July 20th, 2007: Houston at New York

Houston Comets 80, New York Liberty 74

Murphy's Law bitch-slaps the New York Liberty, but at least the Garden is shiny.


I should have realized from the git-go that this was going to be a game of missed communication, bad positioning, and utter incompetence shown on the floor. The boy and I finally got our season seats straightened out… after running back and forth between will call and season subscriptions… only to find that they'd moved us without our consent. We're now in 221, and the people there are really cool, so we think we won't kick up a fuss about the whole thing. Of course, we're still waiting for our Q&A passes…

And then there was shootaround. We scored primo spots. I was in the front row, right on the rail, he was second row, second position. Very nice. Right up until the cameraman planted himself in front of us while all the Comets ran by. I got nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not amused.

So, Houston. A few questions for you guys. Who went back in time and borrowed pre-Dylan TT? Why again were y'all kvetching about Tamecka Dixon's return? And when did Tante Maïga-Ba learn how to shoot long jumpers? Cuz those three questions have been bothering me all night. TT looked unbelievable- I don't think she's been this fast in years. Her shot was on, she was working hard in the paint, she was moving well- she looked better than I can recall her seeing in a very long time. I couldn't stop going WOW. And Dixon! Someone needs to tell her that she's old and busted up, because her jump shot was as smooth as it was when she was an All-Star and a Spark. Meanwhile, here's Tante hitting shots and making Erin's life a living hell. Not to mention the rebounding edge. The way Grant moves, and the number she's wearing, she makes me think of Dawn Staley in her last couple of years. She's too slight to last in this league- she'll wear down, wear out, get knocked over- but she'll eventually do well for herself overseas, and I wish her all the best no matter what she does. Smith also impressed me; even though she's another small player who will most likely not have a long career, she's got a good eye for the ball, and I'd be willing to bet that on replay, a lot of the steals that were credited to other players were started by her quick hands. Lyttle's pretty quick for a post, and that was part of the problem for the Liberty… but more on that later. Snow didn't impress me, although if she keeps up with the hitting and the facemasking, she could try out for the Texans. I was surprised at how little time Shields got- she does have a pretty shot, although I'll grant that anyone's shot is going to look better with Erin as their defender. But honestly, if Karleen's going to give Lyttle so few minutes, why bother starting her? Go with the lineup you want go with and admit that's the lineup you want to go with. It's not going to trick anyone. At this point, if I were coaching the Comets, I might pull a Kara Braxton on Snow to help get her head back together; Lyttle and Williams are certainly both competent enough, and I'd rather have Snow get herself together and be solid for ten years than go for one playoff berth.

Okay, Libkids, I think we've all forgotten a few basic things. That's Erin. She does a few other things, but she's mostly a shooter. Perhaps it might behoove y'all to give her the ball a bit more often. What's that? She's got a bigger, stronger, faster defensive specialist on her? Okay, fair enough. See that other player over there? That's Shameka. She's pretty good at making offensive things happen. Perhaps you might consider giving her the ball, especially during those times when she has a smaller defender on her? If nothing else, so Maïga-Ba can be drawn off Erin and Erin can hit the now open shot? That might be a good start to giving Cathrine some help. This isn't a one-woman show, and this isn't a one-woman game. Because Cathrine was hot, especially in the first half but also in the fourth quarter, but no one else was even in double figures. (For the longest time, I thought Cathrine had brain-swapped with Seimone Augustus; 31/2/1/2/1 looks an awful lot more like a statline #33 from the Lynx might put up than #33 from the Liberty.) Now, I do blame part of it on That Moron's playcalling, but there's also the fact that Loree wasn't getting the ball to the right people (namely, the ones in the white uniforms). It also didn't help that a couple of people weren't taking proper advantage of their touches. (Janel, I'm looking at you.) In any case, it was the kind of game that we got all too used to in 2006 and the kind of game that I thought the Libkids wouldn't be playing: one player goes off, and everyone stands around and watches her do her thing. Getting burned like a duck for a wedding on defense was also not good, and the worst offender (defender?) in this was Erin, who got flat-out beat a couple of times by Smith and Shields.

