July 30th, 2006: Minnesota at New York

New York Liberty 78, Minnesota Lynx 69

The Lynx cubs are awesome and Bryan Enterline is a hazard to basketball.


Riddle me this: why should the win against Minnesota feel less satisfying than the loss to Connecticut? I don't get why my brain was happier with the Connecticut game. Unless my subconscious is rooting for the team to drop the table, there's no good reason for it.

I will never speak ill of the Lynx again, and y'all can hold me to that. Classiest bunch of players. Before the game, every single player on the active roster came off the court from shootaround and signed for pretty much everyone who asked. Many, many thanks to all of them for stopping for a bunch of Liberty fans. (I hope those little Lynx fans who were wandering around also got their share, because they were cute and came from Massachusetts for their team, and that's cool.)

Seimone is as amazing as advertised. Near the end of the second quarter and for a stretch of the third, she looked like she was gunning for Katie Smith's record. She was, for that stretch, unstoppable- she had a couple of hook shots, including one that Kareem himself would have been proud of. Not bad for a six-foot 2/3. Megan Duffy also impressed me- she's got good poise for a rookie; if it weren't for the fact that she and Jacobs pretty much go 20/20 on the minutes, I'd say she should start. She hit back-to-back threes that had us screaming for someone (someone being Loree) to cover her. As for Vanessa Hayden, if she could get in condition, she'd be a force, especially when Ohlde is playing as timidly as she did today. As it was, she changed the dynamic of the game when she was in, and perhaps if it weren't for bad conditioning and some questionable calls, we'd be talking about this game in a different light. The rest of the Lynx didn't impress me all that much, although you'd think people would have learned to box out Tamika Williams on big plays- that's what she lives for, the key rebound (and some old time rock'n'roll, but that's neither here nor there). I like that Jenkins goes deep into her bench- was that McConnell-Serio's policy as well? It's nice to see a coach trying to use her players' strengths, even if she doesn't have the strongest team.

Even though it probably isn't her season high in anything, I think this was Shameka's best game. She went inside and got herself fouled; she took good outside shots; she played solid defense- four blocks, one of them absolutely stupendous; she rebounded; she passed. It was beautiful to see. It was the kind of performance I've been waiting for from her for a long time; I think it's the kind of performance a lot of people think she can put up every night. It was also nice to see Barbara scoring, although I'd wager that between turnovers and lackadaisical defense, she gave up almost as many as she scored. Still, I was glad to see her doing what we actually pried her away from Detroit to do. And watching Loree rebound always does my heart good, and today was no exception, especially when she was going up against Amber Jacobs, who seems to enjoy rebounding as much as Loree does. I was not impressed with Sherill's passing eye, although she's gotten better; I still think she takes too many ill-advised shots that have the good fortune to go in. The ones who really disappointed me on offense today were Cathrine and Erin. At least Cathrine rebounded (and set a Screen of Death! Woo-hoo for the Screen of Death, even if they called it an offensive foul, which it totally wasn't, but we'll get to that later). Erin just… I think she took too much to heart her role as a second-string player, even though she and Sherill play very similar minutes. She made one boneheaded pass to cause a shot clock violation that had me muttering "Stupid, stupid, stupid…" well into the resultant Minnesota possession. Also, how in the hell did Iciss get four turnovers in her eight minutes? How did she even get the ball that often!? And someone really needs to remind Ashley that she's hired to rebound and defend, not so much with the shooting, so if she'd kindly not hoist more shots than the more offensive-minded members of our bench, that would be nice.

I think one of the reasons I was so disappointed with this game was the refereeing. Bryan Enterline is bad for the league. There were some awful, awful calls. The block on Tamika Williams should have been a charge on Shameka Christon; the offensive foul on Cathrine Kraayeveld was NOT a moving screen. There was far too much harmful physical play: Shameka and Tamika's head-to-head collision near the end of the game while Williams was going for the ball, Barbara's pile-on tackle against Hayden, Ashley's falls, the scrum that led to a Minnesota shot clock violation, Mann's flagrant on Barbara… if I were Carolyn Jenkins, I would send a tape of this game to the director of officiating and to the Prima Donna, and if I were either Tamika Williams or Megan Duffy, I would actually take Enterline up with the players' union, because by losing control of the game, he creates a dangerous physical environment, even more than is to be expected on a basketball court. One of his games, someone's going to be carried off the court on a stretcher, and that's not gonna be pretty.

Also, I was very disappointed in the Liberty. After the game, I went around to the employees' entrance, where players used to come out on a regular basis. I don't know how long we stayed, but we left at ten to seven, and while we didn't see anyone exit through that door, we saw Becky and Christelle make a turn to use a different exit. Now, if someone who was hanging out up front tells me he or she saw the team leave that way, I'll let them slide, but if they've all taken to using the secret exit in order to avoid the fans, that's not cool. We don't bite, honest, not unless we're asked to. Especially not after a win! If anything, we'd want to congratulate them. They're our team, come hell or high water. When contrasted with the Lynx's behavior as a road team, the Liberty don't come out well at all. Maybe that's why I walked away feeling unfulfilled, feeling like the team that deserved to win wasn't the team that did.