August 10th, 2005: Los Angeles at New York

New York Liberty 74, Los Angeles Sparks 69

Becky Hammon kicks ass, Cathrine Kraayeveld starts showing off her interesting shades of red, and the Game Notes have a brilliant idea to deal with Los Angeles and New York's coaching situations.


{Forgive my lateness. I live with a psycho woman.}

Bibby has weird substitution patterns and way too much faith in Laura Macchi. Christi Thomas and Jessica Moore seemed to be on a yo-yo for a while- we're talking one possession and out came the hook. Chicca seems to have too many joints in her legs; either that, or that's the most inefficient jump shot in the league, because she fell down every time she took it, and trust me, she wasn't getting hit. Chamique was... you know, I used to believe she was overhyped, that she didn't have the talent everyone said she did. I hereby take that statement back. She makes everything look too easy. She's gorgeous to watch on the court. She was all kinds of on tonight. LL was her usual self as well, although there were a couple of plays on which she seemed to be channeling Kareem. She tossed in a couple of cheap shots, but nothing too over the top tonight. Doneeka Hodges seems to have gotten a wicked three-pointer from somewhere; she made the game interesting near the end. Per usual, Tamika Whitmore was a real piece of work; I think the only compliment I can pay her is that I like her hairstyle. Mwadi was just... off. A lot. It was painful. And there was one play where she and Shameka were getting a bit entangled. Dixon was a non-factor. We saw her getting her ankle/foot/heel taped up on the bench. She looked like she was going for the stylish mummy look, a la Tari. Except that Dixon can't pull off the stylish. Edniesha Curry is fast, but other than that, the only thing I can recall about her playing time is that she made the Oregon fans happy by existing, even as a Spork. And Bibby never seems to STFU during the game. I swear, Crystal was this close to giving him a piece of her mind, the way he kept yammering in her ear.

Becky knew no fear tonight. She drove, and drove hard. When the shots stopped going in, she delivered to Ann on gorgeous assists. I think I can deal with a 23/8/6. Just a little. Her boxing out really amazes me- she's so close to normal-sized, and she's blocking out these big honkin' post players. Elena made me so very happy, the way she was ripping down those rebounds. I have to admit that I cursed when Ann got the last Lib rebound, because I was hoping that it would go to Elena and give her the double-double. Of the bigs who played serious minutes, she played the best defense on Leslie. She and Ann were big down the stretch. Ann picked up as the game went along, so hurrah. Crystal looked a little lost on defense, and I saw her do something I've never seen before- when she came out of the game for Shameka, she said something extremely intense to Patty both before and after the horn. I don't think she wanted to come out. Those sitting closer to the action might be able to fill in the details, if they haven't already. VJ, who apparently is hurt- thank you so much, local publications, for not mentioning something important like that- did her part on defense, switching onto Chamique when it became clear that Crystal didn't have *it*. Shameka demonstrated once again that her basketball instincts outpace her logic- she made a couple of fantastic saves in front of our section, but she got faked out repeatedly on D. Cathrine continues to get more minutes than almost any free agent I've ever seen don the various colors of the Liberty, and more minutes than it looked like she was used to, because she was turning interesting shades of red late in the game. She got eaten alive on defense, but she still shoots a pretty jumper and sets a mean screen. La'Keshia and Loree made cameos, La'Keshia's slightly more effective than Loree's. DeTrina was a DNP, but that may be because most of the fingers on her left hand are taped together. It's freaky. As usual, Patty lost her temper, but not constructively. I think she and Bibby in a yelling match would make a great halftime promotion. They'd kill each other, and thus we'd all be happy.

Anthem was pleasant, if strangely flat. Dancers were everywhere, including the troupe that swarmed La'Keshia before the game. (oblivious WNBA player+dance troupe with picture-collecting dynamo=glomp; I think La'Keshia wished she had used the side door after all)

Kym sighting, with A'riel, aka the cuuutest kid in the world. Sue sighting, with suspiciously bright blonde hair (and someone needs to tell her that chartruese was not a color designed for blondes).

Game show night. Oh, how the stupid buuuuuuurned.

But the game made me happy, and highlighted the problem that the Sparks have- if their complementary players are on, they win; if not, they don't have the horses.