June 5th, 2007: Indiana at New York

New York Liberty 78, Indiana Fever 67

Libkids love kids, but Tamika Catchings does not love Shameka Christon.


I don't know how long this ride will last- I don't know how long it can last- but I'm going to enjoy every second of it while I'm on it. I love these kids, and I believe in them, win, lose, or draw. After tonight, I believe they can do just about everything. Except sing.

Winters ran this practice like it was an NBA practice or something; the gates opened at 6:30, and by maybe 6:40 the last Fever player had run off the court in a sweat. He must have had them on at 5 or something ridiculous like that. I was not pleased. At least the rematch is an afternoon game.

The Liberty, on the other hand… there was a woman who brought her absolutely adorable daughter down to the railing with us. As soon as Shameka came out of the tunnel and saw the kid, she made a beeline over there and started playing with the kidlet. And Ashley wasn't long in following, and it was possibly one of the cutest scenes I've ever seen in my life, although it completely blew Ashley's tough-girl cred. One of the other players- maybe Loree- got the kid to five her. I was tempted to ask Shameka if she was aware that the whole kissing babies thing was a bit of politicking that she really didn't need to indulge in for All-Star. Just in general, they were all happy and loose out there, messing around with each other, with lots of smiles. I do wish Barb and Shay would lay off the body slamming thing; one of these days, Shay's gonna get herself hurt, and that wouldn't be fun at all.

Anthem was choral again. This is one kink of Blaze's I don't object to. Very pretty voices.

I love when people mess around with Maddie, at least in a joking way. After far too many repetitions of the L-I-B-E-R-T-Y, Maddie finally got around to jumping on the logo. Tamika Whitmore was waiting for him behind the Y. When he got to it, she reached out and kinda patted him on the muzzle. The second time around, he fived her.

I have to love Tamika Catchings's passion for the game, admire her talent for finding space, respect her raw ability on the court. On the other hand, I'm starting to wonder if she's aware of the presence of other players on the court, or if she's just playing the perfect game that exists inside her head. She's gotten more and more reckless, and I suspect any other player in this league except possibly Leslie would have been assessed a flagrant for that hit she put on Sista Christon, regardless of intent. (My other theory involves crossing over from a reversed parallel universe where all she does is drown kittens and kick puppies, so I'm thinking it's slightly less likely than Catchings not being aware and/or interested in being aware of other players on the court.) Whitmore started out aggressive, but gradually eased back- yeah, she started hitting shots, but she stopped rebounding. Really, though, when she lines up for that outside jumper and she really gets her feet into it, it's going in, come hell or high water. On the other hand, her flat-footedness makes me crazy. Tammy Sutton-Brown, whose name is always enunciated with disdainful precision over the PA, was unimpressive, and a bit whiny. At least she wasn't guilty of putting a forearm into Barbara's, um, chest the way Alison Bales did. I was wincing at that move, if only because this season's uniforms have demonstrated that Barbara has a, um, chest. Seeing Bales live makes me even happier we have Jess, because I was not impressed with what she could do that wasn't eligible to be called for offensive holding. DeForge got hot in the second half, and I thought that was going to get us in trouble. I was surprised that neither she nor Winters took advantage of the gross mismatch in the two-slot, because as much as I like Erin, she's not quick on her feet, and Sheri Sam has lots of size on her, and Winters was sticking Sam at the two at one point. Tully made it a game at 5:40 of the first, and that's pretty much all I remember of her. The one Fever player who impressed me, who I honestly didn't expect to impress me, was Ebony Hoffman, who may never make giant statistical contributions, but who sets mean screens, reads the ball well, and has good hands on defense. Everyone needs a dirty work player. I would comment on K.B.'s game, but, um, if your ass is getting schooled defensively by Erin Thorn, your ass does not deserve to be in the game notes of doom.

Looking at the Liberty tonight, I was reminded of the "Connecticut Deli" from "The Same River Twice": you never know what number you're going to get. How do I even begin to describe? Maybe with Loree and the threes she hit early to break Indiana's fill, or with her aggressiveness on D, or with her hustle against Catchings. Or maybe it's with Cathrine's seven-point burst in the second half, her strong moves inside and her outside shooting, or the one block that thoroughly declared that THIS IS OUR HOUSE. Or maybe it's with Ashley, who led all players in minutes, off the bench, between Shameka's injury and Erin's ineffectiveness on defense; maybe I have to start with her defense on anyone she was asked to guard, and the shots she took that shouldn't have gone in and somehow did (although, hi, you are not a point guard, please stop bringing the ball up the floor). Or with Jess, who very quietly and calmly put up 12 and 4 with a side of hard defense, and reminded us all of why she went second and Bales went ninth. Maybe it's even with Barb, whose defensive stop on Tan White really encapsulated the game in a nutshell: she planted herself in the lane, White ran full-on into her and pretty much bounced, no foul was called either way, and the Liberty got the ball back. But as the case may be, Ashley, Loree, and Cathrine are pretty damn awesome, and Jess isn't all that far behind. (Between the first #50's return to blogland and this #50's play, I'm pretty damn proud to walk around the Garden in that number.) And poor Shameka: that was a hard hit she took from Catchings, and I'm fairly certain she saw stars and Tweety birds for the rest of the game. You could tell she kept wanting to get back into it and clearly was out of it; she was in and out constantly in the fourth quarter. The only Lib who played and really disappointed me was Erin, although she had her moments at the offensive end. Apparently today she decided that she was going to try being Becky- drive the lane, hit the utterly ridiculous shot, and then get all excited about hitting said shot. She damn near blew a defensive assignment doing that.

Fever fans ought to be thankful Catchings didn't get tossed at the start of the third, because from where we were sitting that was a combination of excessive force, closed fist in the head vicinity, and not going after the ball. It should have been a flagrant; as it was, they took their damn sweet time blowing the whistle, period. If they'd defined it as a punch (closed fist, or so we saw; anyone with a replay or a closer view can confirm), she woulda been tossed and suspended. We're no saints here in New York, but believe me, Indy fans, your team committed those fouls that were called on them- and then some. Bales should have had at least one more for hooking (to which I say she needs to leave that to the center who *walks* like an 8th Avenue hooker).

No Ad-Libs today. Sad. Maddie Awards, on the other hand… they had the ladies do some line from "Old School" that involved a lot of ululating. We got to see the… ah, not final three in the fourth quarter, and with Janel's face, Shameka's performance, and Cathrine's bursts of giggles, I can only assume that several six-packs of beer went into that sketch. Clearly someone's been reading jersey's instructions and breaking out the booze for the kids.

Dear Torches, please stop abusing the people who volunteer for the dance contests. It becomes a pity party.

Spoon. Kym. Mischief. Small-scale chaos. Nothing new.

In conclusion, same as it ever was: I LOVE MY TEAM.