Last night's secret word was inexplicable, as in "why did that coach just make that substitution?", or more often, "why did that coach NOT make that substitution?" I'm used to Houston coaches overusing and overplaying Thompson, but I would have given a lot of Snow's minutes to Lyttle and Williams (or at least to Williams, who seems to be Janel's kryptonite- maybe she was playing closer attention in high school than Janel was?) It's hard to argue with Dixon's minutes, but I'm sure that there were a couple of minutes that could have been given to Shields- perhaps the minutes that Hodges got, because Hodges did very little out there. On the Liberty's side, however… right, so, in the third and fourth we needed points and Loree had picked up that obnoxious habit of throwing the ball to the other team. Gee, who do we have on the bench who brings instant long-ball offense and allows that night's steadier ballhandler to take over point guard duties? Oh, that's right, Lisa Willis, who was a DNP-CD. Or Lindsey Bowen, who was deactivated because of what seems to be a PR decision on Blaze's part. Who's our best post defender, especially when Cathrine's channeling Seimone? Oh, that's right, Barbara Farris, who only got four and a half minutes. If we're going to do something stupid like run with Houston, who's our fastest, most athletic post? Oh, that's right, Tiffany Jackson, who got more rebounds in nine minutes than Cathrine got in 35, and who sparked one of the key runs that kept the Liberty in the game. Brilliant move by That Moron, running our starters into the ground when we've got Seattle on Sunday. I'm not going into the whole 118 seconds that Jess got, because she didn't earn much more in them (but, on the other hand, exactly how much did Loree learn from her quick hooks as a rookie?).

Also, strategy. Snow and Lyttle are athletic and reasonably fast for posts. The Warrior Princess also seems to have regained some of the speed she lost over eleven years. Their main guards are small and fast, except for Dixon. Therefore, it seems to me that this would be a bad team to try and run against, especially if you think or know that you have the talent to impose your will on this team. Our posts are… not reasonably fast for posts. Erin would lose a footrace with either Grant or Smith, and it might be close with Dixon. And Loree does know how to run a halfcourt offense. Therefore, it seems to me that the best thing to do would be to slow the game down, let Cathrine and Janel body up on Snow and Lyttle, exploit the odd matchup of Thompson on Shameka, and not get caught up on being young and fast for the first time in ages. Furthermore, if you're going to play the Comets' game, at least do it with the proper personnel. Use more of Tiffany and Barbara and force the Comets to stop and think. One size does not fit all, and it's important for a coach to know that and adjust his or her plans.

Don't get me started on the refs. Just don't. By the end of the game we were talking hanging, drawing, and quartering, and the boy suggested reenacting a scene that involved taxicabs as the quarterers. A straightforward out-of-bounds call turned into a jump at center court. Hands to the face by an offensive player turned into a foul on the defense. Pushouts turned into turnovers. It was inconsistently called, it was badly called, it was wrongly called. Both sides got benefits on various calls (it was the acting job by Erin that forced the jump at center), but the plays that the Comets got away with were a lot more dangerous than any of the errors in the Liberty's favor. It goes back to a point that was made in one of the Seattle-Connecticut threads- if you "let them play" in this league, someone's going to end up getting hurt and ending her career in a play that should have been curbed. It also goes back to the point that even if you're going to blow as much as an Eighth Avenue hooker, at least be consistent about it. No one likes an inconsistent blowjob. If you're going to miss the call on one end, miss it on the other.

Even the sound system couldn't get things right. Loree hit a shot and suddenly we heard "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".

It was nice to see Spoon, of course, though if she wasn't sending Kym or someone else the score she should have gotten off the Sidekick during the game, but that's just my opinion on handheld devices at games in general. It was also *very* nice to see Suuuuuuuuuuuuuue and her carefully choreographed shoutout to R Family. That's probably why the camera cut away from her so quickly- they were afraid pride was going to break out, and we can't have *that* at a Liberty game, now can we?

The Wayne's World video with Ashley, Janel, Cathrine, and Barb was the highlight of the night. Half the huddle was watching it during the timeout… while That Moron was talking. I guess she didn't have anything to say that they hadn't heard before. Janel looked oddly comfortable in a long blond wig.

Oh, and the new boards are really, really shiny. I approve.