May 12th, 2007: Houston at New York

New York Liberty 74, Houston Comets 63

There's no place like homecourt. Shay Doron struts her stuff, the Houston Comets are accommodating, and the Game Notes are cautiously optimistic.


There's no place like homecourt. There's no place like homecourt. There's no place like homecourt. There's nothing like "Strike It Up" and "somebody, somebody hit the lights", even if we didn't have the real announcer and thus the cadences were screwed up. There's nothing like the home whites and the Garden and all the crazy silly little things you come to know and love. There's nothing like the usual suspects in their usual places and shooting the breeze with the folks you've come to know and… well, know. ;)

That Comet trainer is a scary man. Very intense. He was barking out orders during the pregame stretching, and everyone obeyed instantly. I didn't see Kostaki, Maïga-Ba, Tina Thompson, or Tari Phillips around, although I figure TT just got back from Russia and Tari may well have forgotten there was a game today. Thus, lots of rookies who I had trouble differentiating, especially since my neighbor kw and I were edumacating one of her friends. Liked what I saw from Davis, though, and Shields shows much potential. She's still a little rough around the edges, and a little rough on the court, but she may well prove herself to be worth the pick. Of veteran types, Byears played well, and Mistie Williams is nothing short of amazing- she never ever gives up. Snow started off hot, but she stiffened up at the start of the second half- she left the bench, and up in our seats we thought she'd gone back to the locker room, but it turns out that she was just biking in the tunnel. Her Majesty didn't score a lot, but I actually don't think she was supposed to be looking for her shot. I think she and Karleen both wanted her to work on other aspects of her game- she was one of the Comets' high rebounders, and she was working hard on D. Was not impressed with the rest of the Comet kids, even if they are a very nice bunch.

The beautiful, beautiful thing I see about this Liberty team is that it's a balanced team. You never know who's gonna take the shot, especially if Shameka's playing within the offense instead of jacking stupid shots. Cathrine was awesome today. Loree and Ashley were both fierce on D and on the boards, although both of them had some very questionable passes. (I think everyone's still figuring out the nametags.) Erin distributed. Jess had some foul trouble- that's something she's going to have to adjust to in this league. I think she was a little intimidated by Snow and Byears, but then that would be the explanation for most of our posts and why we played so little in the paint. And Shay! After she was such a nonentity in Bridgeport, I worried, but clearly she was waiting until she got home to bring out the good stuff. She hustled hard and took a couple of big hits from Shields and Hodges. I really like her. Yeah, the kids are all right.

Janel was not with the team. Considering current events, I'm going to guess that she was back in Wisconsin with her family. Poor kid.

Anthem by trumpet, so the lyrics couldn't be screwed up, but he did add a few too many frills for my taste.

Hi, Matt!

Patty=awful eggplant suit. Not a becoming shade for a woman who tends to turn red at the slightest provocation.

Kym was in the house with A'riel. It's so hard to believe that the lil bit she brought to that Phoenix game is going to be three this year. The kid is so cute- she really does take after her mom.

There was an unbelievably tall, skinny blonde wandering around concessions. I'm 5'6", 5'8" if I'm not slouching, and she was at least a foot taller than me. Looked kinda Baltic, Lithuanian or something like that. Lib Fan and I were trying to figure out who she was. I figure she used to be a teammate of one of the rookies, but that's a guess.

After the game, I hung out in search of autographs. The Comets were really accommodating, considering that we caught them in the midst of bringing back takeout pizza and sandwiches. If I'd had a camera… there was one possible frame where you had three really different Houston players- Cross, Leuchanka, and… Hodges, I think… all on cell phones. Pretty much everyone was on the cell at some point. Nicely dressed team, although Erin Grant + too-long jeans + flip-flops + New York streets=she has to have tripped in a pothole at some point. Favorite contrast was when Byears and Williams returned at the same time- Byears was very casual and Williams looked like a movie star, shades and all. Also spotted Shay after the game, also on the phone. Other folks said she was nice, and that a couple of our kids chose a different exit when they saw the folks gathered at the regular exit. Come on, seriously, we don't bite.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the Liberty- not about their record, but about their watchability, and their potential to be pretty damn awesome in a year or two. They're just so adorable! How can you not love them?