May 18th, 2008: Connecticut at New York

Connecticut Sun 77, New York Liberty 63

The people in Liberty uniforms may not actually be the Liberty, Lindsay Whalen has the disconcerting knack of being very good at what she does, and the Game Notes would like for the Liberty to have a coach.


If you need me, I'll be slamming my head against the desk until we get a coach, or at least someone on the bench who can demonstrate that they know how to coach. I love my team, but sometimes I feel this burning urge to smack somebody upside the head.

Didn't strike a few of us as a good sign that Tiffany and Lisa went out of their way to avoid fans before the game. I keep imploring these kids that we don't bite, but apparently listening is not one of their skills. Nor was it a good sign for those of us who collect autographs that the ushers were hassling us even though they're not supposed to be (the shootaround that's going on when the doors open is open season for autographs and pictures, and the only time you have to bugger off is when the person who's supposed to be in the seat shows up).

Let the record show that Adam (Hirsh.com) is pretty awesome. Explanations for odd league decisions are always appreciated. Even if they do stick to the online ones- just change the background!

The karate, or whatever martial art it was, was very, very cool. The Girl Scout anthem… less so. The kids were very cute, but that was a very bad anthem.

Mike Thibault is a goddamn genius. Have I mentioned that lately? Because I think I'm going to be mentioning it a lot. Yesterday, Turner had the hot hand, so she got the bulk of the playing time. Today, Turner did not have the hot hand, so less ran through her. Our defensive rotation was simply awful, and no one seemed to get clued in that Whitmore was hitting threes, so she just kept going. And Whalen… I don't like the woman, but damn, is she a baller. She does what she needs to do, and no less. Holt and Anderson both seem determined to ditch any scrap of a reputation for being ballhogs or gunners- both of them hustled like hell and were all over the boards. Holt's hair makes me think she's channeling her inner Willingham- remember some of the glorious hairstyles she used to have? Asjha Jones was rock-steady. Tough as nails. And they still think they need extra edge from Whitmore? Raymond was all over the boards and actually hit her shots today. Then again, every Sun player was on the boards- it must have taken effort for Whitmore to only snare two rebounds. They were fighting. We were not.

Cathrine, please go find the badassery you brought against Washington. Or maybe you and Janel need to share the aggression equally instead of giving it all to Janel? There was one play where Connecticut missed a shot and Cathrine just stood there as if she were superglued to the floor. Not on, Miss Kraayeveld. Not on. And Janel came on like gangbusters, but got too aggressive and fouled out. Shameka, with hair a-go 'splodey, was really kinda streaky. I think she tried to do too much, knowing that she didn't have Janel to fall back on inside. Didn't help that Loree was out of sync, either- that wrap on her shooting/dribbling hand really worries me, and probably explains the inaccurate passes and the bad shooting. But she had to play, because Leilani Mitchell showed me nothing that gives me any reason to believe in her as the backup over Megan Duffy. By the end of the game, from my seat in the back row of section 209- basically, the highest possible vantage point without being in forbidden sections- I could see how soaked with sweat her jersey was, to the point where I could make out the line of her sports bra. Please do NOT run the starters into the ground, okay? Erin was just… kinda there. Considering I had her in Pick One today, I'm not pleased about this, but then, I didn't expect the Liberty to only play one quarter today, or throw passes into the seats. And then there was the completely illogical use of the bench. Near the end of the second quarter, my mom was seriously considering using her cane against That Moron if Ashley Battle didn't see any playing time. (Mom has her favorites, shall we say.) And then in the second half she had one long stretch of time while Essence was barely being used. The universe will not end if they both play in the same half. It might not even end if they play at the same time, with Ashley in for Erin and Essence in for Shameka. And what of Erlana? With Janel hobbled by foul trouble and Cathrine being of questionable effectiveness, we needed someone alongside Tiffany to pick up the slack.

There but for the grace of Tiffany Jackson. She was wonderful today. And then, when Ashley finally got IN the damn game, things changed in the blink of an eye, and don't try to tell me it was a coincidence. Ashley makes things happen.

A Liberty team that does not play defense, that consistently screws up on rotations, that backs down (Cathrine, Lisa, I'm looking at you) is not the New York Liberty, but a bunch of pretenders in bootleg jerseys. When they brought it, when they pressured the backcourt, they were on. (Of course, Connecticut then adjusted and put their ballhandler in the backcourt instead of having the posts bring it to halfcourt.) The offense was scattered, but Liberty offense has always been a catch-as-cat-situation. Defense has always been this team's bread and butter, from Spoon, Sue, and Kym, to VJ, Crystal, and Tari, to Loree and Ashley.

And I think the veterans noticed it, too. When the camera panned to Kym and Spoon, Kym didn't notice for a few seconds, and for those few seconds she looked like she wanted to kick off those heels, snatch a pair of sneakers, and start throwing her body around on the floor. Then she put the smile on, but she was more real when she was glaring at the court.

Things that are not cool: turning off the escalators. This nonsense about standing and clapping until the team scores- y'all did notice the number of fans who have canes and whatnot? Not to mention the little problem of a slow-starting offense. The increased advertising taking away stat space, including far too often on the jumbotron. Not putting the lyrics up to "Gotta Get Up"- not everyone knows they're at nyliberty.com. Janel's racing stripe, which is even more questionable up close.

Things that are cool: the Torch Patrols' halftime number. The new choreography for the dancers. Any segment that ends with Shameka Christon hitting someone with a pie in the face. The new graphics.

After the game, a bunch of us- including sportsfanswhine- got together and pretty well savaged Coyle's decision-making and the general lack of hustle this team showed. Really, it was one of the better parts of the gameday experience.