September 23rd, 2015: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Tina Charles flirted with a triple-double, and four Liberty players scored in double-figures as New York took Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals from Indiana, 84-67. Charles finished with 18 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds. Kiah Stokes had a game-high 21 off the bench for New York. Shenise Johnson was the only Indiana player to break double figures, at 12 points.

For statements, silly hats, impressionable children, a hard-working usher, the branch office of the Connecticut Deli, sweatsuits, Stoooooooookes, unexpected results, aaaaaaaaand twins, join your intrepid and squinty blogger after the jump.
It's only weird if it doesn't work. Isn't that how the commercial goes? So you keep as much the same from the days that you win. Can't wear the same shirt, but I have a spare shirt I got yesterday as a gift. Same jersey, same hat, same pants, same shoes. Mom won't even text me because she didn't text me yesterday. No fear, no worry, no doubt. Not allowed.

Mechelle Voepel in the house! Hearts in my eyes.

I thought I saw Renee Brown both last night and tonight, but she might have a doppelganger.

Carolyn Swords is present, dressed out, and moving as well as can be expected.

This game has been so good that I think the officials have been watching it- not a lot of calls on either end of the floor, and I'm okay with that (though someone needs to sit Shavonte Zellous down and tell her to slow her roll). It's just been great basketball on both sides of the floor, teams finding ways to make shots. Kiah Stokes is beasting for the Liberty, Epiphanny Prince is making the shot clock roll over and beg, and everyone's playing their role. Indiana's playing well too, and I'm a little worried that Catchings hasn't fully Catch'd yet.

John Starks in the house! So are the Lopez twins, which led to an amusing bit of business with hats. Robin Lopez plays for the Knicks; Brook Lopez, his twin, plays for the Nets. Robin appeared on the big screen wearing a Mariners cap. Someone from offscreen dropped a Nets cap on his head (which was how we guessed Brook was there). Later, Jason, the Liberty in-game host, returned with a Knicks cap, which Robin happily put on, though he had trouble getting his hair under it.

Well. That was clearly the result we were all expecting after the Liberty ground out a clutch win yesterday. We certainly expected them to come out like gangbusters and keep on soaring through the second half. Oops, did I leave the sarcasm light on? My bad.

Natasha Howard made effective use of the minutes she got at the end of the game. I'll grant she wasn't facing top-notch defense at this point, but she used her body well and made plays. I always say she should be watching tape of Sancho Lyttle to improve her game, because that would allow her to be a better defender and extend the range of her jumper. But do that after this series. Natalie Achonwa put in work on the boards, but she crossed the line on screens and picks and got dinged for offensive fouls. We'll have to see after a year, but I'm starting to wonder if the ACL stole some of her mobility the way it did with Rebecca Lobo (though Lobo had somewhast less to lose, so the effects were more obvious).

Layshia Clarendon was tossed into the game in the second half to try and bolster the defense, or at least be steadier and less demonstrative than Shavonte Zellous. She seemed to calm the team down, but she was more a distributor and defender than a scoring threat- she would penetrate, but pass out. Zellous looked to score, but her head was not in the game. I don't know where it was, but it was not in the game. I'm not just talking about her temper getting the better of her, either- there were a couple of sequences where she clearly was not on the same page as her teammates, and I would never want Erlana Larkins yelling at me. Maggie Lucas was in as a three-point threat, for the most part, though she burned Candice Wiggins badly on a beautiful backdoor cut. Jeanette Pohlen played garbage time. She hustles. But there's a reason she doesn't play when the minutes matter.

Tamika Catchings had no relief all night. I'm not talking about not getting rest, because Stephanie White gave her some good stretches on the bench to get her feet back under her. But she was constantly defendered and defended well. She got few good looks, and the looks she got were not in good position for her. She never let up on the intensity, of course, since she's still Tamika Catchings and she's still breathing. Erlana Larkins positions herself really well. I think that's a North Carolina thing. She boxes out and gets on the boards spectacularly, and she sets wicked screens.

Shenise Johnson has such a pretty shot. You'd think she'd be easier to find with that big ol' hair, but we kept losing her on midrange jumpers. Part of that was the super crisp ball movement and the screening by Indiana. Briann January really puts her martial arts training to work on the floor, in terms of taking contact and rolling with it. Marissa Coleman is a size mismatch nightmare for the Liberty (as is Johnson, for that matter). No matter how you shuffle the defense, someone's going to be too big for the defender. Coleman put that height to work in the first quarter, drawing contact and getting to the line. She should NOT have gotten free throws on that three-point attempt that Essence was called for the foul on. Bad call.

I wasn't expecting Indiana to run as much as they did. As the game went on, I'm not sure Indiana was expecting Indiana to run as much as they did.

Avery Warley-Talbert had a nice play that got her the one basket, muscling the ball up through contact. It was the one good play she had. Essence Carson brought the defense. She looked energized. Great to see her playing to her strengths. And then Kiah Stokes had herself a game. Talk about playing to your strengths- I think only one of her baskets was outside the paint. Everything else was right at the basket, from pretty little feeds from Tina Charles or off rebounds. She stepped her game up and fired up the crowd.

So did Sugar Rodgers. Sugar took a lot of good shots and the threes were falling. She's learned not to take bad shots, which is impressive. She's come so far since Georgetown. Candice Wiggins absorbed the pain, annoyed the offense, and got herself in foul trouble. I almost wish she could apprentice with DeLisha Milton-Jones- she could learn much about being evil on the floor and sweet off it. She's been such a catalyst for this run. Erica Wheeler tried to do too much. Someone wants serious minutes.

Tina Charles started the game on fiyah, and found her touch again in the second half. But what impressed me most was when she didn't shoot. She had position- but Kiah had better position, and she dropped dimes like they were going out of style. That's the kind of star I love to see- one who's equally capable of taking the shot and making the pass. Carolyn Swords was a welcome returnee. She didn't- she couldn't- play big minutes, but she played minutes where some of the physical pressure was off Tina. She made plays on the glass and tapped the ball out to her teammates. She tired more easily than normal, so that's something we have to keep an eye on (it's easy to tell when Carolyn's overworked, because she turns red). I'm also worried about Swin Cash. Her minutes have declined sharply. She's bringing the defense, and she's a leader, but can we afford to have a starter whose only contributions are intangibles?

Tanisha Wright didn't seem to have her head in the game after the second quick foul, which seemed strange because I thought the second foul was intentional to get out of the game after she got knocked down. It might have worked out for the best, since that meant Sugar and Ice got minutes and were ready to get their game on. Epiphanny Prince made it clear that she was a superstar and she's ready to be the star we need. There are few players who toy with the shot clock the way she does. She has moments of great defense, too.

Total team effort. The ball movement was fantastic- not as crisp as Indiana's, but we found each other. We communicated. Indiana seemed to be doing more yelling at each other than anything else.

Denise Brooks, I am not even talking to you right now after that call on Essence Carson. Call it both ways.

This team made a stand. They chose this. The front office could have scrambled for an alternate arena on a different day to keep the rest period consistent with the rest of the playoffs. They chose the back-to-back. They chose the Garden. They chose us. They made a statement- this is our house, this is our time. I don't think anyone expected this.

Maybe we should have.

We're coming home, MSG. We'll see you again.