July 11th, 2009: Atlanta at New York

New York Liberty 71, Atlanta Dream 69

The Liberty squeak one out and once again cause their fans to reach for the Maalox.


*phhhhhhhew*

Yeah, that's really the best way to describe this game. To be honest, we probably didn't deserve to win, but we did just enough to keep out of trouble and forced just enough mistakes out of Atlanta that we pulled this one right out of our collective ass.

Not much from pregame; most of the Usual Suspects didn't even bother to show until the gates opened. Leilani's little blue dress was adorable, and should be put in the Torch Patrol's wardrobe effective immediately.

Note to the anthem singer: loud does not equal good. Please moderate your voice and find the proper key before you start your performance. Nice jacket, though.

Note to Anne Donovan: loud does not equal good. Please ceremonially burn that gods-awful jacket at the next game. I'm not sure what was worse, the brightly colored pattern or the fact that it was too small, too tight, and the sleeves weren't long enough. *shudder*

Coco, we barely knew ye. She got the start, but went out quickly in both halves. Still had plenty of time to look like a deer in the headlights when it came to ballhandling, run headlong into Screens of Death, and do other stupid things. She's not her sister. She's not a point guard. She's not a ballhandler. Why Meadors is using her that way, I'll never know. Holdsclaw came off kinda quiet- always in the mix in the paint, but not looking to force her offense. She left the offense up to Sancho Lyttle, and if that woman is not on the All-Star team there is no justice in this world. She brought it in crunch time. She's tough, and she's always on the play, on both ends of the floor. I wish we had someone that determined to never take a play off. Castro-Marques (what's up with the hyphen?) is so fast, and she got her shots off in a hurry. DeSouza played well, and completely overmatched Janel. Watching her and Kia go at it was great.

Lehning didn't impress me, except that by being unremarkable, she proved that she belonged as a rookie, and that's no bad thing. It usually takes players a lot longer to look that comfortable on the court. I'd say the next steps for her are developing a shot of some kind and getting the confidence of her teammates. McCoughtry is so fast- she gets that steal and she's off and running. Beautiful to watch. I'm glad she got out of the doghouse for this game. Snow seems to have taken her place in it, though I can't exactly say that's a bad thing. Still and all, if you're a post playing fewer minutes than Jennifer Lacy for the Atlanta Dream, you might have boarded the failboat, no matter how long you spend practicing your jumpers before the game. Lacy, after all, gets to be the goat of the game because of the foul that gave Cathrine the free throws that gave New York the win. Not completely fair, but what are you going to do. Latta came in just long enough to spell Lehning and take a shot. She seems to have slid back into her spot with her teammates, though; right before the game, when they were doing the traditional "dance around in a circle like dorks" thing that every team does, she was the one I th middle, looking like she was going to be sacrificed to a demon or summat.

Essence: made of win at both ends of the floor. Go towards the hole, people! And she did. Cathrine was really taken out of her game by the foul trouble, but again, she made her living at the line. Shameka stepped up when we needed her, and she, Essence, and Ashley all did their part on defense too. Janel, while she came alive again late in the game, when we needed her most, still has some gaping holes in her game that need fixing. Her ballhandling has gotten extremely lackadaisical (well, okay, that's a problem the entire team is having) and she's trying too hard to be the highlight reel; she's finger-rolling when she should just be laying the damn ball up, which results in missing bunny shots. (Not missed Bunny shots. Those are Leilani's fault.) Her defense was also sorely lacking. Loree still looks lik she's not quite herself yet. She had two speeds tonight: slow and slower. She showed no sense of urgency, which was especially notable and egregious at the end of the game when the Liberty were down and she was still just casually walking the ball past halfcourt.

Kia Vaughn! Oh, yeah, we see you throwing up those nifty shots over your shoulder and Érika deSouza's hands. Oh, yeah, we see you tearing down those rebounds. I might have been against drafting her, but when she kicks ass I'm happy. Tiffany also played well- good to see her get more minutes. See, Patty, this is what happens whn you give your reserves a chance to get in the game- they'll save your ass. Go with the hot hand. Leilani didn't look great, but she ran the offense smoothly enough, though she wasn't so good at spotting her teammates downcourt. Ashley had one of her "I can shoot, really!" nights. She can't, not really. But at least she had the right idea. Go towards the hole.

The refs were WTFish, which is to be expected from a Gulbeyan crew. They weren't quite as bad as the people in my section thought, but the holding was really annoying.

Worst game of Tic-Tac-Toe ever. Strategic fail. And I loathe contests where the arena staff has to cheat to help the contestant win, no matter how small and cute the kid is.

Kia's New York Minute was a hoot, and could also be described as "the interns found Photoshop!" Pregame mix belonged to Cathrine (MSG is related to Fuse, so we get a three-song mini-mix, usually of crap, before the game); hers was more believably hers than most of them.

Glad to hear the crowd into it for the home team, as compared to Thursday.

Now can we all learn from our mistakes before next week so the game can be slightly more watchable? Please?