be so transformed. (BTW, fellow Liberty fans- what song did the duo transpose for their encore?)

I can't wait to get back to the Garden.