August 6th, 2005: Seattle at New York

New York Liberty 79, Seattle Storm 67

Do not go on a fast break with the game well in hand, Cathrine Kraayeveld is so new her name is getting misspelled, and there are some seriously WTF coaching moves.


I am a Liberty fan. I am a fan of Storm fans, and this has given me some interest in the Storm. But first and foremost, I am a basketball fan. I call them as I see them. If you feel this report to be flameworthy, go right ahead.

This was a great game, marred by a couple of overly physical sequences, some boneheaded coaching moves, and a lay-up that will get its own paragraph. Finally, an uncursed TV game. I think Satan just ordered ice skates.

Card collectors, thank me. I saved an innocent Bird/LJ jersey card from having some girl try to get it signed. Combine that with the Brunson Gold Medallion I saved earlier this season, and I'm on a roll.

Sue Bird has one of the most fundamentally beautiful jump shots I've ever seen in the game, and since I have a soft spot for fundamentals (not to be confused with fundamentalists, because ew), I like watching her shoot. Her 10 assists also proved that she sees the floor well. She got a little friendly on defense, but got told off in no uncertain terms a couple of times as well. LJ was on fire. I couldn't help but wonder if the Liberty's defensive plan was to let LJ get hers and make sure no one else got theirs. But she got almost no time out, and I wonder if that affected her offense- she was settling for long jumpers. Granted, she was hitting them, but it's still not a good habit to get into. Izi was hot early in the game, when the defense would sag off her, but they didn't seem to take advantage of that later on. No, I don't get it either. Tanisha Wright- you have no idea how much my bad pun generator wants to call her Tan Wright- drove effectively, but didn't really make me notice anything else about her. Janell Burse has quite the set of elbows on her- she got Ann but good across the face, the kind of shot that makes you wince in sympathy. She's a toughie. It burns my blood to think that we could have had her if Richie and Blaze hadn't felt the burning need to add Andrea Nagy to their roster. There was one foul on her, either the fourth or the fifth, that was a verrrrry questionable block/charge, and I personally would have called it on Ann. But we'll get back to that later. Batgirl, beside having one of my favorite nicknames in the league, impressed me, although she needs to work up her stamina- might have helped out down the stretch when Burse was in deep foul trouble. "The Great Barrier Reef" is a very apropos nickname for the Batgirl-LJ front line. Zara didn't show me much. Chelle Thompson (officially known as Alicia) whistled a couple of long shots- a long two and a three, I think. Simone had to come in when Batgirl was tired and Burse had five; she picked up a couple of boards, and I suspect a couple of pieces of gossip from Crystal, as well. For reasons unknown to me, Vodopyanova (sp?) was a DNP-CD. I dunno. If I were AD, I might have played her in some scrambled lineups once I knew I didn't have B-Money and Janell was out for a long stretch. But then, Anne Donovan made some very questionable and confusing moves, bringing Burse back about four minutes too early with five fouls; there was also that timeout she took that she should have saved for later, and the decision to leave Burse in the game when intentional fouling was called for. (That's Glenn's contribution. I felt that AD didn't care if Burse fouled out, because she had Batgirl on the bench.) I got the sense that the offense gets a little scrambled when a major cog is out.

On to the Liberty. Elena. Yay, Elena! One rebound from a double-double, and she was the initiator of a gorgeous touch-passing sequence, Elena to Ann to Shameka for three in less time than it took me to type that clause. Ann got the assist on the play, but if this were hockey or soccer, Elena would have been credited as well. Ann was a little off her rebounding pace, but she put up the points with moves in the lane that were probably driving Janell up the wall. Those two were really going at it hammer and tongs. VJ's offense is still MIA, but she was an efficient litle distributor, racking up 8 assists. At least that's the number I remember. If it was 9, then I may have another issue with her. Crystal was quiet, but she had a couple of big defensive assignments, including LJ at some points. Shameka was very solid, but damn, that off-balance jump shot is going to give someone a heart attacksome day. Not that I don't mind when it goes in, but, y'kow, fundamentals. Those spread feet are gonna get her in trouble some day. There were some interesting moments in the game where she and Burse were on each other. Tres strange. I'm glad to see her coming into her own. Loree had jitters, or something. Is she aware that there's a campaign among fans in the stands to get her more minutes? Damn, first she's gotta deserve them. Ditto for La'Keshia. Cute Loree moment: someone makes a great play, and she hops up to high-five the bench. She high-fives Catherine, comes to VJ, turns right back around, and goes back to her seat. Catherine actually looked really good out there, doing her best Elena impression. At least the Oregon fans have something to be happy about. Erin was a DNP-CD, as was DeTrina. I wouldn't want to be in D-Train's shoes right now, between the lack of playing time and the death of her college coach. Patty had a couple of brain farts- calling a timeout when you're up eleven and your opposition's best player needs a break is NOT smart. Nor is running four subs out there with Crystal.

Unfortunately, beautiful as this game was, there were some mments of utter classlessness on both sides that made me go grrr. During the anthem... well, I'll admit that I might not have had the best view, but it sure looked like the Aussies were having themselves a little conversation. Look, I wouldn't yak through "Advance Australia Fair", you do not get the right to yak through the "Star-Spangled Banner", especially when it was actually a lovely choral group of Sweet Adelines. There was the whole thing with Janell and Ann, and I saw how close it came to coming to blows. And then there was the lay-up.

If you recall from last game, I castigated Lindsay Whalen for going on a fastbreak when the game was well in hand. Becky pulled the same stunt tonight, and I find it just as classless and tacky as it was when my team was on the receiving end of the taunt. This may have even been more extreme, because in the earlier timeout,we saw Becky with the clipboard and her teammates' rapt attention while the coaching staff went over yonder. When it comes to my team, I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt; I'd rather believe that she was drawing up a defensive play or discussing the lines for tomorrow's baseball games, but it's far more likely that she was diagramming that fastbreak play. Anyone who was closer to the action is welcome to correct me, but as far as I know, she was planning to rub salt in the wound. I'm going to be even more brutally honest here: I don't think she had the metaphorical balls to pull that kind of stunt if she knew they would have to play in Seattle. That is not cool.

*deep breath* For the first time in my life as a sports fan, I have this to say: the refs were actually tilted in favor of New York. There were a couple of questionable calls that went the Liberty's way, as I mentioned when talking about Burse, and there were several violations that went unreported, such as Becky pushing off on Sue Bird on a play. Not that the refs did much in this game, and not that there weren't confusing calls and non-calls in Seattle's favor, but overall, it was in favor of the Liberty.

Overall, I had a blast. Okay, so it probably wouldn't have been the same if Lennox had been available, or if Anne Donovan hadn't left her brain in her other purse, but still. LJ was on, and Birdy was on, and the Liberty still pulled out the win. Huzzah!