June 2nd, 2007: Phoenix at Connecticut

Connecticut Sun 76, Phoenix Mercury 67

Now that's more like it, Sun. Katie Douglas fights free of the Pod People that held her captive and the Phoenix Mercury… actually kinda suck.


The game notes of doom, having a friend who was going to be at this game, and knowing that la madre would be doing what she could for WNBA ratings back at home, decided to once again hop on a casino bus (gambling and winning on standby both ways) and visit the Land of the Shooting Sun. Good decision, methinks.

If anyone was looking for me, I bought a lower bowl ticket off an STH. I was directly behind the basket on the Sun's bench side. You might well have seen a random Liberty logo in the crowd when free throws were being shot- that was me, the raven among the orioles and robins. Place was crazy full- only the high corners were empty. Good thing I didn't go through the box office!

Seriously, someone at the Day needs to be kissed. I *love* these inserts they give out at the Sun games- that's the second year in a row they've had a special section given out. It would have given me something to read on the bus if I weren't distracted by making up my own plot for the Chinese soap opera playing out on the television.

The pennant is very nice, and if some poor Sun fan who couldn't make the game wants a slightly bent one, please let me know, as I acquired a spare on my way out. Also, I'm glad Connecticut seems to be sorting out its issues with roster cards, because that was a hot mess.

I saw a young lady getting bballfan's Phoenix wallpaper signed, or at least trying. Phoenix was not exactly cooperative before the game. I was very disappointed in what I wanted, but hey, at least I have tomorrow. Today. Whatever.

Not impressed with the anthem singer, or at least not as impressed with him as he was with himself. Some of those notes had to have hurt, being held for so long. That's just not a nice thing to do to a perfectly innocent note.

Also, the new announcer? Still working my nerves. He's trying too hard in most aspects of the game and not enough in the simple, basic announcing of the game. Let the Sun fans figure out when it's time to make noise. If they're as savvy as Connecticut fans have always claimed to be, they'll know when they're needed. I happen to think it cheapens the experience if most of the ruckus is coming from the speakers and not from the fans. (Not that the fans didn't make a whole heck of a lot of ruckus at some points, au contraire.)

Phoenix. Oh, God, Connecticut, you couldn't at least have made them challenge you? Now that all three of their Big Three were stopped, all three of them are going to take it out on the Liberty and I might as well take Cappie and Diana for my two Pick One entries tomorrow. Seriously, though, I was completely boggled. You have Taurasi, Pondexter, Taylor, and even Miller on the same team… and you decide that Tangela Smith is going to be your first option? It's not like she's such a great advantage in the post- Willingham moved her and de Souza went toe-to-toe with her. Yes, she led the Mercury in scoring. She also went 8-21 from the field, and about half those makes were in one streak in the second half. She couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the first half, and yet she just.kept.shooting. I think Taurasi was trying to force too much, and when things didn't go down, she got frustrated- the Mahoney throwdown, the T, the look on her face like she was trying to remember why she didn't just play soccer in the first place. Douglas did a magnificent job on her. Whalen had less luck with Cappie, but Cappie had less luck with the basketball- again, for different reasons, I think she was trying to force the issue. I know Taylor was reasonably well covered, but she still should have gotten more touches. What really amazed me, and perhaps 'tis merely a thing I only noticed now, was her flexibility. She was all over the place in… interesting ways. The only thing I notied about Kelly Miller was that she probably wanted to burst into tears right there on the court. The other Kellys were somewhat more impressive.

Again, though- dude. Taurasi, Pondexter, and Taylor. Like HELL Tangela Smith should be your first option.

Oh, Katie Douglas. I'm so glad you came back from being kidnapped by the Pod People. I missed your smothering defense, your strength on the glass- seriously, I've said this before and I'll say it again, when they talk about the big guards being the wave of the future, Katie Douglas was there before all of them. That's the Katie Douglas I'd pick for my wishful thinking top five. And it's nice to see you too, Asjha Jones. Way to lay the hammer down early. I could go on and on in the same vein, but basically, this Sun team looked like the Sun team I expected to see last week. Okay, except for Lindsay Whalen, but facemasks excuse a lot of things. I really loved seeing the guards work the glass- that goes for Phoenix, too, that was one thing Miller did well today, and the one thing Jen Derevjanik really did, IMO- and here I am back to kvelling about Katie Douglas, although that was also something Whalen did a lot of. Rebounding, I mean, not kvelling about KT. I have to admit, I doubted the wisdom of using Le'Coe Willingham as the starting center with Margo's back acting up, but she held her own against the Merc, and I wonder now if Thibault was playing matchups, because Willingham was on Taylor quite a bit, which matched up AJ and Smith, which worked kinda nice, in a way, although one can argue that Smith had quite a few looks. Liked what I saw out of Hairston- nothing statistical pops into my head, but I liked that she was out there and I can't put my finger on why.

Ugh, the Phoenix uniforms. It's not so much the color scheme that drives me crazy as it's the fact that the Phoenixes aren't all at the same angle. On some players, they're very slanted, on others, less so. *twitch* Also, Penny's number is off-center from her name- wasn't there talk of her hyphenating this summer? Could that be the reason? But, yes, also, the color scheme is heinous up close and personal, and it makes me long for the radioactive orange unis.

There was a dude in a Twins jersey customized with Whalen's name and number. I was wondering if that was Mr. Lindsay. There was also a very cool security guy who was, at least briefly, clapping along with the "Let's Go Sun" beat. I like it when the staff are into the event. (And thus, super double bonus points to the casino employee who noticed my jersey and engaged me in a short conversation about life, the universe, and women's basketball.)

Today's :60 with the Sun was worst road trip moments. While Iowa State was the consistently worst, Kristen Rasmussen had the best story: apparently while she was with Miami, in LA, someone pulled guns on the team bus. :shock: No, I don't know what Debbie Black did to piss the guy off.

Ah, Lisa Mattingly, so nice to see you… and hear you and your flunkies. You *do* know the game's about the players, right? Generally, an evenly, if not necessarily competently, called game. The most egregious screw-ups were in Phoenix's favor- the throwdown of Mahoney and Taylor's slip.

Post-game, there was hanging out, breeze-shooting, half of a prank, Aussies, and way too many people chasing Diana Taurasi. Oh, and Keesh in line at Johnny Rocket's, which I wouldn't have guessed was her thing.

The useful thing about my protective coloration is that I can order a panini without saying a word. It's a silly thing to do, but not only is it fun, the panini's also good, and the kettle chips are faaaaaabulous.

In short, I had fun, and I was glad to be there. Now, Phoenix, please be stiff and tired tomorrow, and please forget about those All-Star guards and World Championships MVP you have on your roster.