June 18th, 2005: Phoenix at New York

New York Liberty 65, Phoenix Mercury 54

The Game Notes would like for screaming fangirls to find a new idol, recognize the talent of Plenette Pierson, and have a run-in with rosemary.


Let me preface my remarks by saying that I rather like Diana Taurasi. I don't have a problem with her attitude or the way she plays. She brings back fond memories of the early years of the league, when everything felt spangly new and shiiiiiny. I wish her nothing but the absolute best, unless she and the Mercury come up against the Liberty in the Finals one of these years.

Having said that, I devoutly wish her term as the Next Big Thing would come to an end already. It's really quite frustrating to walk into an arena full of a visiting player's jersey, or to be helplessly surrounded by her acolytes when I'm trying to 'graph collect from Anna DeForge or Kamila Vodichkova. The Merc, at least at the Garden, have a very sneaky trick of drafting behind Diana as they leave the court- everyone latches on to Diana, and therefore no one can get through to go for her teammates. When you're someone who isn't interested in the Diana all that much, it's the kind of thing that can put you in a bad mood.

Bad anthem. No cookie.

But on to the game. Most of you will have seen it. So y'all know that VJ joined the 3000 Club. Yaaaaaay, VJ! Quiet game for her, but the 14 points were enough to put her over the top, so that made it her day all by itself. No one really stood out tonight the way they have other games. Becky continues to show that maybe she can be a point guard after all. I'm slowly starting to believe that it's a viable possibility. Bear with me. I change my mind slowly, and I reserve the right to point and shriek "I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" if she starts backsliding. I *would* like to see her and Tamara on the floor at the same time, just to make sure that Becky can keep her two-guard skills sharp. Crystal, being rather busy on the defensive end, didn't have time for much offense, but she put in a couple of rather nice shots. Ann was solid on the boards and great in the paint. Would whoever's voting for Ruth Riley out there please watch some games? If this keeps up, either Annie or Margo Dydek is going to get shafted, and that's a bad thing. Elena's game seems to have arrived on American shores; the shots that were hitting the rim and falling out before are hitting the rim and falling in this time, and that's good. As for everyone else... if I say what I thought of Shameka today, I'll be tarred and feathered on Tuesday, and I really don't like that- takes forever to get the tar out of my hair, you understand. At least La'Keshia's alive. That's always good.

Patty, give Blaze back the crack pipe. Please. Playing the Crystal-at-the-two lineup works about as well as the Shameka-at-the-four lineup. Neither of them make any sense to a sober person. The substitution patterns today bore as much resemblence to sanity as a Rorschach blob. Seriously. In, out, hot hand benched, mistakes rewarded- I swear, I was watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers whenever I looked at Patty on the bench. Is there a pool on when she'll be forced out? Can I put an entry in for when Marianne Stanley pulls out a samurai sword and goes Kill Bill on her ass?

Too many Liberty defenders were buying the hype. That's the only reason I can think of for people making the unconscionable mistake of leaving Penny Taylor open. I don't care if it means you have to single-cover Taurasi, you make DAMN sure you have someone on Taylor and someone on DeForge. I don't care if either of them is 0-skaty-eight, you do NOT leave them uncovered. You may switch your weakest permiter defender on whichever one of the trio is having a bad night, but you don't double down on one of them unless you're a post player coming in to help. Taylor burned us too many times, and DeForge burned us too many times. Of course, Taurasi got her own back; this wasn't the icky performance she put on last year. She's getting used to the place. As a Liberty fan, I'm thinking that's not of the good. Vodichkova was tough inside. Plenette Pierson impressed me. Keep that one, Phoenix. Keep that one. Shereka Wright also looked good- if I were Carrie Graf, I'd play her more often and let one of the Trio rest for reasons other than foul trouble. (I'd also be Aussie, and that would be very cool, but that's apropos of absolutely nothing.) The bench players function very well as a unit, which would make sense, since they'd be used to working with each other.

Refereeing: June Courteau. 'Nuff said.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuue sighting, yay! She was sitting with someone who Glenn thought looked suspiciously like one of the Scarlet Knights (either Locke or Adams). Bethany was also in the building. Both of them were quite well put together. I miss the days when the Liberty had players with fashion sense. Someone was able to tell VJ that pink was a no-go. No one does that sort of thing anymore, leading to the increased sightings of pink. They made a point of showing us Allan Houston and his adorable daughter. Cute kid, not so cute daddy. But at least he cares for one game.

If you were the guy in 226 wearing the Mets gear and booing Taurasi, hit me up. Don't worry, I won't tar and feather you.

Went to the Play By Play after the game, upon the twins' request. I didn't know they'd put in arcade games! They had an NBA pinball machine. I was in seventh heaven. I am now the proud holder of the Knicks high score. Boo-yah. Don't order anything on their foccacia. I nearly choked to death on a stray piece of rosemary, and that would have blown chunks.

Dads and Daughters is a cute promotional thing. I'd like the season to extend slightly towards Mother's Day so we can see a Moms and Daughters thing, because you might get more meaningful stories. When you have to go to Erin, Shameka, and La'Keshia for the balance of the team's heartwarming stories, you might have to get a new schtick, Becky aside. But the games? The timeout activities needed to go away as soon as was humanly possible.