May 31st, 2009: Los Angeles at Connecticut (preseason)

Los Angeles Sparks 80, Connecticut Sun 77

Play for your lives, borderline and mediocre players! Play for your very lives!


That was one of the more interesting preseason games I've ever been to. Both teams came out like it meant something, or at least the personnel on the floor did. Obviously the coaches didn't, or it would have been Jones going on Leslie in the post in the last couple of minutes, not Ervin and Page against Hayden.

Pretty decent crowd for a preseason game on a nice day with one of the marquee Sparks out of commission. And there were a few Parker jerseys running around. Really, I'm surprised so many people were allowed to approve of Tennessee alumnae in the state of Connecticut; I thought that was against state law or something. Bobbitt got a decent round of applause.

Noelle Quinn really needs to talk to Rittenhouse, because her 2008 card looks nothing like her, to the point where the only reason anyone was able to get it signed was because someone asked if she was, in fact, Noelle Quinn. Lots of people brought Leslie's book for Leslie to sign. She worked the crowd professionally and politely.

Anthem singer could probably start a second career (first and a halfth career?) as a Martina McBride impersonator. I liked her. I don't know if I'd haul back out to Mohegan to see her again, but I liked her.

So every time I wonder why I disliked the Sparks, Lisa Leslie throws an elbow or DeLisha Milton-Jones throws her shoulder, and I go, "Oh, YEAH, that was it!" To be fair, they were the only two I noticed for LA with the extracurriculars. In the time she got, though she was being surprisingly well defended, Leslie looked like her old self. She had one fadeaway jumper that was absolutely gorgeous, and she showed her familiar knack for getting the call. DMJ didn't seem to be on the same page of the playbook as everyone else- normally, I'd cut the vet some slack, but it happened a few times, with different combinations of players. Not a great game for Quinn, but Lord, she's tall for a guard, and stocky too. She seems to be buying into this defense concept (along with the rest of the Sparks- talk about lock-down D!). Lennox looked like she was shaking off rust- but it's really hard to gauge the starters in this game, since both Thibault and Cooper were using it to assess their bench. But, okay, also, it's hard to assess Tina Thompson beyond "Did the basket even move?" Someday we're going to look back on her and go, "WOW." Fernandez was going for the highlight reel every time out; Marta, you are aware that there aren't degree of difficulty points in basketball, unless you count the three-point arc, right? I wonder if that's a family trait. Hayden came in and made some plays by dint of her size. Seeing her against Chante Black made me hurt in sympathy for Black, and at one point I did call out, "Please don't break the rookie!" Harrower just looks WRONG in a Sparks jersey. FWIW, I think she ran the team a little better than Bobbitt did, but neither of them was any great shakes. MFH battened on late free throws for possession, and seems to think she's acquired a jump shot. I fail to see any point in keeping Jessica Moore on the roster. Ashley Paris will need time, but she's got the right idea. Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton, I'm not sure about, and with the rosters the way they are, "not sure" is not a good thing.

Erin Phillips is fucking awesome. What, you want analysis? Okay, fine. She's a maker of happening. If she is in the game, she will be good for her team. She'll hit a shot, or she'll hit the floor, or she'll get a steal, or something. Asjha Jones started off like gangbusters, but went cold very quickly, and with Thibault using this as "play for your career" time (thanks, caune!), she didn't see extended minutes. Tamika Whitmore continues to be the Tamika Whitmore I know and... er, know... from New York- she'll make a bad play, then a good play, then a bad play. There was one point when she tangled with Leslie that I thought someone was going to end up in the stands again- elbows going all over the place, good lawd. Chante Black did not have a good game, though I recall a couple of stealthily brilliant defensive plays. Lindsay Whalen was a non-factor, though see note above about time for starters. Kerri Gardin needs to learn to hit shots again. Any would be nice; her FT% was atrocious. Surprised Turner didn't get more touches, though I suppose Thibault wanted to see what the less sure things would do. Cirone looked very much like she was in over her head. I don't know that she's made a good case for herself in game situations. Hayes did not impress me like she did last time. There's something I like about Ervin, and until I looked at the boxscore I couldn't figure out what it was. I think she might be used to having to be the go-to woman from Arkansas, so she was able to step up at the end of the game. So did Danielle Page, for that matter. And Lyndra Littles, after having some of the worst games I've seen from someone nominally playing for her basketball life, suddenly turned the intensity up to eleven in the last five minutes and was EVERYWHERE. Her shots started going in, she got to the line, she was all over the place on the boards- it was like someone flipped a switch, or gave her Red Bull or something. Swanier was just kinda there.

'sup, Denise? Your linesmen are idiots. Not too many missed calls, though there were some pretty bad out-of-bounds misses. But I kind of realized this was one of those crews when she was all but whipping one of her linesmen over to the scorer's table.

Scout sightings: Anne Donovan and Pat Coyle. Donovan's kinda hard to miss, and kinda telegraphs the Liberty's interest in a game- perhaps they should invest in stilts for some interns so they can fake people out?

Cute moment before the game- while Kristi Harrower was signing autographs, Erin Phillips came up behind her and greeted her warmly.

The first quarter was really exciting- fast-paced, with enough defensive stops to keep it interesting. And the fourth quarter got dramatic in a hurry. However, if the kids behind me who screamed for the Sun to shoot the ball every time they touched it, even in the backcourt, hadn't moved down so they could shrill for t-shirts, I would have snapped before the game got good again. LA's defense really, really locked down starting in the second quarter. Very impressive.