June 21st, 2005: San Antonio at New York

New York Liberty 77, San Antonio Silver Stars 59

The Liberty celebrate their eighth birthday in style and start to show flashes of brilliance.


Ah, now that's more like it. For a change, the Liberty smacked around a team that they were supposed to smack around. They didn't play down to the other team's level, which is always a good thing. This is just what they needed to get their arses in gear.

It always helps to have a good anthem- barbershop women's group style.

Congrats to Ann for tying her career high. She held her own against Chantelle Anderson, not so much against Feenstra, but then, there are linebackers who would have to yield ground to Katie Feenstra. Elena didn't score much- shots fell short, and that's not a good omen- but 10 rebounds make me verra verra happy. Ann needs to lay off the hook shots, though. Try them out against less impressive post players. Becky continued on that lovely trend of playing the point to a tee. I'm starting to be less afraid when she drives the lane, although I still cringe. Her passes amaze me. I still think we sacrifice too much offense when she's not a shooting guard, especially since Crystal has been in such a slump, but if we keep winning, I can't say very much. VJ was actually kind of quiet tonight, but we didn't need her to heat it up. She did her Miss Intangible trick. Is Crystal okay? The boy spotted her being taken care of by the trainer, and that would certainly explain why she hasn't been herself. Shameka decided that today was a good day to live up to the Baby Swoopes moniker in the second half- she went on a scoring burst with acrobatic moves and nifty tricks. She also racked up a few rebounds, which I like out of a six-one forward. La'Keshia started finding her stroke, although I'd much rather have my post player finding her stroke from the paint than from the elbow and the midrange, you know? Tamara actually got to shoot the ball! I thought a miracle had occurred; I also like the way she runs the team, although I'd like to see more of her and Becky at the same time. We even had Erin and Amisha sightings- Erin notched an assist to La'Keshia, while Amisha had a foul and a TO. DeTrina was back to battling, and she got to the line four times, scoring thrice. The plays being called and the substitutions being made caused me to wonder if one of the other Coyle sisters had socked Patty over the head and taken her suit before the game. Why, yes, I do have a vivid imagination.

Marie looked like herself. She's one of the few determined drivers in this league, and she used that effectively to make sure she could get her outside shot off. Pee-Wee didn't look all that great, although she had a rather... interesting tackle on Becky during a jump ball situation- except the ball was already well away. *laughs* You know a team's bad off when Dalma Ivanyi, a journeywoman point guard by trade, is starting at small forward. She actually presented herself well, both as a playmaker and an outside shooter. It's nice to see her making her mark. Wendy Palmer-Daniel is rebounding like there's no tomorrow- ah, if only San Antonio's two forward slots on the ballot weren't taken by two gimps, she might get some well-deserved votes. She's been amazing in the two games I've seen her (remember that I went up to Mohegan to see the Sun and the SASS). Today was Chantelle's day to be effective- she's got a lovely touch, which would make sense for one of the best shooters in recent NCAA times. But when Feenstra comes in, it's a complete change of pace, because Chantelle's one of those long, skinnyish posts, while Feenstra's big and solid. She sucked tonight, though, and that makes my heart skip a beat with joy. (What can I say? Talking about God gets my hackles up. You wanna be a devout Christian, fine, but I don't want to hear about it. I realize that it's not a particularly rational reason to dislike a player, but I am not a creature of logic.) Meanwhile, back on the bench, Nikki McCray is really at the end of her string- she just comes in now as a defensive sub, and even not that often. A slightly lesser ditto to Edna Campbell, although Edna still seems to have a bit left in the tank. Not much, though. Shyra Ely came, she saw, and she went back to the bench. Not exactly a lot of run for Ely. Dan Hughes, while he substituted freely, used a tight rotation.

No particularly heinous refs, just general badness. The usual array of ticky-tack calls while wrestling matches went on uninterrupted. Consistency was once again missing. The Liberty got the benefit of the doubt on some out of bounds calls, but got called for more phantom fouls, so the idiocy evened out. We did have the guy who can't toss the ball. Yes, pilight, I know that that doesn't narrow things down very much.

Favorite moments of the game: Becky's gorgeous pass to La'Keshia that La'Keshia proceeded to botch up finishing twice. Erin on defense- her hoops IQ impresses me whenever I see her. Elena blocking folks. Sista Christon fouling Feenstra- that just tickles my bad pun center. Seeing the team not fuck up. I like that.

Small crowd, but a good one. It was fun hanging out with the boy and one of my other buddies during the game- I love being able to talk to people about the game instead of watching dancers. And, hey, return of Liberty Ad-Libs, which always garner a chuckle out of folks. Sent the twins off in style- WNBATalkers, if you saw a pair of virtually identical brunettes with press passes, those would be them.

On to Charlotte, where hopefully the Liberty can keep up doing what they're supposed to do so that Erin and Amisha won't have time to count every single fan in the stands while they wait for their minute.

Happy 8th Birthday, Liberty! Nice to know it went as well as the first one.