Sunday, May 22, 2016

May 21st, 2016: Los Angeles at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Los Angeles Sparks made up eight points in less than two minutes to force overtime and beat the New York Liberty 79-72. Nneka Ogwumike had 25 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Sparks, with Candace Parker adding 14 points and 12 rebounds.. Tina Charles had 17 points and 16 rebounds to lead New York.

For missed shots, odd spacing, planning epic birthdays, friendly neighbors, security issues, and ennui, join your intrepid and distracted blogger after the jump.


I could make a joke about this game really going to the dogs, but what kind of bit- aaaaanyway. It's a grayish day in New York as the Liberty and the Los Angeles Sparks renew the league's oldest rivalry (perhaps only by a couple of days, but don't hate just because y'all weren't there right at the get-go).

It's also the celebration of Maddie's birthday, which means lots of kids and a calendar of Liberty players with dogs. I don't think Epiphanny Prince is a dog person. (I, for one, am looking forward to Maddie's next birthday party. That'll be 21. SHOTS SHOTS SHOTSSHOTSSHOTSSHOTSSHOTS)

Candace Parker, if people are holding Sharpies and trying to get your attention, ignoring them is not a good plan. And I was going to tell her she deserved to be on the Olympic team, too. Maybe there's something to the chemistry thing, or maybe I'm just petty.

I'm not digging the blonde on Essence Carson's ponytail.

There's something appropriate about the Liberty wearing their black and the Sparks wearing their gold in this first meeting of the 20th season.

At halftime, we're tied at 34. Candace Parker has 10 points, seven boards, and some monster blocks. It's been a balanced attack from unexpected sources for the Liberty, with eight from Carolyn Swords and seven from Brittany Boyd.

Moment of quiet and small video tribute to a deceased STH (and mom of another). Very nice touch: "We Are Family" isn't usually memorial music, but it's the music played when they show a former Liberty player, or "Liberty family", on the Jumbotron. In other words, she was included as Liberty family, on the same level as Kym and Sue. (In assuredly unrelated news, there's an awful lot of confetti drifting loose from the ceiling today...)

That was a frustrating game, but it could have been worse. We can pinpoint the things that we did wrong: free throws, close-range shots, offensive rebounding, offensive sets at the end of the game. We got a lot of good contributions from a lot of people. And it's still early in the season.

I was surprised we saw so little of Chelsea Gray. Maybe I shouldn't be; she doesn't really fit with the personnel the Sparks currently have, or the style they want to play. Her passing is pretty slick, and she seems to inspire her teammates to pass just as showily. Ana Dabovic is a bit shot-happy- not that that's a bad thing in the offensive scheme, but she's definitely better on offense than defense. She fell hard for a lot of shot fakes, especially from Brittany Boyd.

Jelena Dubljevic barely played, and left no major impression. I was surprised that Eugeniya Belyakova got so much time, but I think Agler likes something she's doing on defense, even if it's just being really tall. (I'm also amused by the different Romanizations of her name- on the roster, it's spelled Eugeniya, but on the website, it's spelled Evgeniia. Slightly confusing.) The Liberty were not impressed with her on offense- when you're a tall forward and Shoni is being hidden on you, you're not considered a valid offensive threat. That lasted until she hit a three late. Ann Wauters was good defensively in the few minutes she got off the bench. Jantel Lavender was physical on the boards, but didn't seem fully involved in the game. There was a weird sequence near the end of the game where Parker appeared to be trying to hug her or something, and she was no-selling it like nobody's business. Like, "please remove your arm from around my neck right now, thank you much" level of no-sell.

Essence Carson brought the defense, but her shot has left any building she's in. It went wide often. She missed open lay-ups badly. Watching her during shootaround, there's a hitch to her shot that I can't put my finger on, but don't think looks right- there was a lot more push from her right hand and less guidance from her left than seemed proper. She got a very warm welcome and a highlight package. It looked like Agler had no trust in her offense (which I can't blame him for)- she sat out some key minutes late in the game. Alana Beard is in fantastic shape and moving really well. She looks like she's never had an injury history. She started the game red hot, taking advantage of what the defense was giving her in order to keep the more recognized threats bottled up. Her offense cooled down a little later, but her defense was utterly crucial to keeping Los Angeles in the game. Kristi Toliver was off for most of the night, but she hit the big shots when Los Angeles needed them. Her moping mostly was not as evident as usual. She also came up with a nice defensive play at the end of the game, which I wasn't expecting from her.

