September 2nd, 2004: Charlotte at New York

New York Liberty 56, Charlotte Sting 52

The Game Notes get the onstage hookup, Tammy Sutton-Brown walks like a hooker, and Crystal Robinson and the entertainment are both off the hook.


Kate, you are a goddess. Seriously. I love you, I adore you, if I weren't straight I'd marry you. For those of you who are confused, Kate, the admin at wnbatalk.com, hooked me and mom up with her seats for the game tonight. Did I mention that Kate sits onstage? *squeal jump ow...*



Even getting to onstage seats is an adventure in and of itself- you get to wander around backstage and see where they stash the stuff for the games and the elevator to the locker rooms and the directions to the press conference. You get to come through the same passageway as the teams, and it's just so wow. To sit on the stage at Radio City Music Hall is an incredible experience, and y'all need to try it sometime. You'd see who makes whom laugh, and that DeTrina's joined in the Livestrong yellow bracelet craze, and once again learn that if Goddess had meant for white girls to dance, She would have made them black I swear that Erin's in the doghouse because she taught Becky to do the robot dance. I know I'd do that if I were in a position of authority.

Is it just me, or does Tammy Sutton-Brown walk the same way that LL does? Either that, or she's begging for someone to check out her derriere. It... it twitches. And she... er... jiggles. Despite all that, she was a force on the glass, including especially the offensive glass. Wasn't someone on Full Court Press just mentioning how her offensive rebound production had gone down? Coulda fooled me. Dawn Staley didn't play like someone who had just come off a back-to-back after playing in freakin' Athens at that time or so last week. She was on the ball, and a very wise player. Putting Becky on her was a giant mistake. She set everything up beautifully for the Sting; their offense sputtered when K.B. went on her and started forcing her to hold the ball for longer periods of time. Stinson's still got some moves. They don't always go in, but she's still got some moves. She had one really nifty steal that would have made me shriek if I had seen it. She also seems to have either found a magical sports bra that she needs to recommend to TSB and Crystal, or she's lost weight in a certain legendary part of her anatomy. Allison Feaster had a relatively quiet night, but honestly, haven't the Liberty defenders figured out yet that this is not a woman you leave to go double on someone else? For real? Crystal didn't look thrilled at the prospect of defending her, but she didn't seem to be the focus of the offense, for some reason. I'm not sure who she was on defensively, but unless she had Crystal, she was doing all right for herself. Charlotte Smith-Taylor wore very bright lipstick (sweetie, you're not Tina Thompson, please don't try it) and had a knack for hitting key shots. Her range is getting better; the long shots are falling. I'd still not be sanguine about her as my long-distance threat, though, were I a Sting fan. Kelly Mazzante is turning out to be quite a steal in the second round, which makes sense, what with her having been projected as a first-round pick. She found a way to get open for a jumper while VJ and Crystal were both chasing her, and she was fierce on the defensive end. She's developing dimensions. Brava, Kelly. Nicole Powell was really good at being tall, and I dimly recall her in some defensive plays for some reason. Olympia Scott-Richardson also put her height to good use, elevating for a shot over DeTrina. D-Train was not pleased with herself after O-Scott put it in over her. Teana Miller (née McKiver) is really good at being really big. Tynesha Lewis must make Van Chancellor go 'why the heck did I dump her?' eveyr time she comes up big. She's very solid for this Sting team. Trudi Lacey shows promise as a defensive stopper, and yeah, as a coach. And none of these women should wear orange aluminum foil... wait, that was a uniform?!

