August 3rd, 2006: Detroit at New York

New York Liberty 75, Detroit Shock 67

The Liberty show signs of potential, the Game Notes mix up a couple of Shockers, and Deanna Nolan gratuitously shows off her abs.


It was very hard to believe we actually won this game. I know we did, what with having been there and everything, but things just quietly piled up without me noticing. Strange game.

Anthem singer seemed to be trying to transpose the anthem into a different key, which is not cool. She wasn't all that good, although she did a good job on the last few notes.

My apologies to Sabrina Palie for mistaking her for Angelina Williams (in my defense, I didn't know who was active, no one was wearing their numbered warmups, and I didn't know Mlle. Palie was black). In any case. Swin worked it inside- I know there are too many Cash/bank jokes, but she really is good with glass- the theatrics, however, are quite annoying; she had one rather blatant dive near the beginning of the game where she went all the way into photographers' row. That's the kind of not-thinking that leaves one in the orchestra pit, ya know. ;) Has Katie Smith always been this… um, excessively physical? How she only got called for one foul all night, and that deep into the second half, utterly eludes me. She was grabbing and pushing- and not just a handful of jersey here and a gentle shove there, we're talking arm hooked around stomach here. Her passing eye's pretty good, though; guess she needs that when her shot's not falling (and why did she only have six shots, anyway?). Tweety didn't look like herself today. I mean, in part she did (yay for gratuituous ab flashing) but except for a couple of rebounding plays, she looked very… 2001, 2002. Six turnovers, the most notable being that pass to no one in particular where it seemed that Kedra Holland-Corn might have cut but clearly decided not to. Ruth needs to lay off that outside jumper and use that big frame of hers; again with the no free throws, and if she couldn't take Cathrine or Iciss, she really needs remedial post training. I know having an outside shot is a good thing for a post, but only when coupled with an inside shot. Ford, on the other hand… oh, man, she's one hell of a rebounder. Fuck with her at your own peril. I suspect she'll go to Beijing. Shock bench played extensively, which pleased me. I *like* Batteast. I think she's got potential. Doesn't seem to make a lot of mistakes. Braxton, on the other hand… um, jerseys are not supposed to fall like that. I crossed my arms over my chest in sympathy whenever she started running. WHY did she get 10 shots? From where I sat (which I will grant is pretty far up) she looked out of shape. How long has it been since she had the kid? She's running out of excuses. Holland-Corn's instant offense impressed me, and she was surprisingly social at the shootaround. She was also pleasantly surprised that people in New York knew how to pronounce her name; to me, it seems obvious, but she's been in the league for so long, the "Key-dra" pronunciation seems normal for a name that visual logic dicates would be "Ked-ra". One other thing: I'm still waiting for an explanation of why Smith spent so much time at the 3. It doesn't work. That makes the matchup her and Shameka, and the way Shameka's been playing on defense, I wouldn't purposely arrange that.

Patty, Patty, Patty. I'm so glad you've finally figured out how to play your bench. Now, um, could you not run the *bench* players into the ground instead of the starters? Not that 35-36 minutes wasn't ridiculous for Cathrine, Barb, and Shameka, but for Erin it was nuts. I'm fairly certain Loree could have contributed more than nine minutes, even with foul trouble.

I'm loving the way Shameka's defense is developing. The way she's playing, more and more I think she's far less Baby Swoopes and more of a Baby DeLisha. She's going inside more, she's rebounding, she's playing defense… if she continues this trend, I'll be a very happy camper. Barbara played like a woman on a mission. I think she's trying to make the Shock regret ever letting her go. (After her play, compared to Braxton's, I'd regret it.) For Loree, the hook was out… again… which is really bloody ridiculous, seeing that she is the only REAL point guard on the bloody roster. I *am* worried, however, about the rough edge her play has taken on; girl better be careful she doesn't turn into a Spark all of a sudden! Sherill still needs to work on the passing thing, but she's improving. No assists tonight was not cool, though. She continues to take ill-advised shots. How much longer is that learning curve? Two more years? Is that how long it took to make Nolan a force? Cathrine… kinda forgot the court boundaries once or twice, but I love her rebounding in the last few games, and she almost had Nolan on a Screen of Death. Erin had some nifty passes, although she's trying to get too fancy at times, and her judgment still isn't completely sound. I don't think she's used to these minutes, and it shows on both her and Cathrine. If I, in the 200s, can see that a player is turning red and her ponytail is stuck to her neck, the coach damn well better notice. In any case, yay for Erin getting to the line, too. Ashley brought unexpected yet wonderful offense. I kept wincing whenever she lined up a shot and cheering when it went in. Iciss. Oh, Iciss. Though Barbara has helped her past her fear of flying chest bumps, she still has much to learn about paying attention to her defender, her teammates, or the ball. Very lackadaisical on D. Christelle, in her ninety-four seconds, looked good. Why don't we see more of her? She's a third-round story, she's smart, and she's not afraid to mix it up. Against Detroit, I think we could have used a little more mixing up than ninety-four seconds' worth. Kiesha, blink and you miss her. Story of any Lib benchie's life, isn't it?

Very ragged game. A lot of missed shots. A lot of very rough play. Michael Price's crew, so I'm surprised Pierson didn't get a second T just for breathing. Detroit got away with a lot of physical play; the Liberty got a few generous calls. Things even out. How the Liberty won with 20 turnovers, the world may never know.

At least Spoon's back to one hairstyle at a time, but the shirt needs at least an ironing, and possibly to be in a slightly smaller size. I swear, that woman knows how to work a room, and it doesn't matter the size of the room.

I honestly don't know if we'll extend this… not quite a streak on accounta CT, but trend of not losing most of our games… on Saturday. Obviously, they better if they don't want a riot in the stands, but I'm worried about our starters. Unless the reason Becky didn't play was that Patty was saving her for Saturday and Chicago…

The visors are very nice. And free! Free is good. Plus, I found spare roster sheets by one of the towers for the first time in ages, so yay.

Liked Becky's outfit, couldn't see much of Schuey's; I'll cut Schuey's hair some slack tonight because of the humidity, because I know my hair goes floomp in weather like this.