Candace Parker seems satisfied to take long shots and use her athleticism to beat players instead of her talent. She took a lot of long shots and a lot more complicated shots than she really needed to. If she'd gone inside more, LA probably would have romped. As it was, she did a nice job on the boards and using her length to block shots. Nneka Ogwumike is a beast, and this needs to be her team, not Parker's. She dominated down low. We threw all different defensive looks at her, and she was just like, "nah, I'm gonna score now." She knows her strengths and she plays to her strengths.

It's hard to envision Los Angeles as a defensive-minded, blue-collar team, but they suffocate the passing lanes and play really tough defense. Parker sticks out in that scheme.

I don't know what's wrong with Shavonte Zellous, but someone needs to fix it with the quickness. Her shot is AWOL, her drives are questionable, her ballhandling is shaky, her court vision is lousy, and her defense is so-so. She gave us a lot of minutes, and they mostly weren't good ones. You can't airball a shot late in the game like that. Brittany Boyd brought energy and a renewed fire. She was closer to her normal self this time around. I don't know if benching her helped or if she's moved past whatever was causing her recto-cranial inversion all by herself. Shoni Schimmel played a little, brought a little offense, but I would have put her in in the overtime just to add an extra shooter. I'm really not sure what to think of her and what she brings.

Kiah Stokes was back on defense. It was good to see her blocking shots- she had a few beautiful ones, including a deflection off a Parker shot that looked so natural that you'd think Parker missed it all by herself. It was also nice to see her taking and hitting shots. Amanda Zahui B had a quiet few minutes, but they were good defensive minutes. I might have wanted to see more of her, but on the other hand, I don't know whose minutes I would have taken away to put her on the floor longer.

Sugar Rodgers started off not shooting well, and she made some bad decisions down the stretch in overtime, but if she hadn't gone off in the fourth quarter, we wouldn't have had overtime in the first place. I'm not sure what to call those- Sugar highs? Sugar spikes? But this was last year's Sugar more than this year's Sugar: capable of incredible feats in a short stretch of time, but in the long run capable of making you tear your hair out. (That being said, her rebounding and her reads on long misses have improved immensely. That's cool.) Lindsey Harding got the start over Boyd and continued to demonstrate her lack of familiarity with the new shot clock rules. I don't know how comfortable she is with the team, and how much of that is a function of time. Tanisha Wright found some of her offensive groove, but she was passing way too many open shots and good looks for my comfort. I like her at the three less and less, and fortunately, this was the last time we're going to have to do this. I don't think she can take the physicality of the forward position in the modern WNBA.

Tina Charles was solid, but she missed a lot of interior shots that she should have made. She and Carolyn Swords both had good looks at the basket that they missed. I really like what Carolyn brings in the starting lineup, but I'm worried about her stamina. She's registering more and more often on the Adubato-Kraayeveld Scale, and doing so earlier and earlier in games. As for Tina, we all know how I feel about her taking perimeter shots, especially three-pointers. I know, I know, but it's going to keep being a point in the game notes until such time as either the shot becomes more reliable or until she stops doing it.

The missed shots at the rim were the most frustrating thing about this game. LA had a lot of makeable shots that they missed, and we failed to take advantage of that. No team should have two separate possessions of empty third chances. If they're right at the rim, you have to hit them.

The best part was how into it the crowd, or at least our area of it, was. There was far less waiting for the sound cue than usual, and I like that.

Officiating was lousy, but what else is new.

Getting Swin back will help with the perimeter defense, and maybe with some of the missed putbacks. I wasn't expecting this game to be as close as it was, so that's a good sign, in a perverse way.

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