VJ. WTF? A missed free throw, a shot that didn't hit the rim, a blown fastbreak layup, a fumbled pass... again I ask, what the f-? This is a half-season's worth of mistakes from her, all in one night. Elena. Again, WTF? Jet lag? She didn't play most of the second half, was ineffective when she was in, no matter how wonderful it was to hear the regular announcer roll that R as hard as he could. Becky was very well contained on offense for most of the game, only busting loose for a couple of layups in the second half. The long bombs weren't falling for most anyone. It was scary. Bethany held her ground against Tammy Sutton-Brown- it was really physical in there with the two of them; at one point, Bethany accidentally punched TSB in the head (her hand was in a fist, she didn't get out of the way, and TSB leaned into her hand). Crystal is a goddess. A shot-clock-beating four-point play? Dude. That's just. Dude. If that's not a momentum switcher, nothin' in this world is. And she played great defense. Mmm. I Crystal. La'Keshia actually rebounded. Like, wow, that's impressive, for real. And she hit 2/2 at one point from the line. I guess she saves the big games for the Sting. DeTrina played a lot because of the what-ever-it-was that affected Elena, but she wasn't really the full-fledged D-Train that we all know and adore, though she had one rebound that had the crowd yelling. K.B. was very solid, the prototype of the traditional point guard. She didn't score, and I don't know if she had any assists, but she spearheaded the offense (although in this game that's an inaccurate term) and was absolutely brilliant on defense. She's got great potential, and I just hope she doesn't end up screwed up by coaches who don't know what to do with her. Shameka hit a shot, but was otherwise quite forgettable. Sorry, Mel.

The coaching was the reason why I thought the Sting were going to keep that thirteen-point lead. Trudi Lacey controlled the early flow of the game- her substitutions caused Patty to make changes instead of the other way around; when the Sting went tall, Elena came into the game, when Lacey sent in the starters, so did Patty. I think Patty got control of her moves and that was a key to the Liberty getting the game back into their hands. I think the defense was also key, though the Sting forcing three shot clock violations is nothing to sneeze at either. Offense, like I said, wasn't exactly common in this game. There were a lot of misses, a lot of stalls, a lot of deflections, and a lot of solid defensive plays. This wasn't Patty and Marianne's finest hour, though Patty gets bonus points for having one of her little fireside chats with K.B. before sending the kid into the game; I know Patty played PG in college. The refs were all right- an all-female crew headed up by Lisa mattingly. They made a couple of glaringly bad calls, but made quick make-up calls soon afterwards. It all evened out. Mostly they let 'em play, and did they ever.

I don't know if I could get used to the view- I like the details, but I like being able to see everything unfolding from above like the eye of Goddess or something, too. I do, however, think that I could easily get used to the people. Thundersticks to my left, thundersticks to my right, a wonderfully crazed lady in front of me... okay, so the smelly guy next to my mom wasn't so much of the good, but hey, I told her she could move over. I think we really did knock Andrea Stinson off her stride on a free throw, and considering how few of them there were I think that's notable. And again, the Sting players are teh niceness [sic].

Place was not completely full, as I can vouch for five empty seats due to the damn convention. Tari wore tight pants and a half-buttoned blouse. Alas, I didn't get pictures of her. The anthem was done by a female trio named Mrs. Robinson, and yes, a couple of players shot Crystal looks at that intro. They were all right, and I think they've done the anthem before. Pregame show was the Sting bricking halfcourt shots and a dance team. Halftime was another dance team, and I have a pic of them I might get posted when I get my film developed. The bear is so cuuuuuuute! *hugs Stevie-bear* Yes, I have one for you, Kate; the nice man at the door gave me two so none of us have to go without. Strange moments of the Bounce/Cheer/Joy thing- the Cheer spilled, and the girl with one hand hit the lay-up first. This was after VJ had blown the fastbreak layup, so needless to say the sarcasm was on full blast. There was a pregame celebration of the two Olympians on the court. I stood and clapped for Dawn, and she got a hearty round, but the biggest cheers were for Elena. Me, I was bout even for them, because I knew that Elena was about as happy with her bronze as the American men were with theirs. They got flowers and applause.

At the end of the game, the players did their ritual wave at the fans thing, but they seemed like they wanted to get away as fast as they could. I don't know whether it was because they won such an embarrassingly bad game, or because Patty was all ready to lay into them about what they shouldn't learn from this game, or because they had a flight/bus to Connecticut to catch directly after. Maybe this time they'll catch up on their naps before the game (I was waiting with some acquaintances before the game at the stage door, and as the Liberty players disembarked from the turquoise bullet of ugly, one of them said that they all looked like they needed a nap. Crystal was the only one really conscious. Hmmm. Correlation? Well, her comment also got the odd image of a Liberty kindergarten class going through my head.)

And what have we learned about the East from this game? NOTHING!