July 31st, 2007: Los Angeles at New York

Los Angeles Sparks 73, New York Liberty 63

Shay Doron is well dressed, Martina Weber's mom is really cool, the Los Angeles Sparks are unimpressive, and the New York Liberty don't really like post players, huh?


How much more of this are we going to take? In how many more games are we going to cough up a lead because the team can't adjust to the adjustments made against them? How much longer will bad playcalling combine with bad execution to take us down the same path we've been bitching about since after All-Star?

Sparks have a tendency to leave in a mob, much to my annoyance. Is it just me or are more and more teams doing that? Seriously, this isn't the NBA. We don't bite, not even Sparks. Did get the players I needed, though, plus a surprise visit from Carla McGhee (guess she was checking up on Fernández and Spencer).

Beautiful soprano anthem tonight. Very high, but she didn't botch it, nor did she screw up the lyrics. Unfortunately, I no longer consider a good anthem to be a good omen, nor a bad anthem to be a bad one. Still, at least it was a highlight of the night.

Here's one of the things that drives me crazy about the game in retrospect: none of the Sparks were particularly brilliant. It's no like the Connecticut game, where Katie Douglas found an All-WNBA gear and torched us with it. Yes, Temeka Johnson is surprisingly effective for such a small guard, and she drove Loree to distraction all night. Yes, Mwadi Mabika picked up right where Tamecka Dixon left off when it comes to washed up Spark-types deciding that they're going to party like it's 1999. And yes, Taj did put up a very quiet and efficient double-double. All of that said, no Spark really stood out to me, except that I wonder now whether SFO regrets making the deal to keep Tillis away from the Sparks; Christi Thomas seems to have worked out pretty well as a consolation prize, and what's Tillis turned out to be in the pros? Thomas is fierce, and I think I'd like her a lot better if she weren't a Spark and thus contaminated by the Dark Side of the Force. Fernández has some very good moves, and a disturbingly rabid fan base; we were seated in front of two sections of Spaniards who were hooting and hollering the moment she did anything, and I do mean anything. (It took us until the second quarter to figure out that they were actually cheering for LA for a reason, and not because they were drunken idiots.) LA in general seems to be as scrappy and sloppy a mess as we are, except in this case it's more the personnel than it is the coach- we are talking about the team that has continued Kiesha Brown's WNBA employment here. Yes, Spencer is coming along nicely as more than a three-point specialist, learning how to use the size she has to her advantage, and Fernández has been a nice surprise for htem, but I think the difference between that relatively young team and the relatively young team in white was the coaching staff.

Clearly someone started yelling at Cathrine to get into the paint, because she was actually making inside moves and playing interior defense. To be fair, she did at least try that as well against Connecticut, and I'm just worried that the bad luck she's had when it comes to shots going in is going to sour her on driving, especially when she can and does hit threes. Janel was Janel, fierce and tough and occasionally called for BS fouls. Loree filled the stat sheet admirably, but Temeka Johnson frazzled her to her wit's end, and that's not a quality I like to see in my starting point guard. Erin got burned on defense, and her open shots weren't falling. Not to mention that That Moron seems to have decided that any miscommunication on a pass into the paint is her fault, no matter how good the pass was or how little attention the intended recipient was actually paying. Way to lead, Patty. Shameka, again, was wild. Maybe she needs to lose the blonde streaks; maybe the color is affecting her brain. Ashley needs to work on her shot selection- her defense will keep her employed unless she starts giving up more opportunities with her misses than she takes away from the other team by forcing their misses. Tiffany couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, which is something she'll have to work on with whoever does the post coaching on this team. (Oh. Right. Our post coach whiz ran like hell for the college ranks and the raw potential of Kia Vaughn.) Jess got beat pretty bad, not gonna lie. Lisa had her one shining minute in which she attempted to prove that Los Angeles should not have traded her, but then she went cold and, as one of my seatmates for the evening remarked, "That's your playing time for the year." For reasons beyond my mere mortal comprehension, Barbara was a DNP-CD, and I think she would have come in very handy to try and get a stop or, I don't know, a rebound, since no one could rebound except for Janel and Loree, and it's hard to rebound when you're going one or two on five, ya know? And we actually got to see Martina play! Her family's been in town for the last few days, and in honor of the occasion Patty activated her on the off chance that ther emight be a reason to put her in. I guess das Weber were heading home before the next home game, since there was no logical reason for Patty to put Martina in, but the way this season is going, the sweet, sentimental moments are the ones to look forward to. She missed her shot- and it was clear that her teammates were trying to feed her on that initial play so that she could ge ther first points- but she got a rebound, helping fight for possession alongside Erin on a Los Angeles miss. Damn, she's a big girl. But we don't like them, right? 'cause if we did there would actually be a consistent and logical post rotation.

Shay looked like she had gone to a job interview before the game- she was wearing a very sharp suit, although the shell under her jacket was a smidge too long for the jacket. This would have been funnier if it had been before the Minnesota game instead, since there's a job fair going on before. Don't give up on your dreams so quickly, Shay! There's still time to find a coach who will at least give you a fair shake on the court! (Lindsay's outfit was average, but since New Yorkers don't get to see Shay in street clothes that often, and it was a nice suit, I felt it worthy of mention.)

During shootaround, Martina was staring up into the seats as if looking for someone, and we finally realized that she was saying hi to her mom. Alison, she of the boas and the funky dance to the rally song, happened to have a spare seat since her seatmate couldn't make the game, and she invited Mama Weber to sit with her for the game. (If you are not familiar with the fan I reference, she sits right near the Liberty bench; until they extended the side ad things, she actually did sit behind the bench. I garnered quite an appreciation for shoulders when she let me sit with her a couple of times.) According to Ali, Mama Weber knows basketball and is clearly the source of Martina's personality.

Fortunately, I wasn't in my normal seat for that game, because the section where I usually sit was where the crazy Spaniards were. Well, most of the crazy Spaniards; there were also a couple of guys with a flag who were further around the arena, which made the call and response that they all engaged in even more obnoxious and annoying. Apparently this has been a recent trend, as there were a bunch of Maltsi fans there for the Connecticut game. There aren't any foreign types on Detroit, right? We don't have to worry about tourists with giant flags chanting in strange languages? Okay, then.

With the perspective of another game having taken place between the start of these notes and the end of them, it's hard to be as bitter about this unnecessary loss as I should be. In the end, I still love this team, and I'll never give up on these players. I just wish I didn't seem to be in the minority.