June 3rd, 2016: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: After a nip-and-tuck first quarter and a competitive midgame, the New York Liberty turned on the afterburners in the fourth quarter to blow out Indiana 91-59. Sugar Rodgers had 21 points to lead New York, with Tina Charles adding 14 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Tiffany Mitchell led Indiana with 11 points.

For squee, kicking the back of the chair, seeing the reserves, learning from mistakes, and Tina Charles's gleeful strut, join your intrepid and unfocused blogger after the jump.
Hello and welcome once more to the Game Notes of Doom! It's Friday night, I just got paid, and it's game night at the Garden. The Indiana Fever are in town, and it's time for vengeance. Rain fire and blood upon them from the heavens and let them hear the lamentations of their loved ones. Or, you know, something like that.

Shooting at opposite baskets during warm-ups today, which was a little confusing and a little frustrating when Lindsey Harding was right there and then ran off down the usual Liberty tunnel. I have a hat that needs a Lindsey, damn it.

The UPS guy who delivers the ceremonial game ball is quite early. Not what I ever expect out of UPS.

Carolyn Swords is still working on her passing and ballhandling skills with the guards, though now it's Katie Smith working with her instead of T-Spoon.

The dance troupes appear to be well garbed and competent, though I'm really not sure how blue sequins go with "Joyful, Joyful".

At halftime, the Liberty are up 42-29, energized and sharp. Something about Indiana has brought the best out of us, like a whetstone honing a sword's edge. Tina Charles has been her superstar self, but she's getting support from Sugar Rodgers, Shavonte Zellous, and most of the supporting cast.

More dancers. Not bad, but again, I question their costume choices.

Shavonte is a mad genius to draw that foul at the buzzer.

Wow. I love that that happened, but I'm not quite sure even how it did. Everything just worked. We're not going to have thirty more nights like this, but even three-quarters of this will do.

Indiana wasn't ready. I think they just didn't know what to do with a Liberty team that was as ready to fight them as they were to fight. They miss the outside threat of Maggie Lucas. They miss the spacing, the balance, the security, that come from having an extra shooter to pick up when everyone else is off their game.

I see why they call Brene Moseley Bones. She's so slight! I wasn't impressed, but she didn't have much opportunity to impress. You can tell she's a rookie. She's still hesitant and adjusting to the speed of the game. The Fever looked better with Briann January on the floor, but that might just be experience speaking. They needed her not to shoot as much, though- her shot was way off. She was wide right twice, and her jumper in general looked like it needed a lot of work. Her defense was on point, with strong steals and relentless pressure. Shenise Johnson worked really well with Lynetta Kizer, and was able to work herself open for looks- they just didn't fall. (Big hair observation of the day: yes, Kiah, it's still a foul even if you only hack her in the hair.)

Lynetta Kizer brought a lot of energy, and a midrange jumper. She has a knack for being in the right place in the right time. She's not spectacular, but she's super useful. Plus, she's given up frosting her hair in blue, so there's another plus. Devereaux Peters is very physical- you can tell she spent her formative years in the WNBA in Minnesota, where the defensive discipline is somewhat lacking. She doesn't have the kind of outside shot she thinks she does. Ruth Riley she is not. I was surprised that Natalie Achonwa played so little and came in so late. She looked somewhat out of sorts, and she seemed to have some kind of disagreement with Adut Bulgak late in the game, though for all I know it could have been about the Leafs and the Oilers instead of whose responsibility it was to dislodge the ball wedged between the rim and the backboard. There was a moment where she looked like herself, but for the most part she was a step slow and a step off.

Erica Wheeler had her good moments with her speed, but I think sometimes she forgot what team she was playing for- she had plenty of passes that went straight to Liberty players. Her speed killed her more than it killed the opposition. There were fans who used to call Helen Darling the Headless Chicken back in the day with the Rockers, and I think Wheeler may have earned the right to take the nickname from her. Tiffany Mitchell started the game like a house on fire, but she tried to push her range too far out and got a little hesitant because of that. She's got great potential, though. She'll be brilliant for Indiana. They just need to get her defense up to Indiana's par, and it usually takes rookies longer to adjust at that end.

I have a tendency to look at Erlana Larkins, and see her physicality, and see the width of her frame, and completely forget just how fast and mobile she can be. She has the kind of defensive versatility that makes even the purportedly simple task of bringing the ball up the floor hazardous to any player's sanity. She's a very heady player, too. She picks her spots well. Marissa Coleman set up for long range shots, but honestly, she was more of a threat as a smothering defender, using her height to pressure our guards on the wing. I'm happy for her that she's found a place where she fits, after Washington and Los Angeles. Tamika Catchings is, of course, still Catch: relentless, tough, brilliant on both sides of the ball, willing to stand up for her teammates and willing to do all the little things that make the difference for her team. But the defense keyed on her, help coming pretty much every time she got the ball, so she was forced to pass out to the open man- and that open man either didn't hit the shot, or the ball was intercepted before it ever got to its intended target. It was a surprisingly efficient game for Catch- but less of one than she's normally capable of.

I think Indiana lost a little bit of their fire in the fourth quarter, when the Liberty came at them strong and kept it coming, but I have to applaud their tenacity through the first third. They were everywhere. It was fun to watch.

Adut Bulgak lives! I thought she was being saved for Olympic qualifying, but she lives! And she rebounds! And she scores a little! She's awfully spindly compared to other WNBA players, but she'll grow into that body of hers if the training staff works with her properly. She cuts well to the post, and there's good instincts in her. Kiah Stokes did good work in the paint on both ends of the court- she was the recipient of some beautiful passes, and unlike games earlier this season, she was able to capitalize. She brought the house down with a big block in the second half. (However, whatever she did to Tiffany Mitchell that had Mitchell looking like she'd taken a shot to the crotch is not cool. I am not okay with this.) She really looked like someone lit a fire under her. Amanda Zahui B looked somewhat tentative. She floated around the three-point line more than I like to see out of a big, and she hesitated inside far too often. The one big three-pointer was nice, but I'd like to see her be more assertive in the paint.

Shoni Schimmel brought the showtime in the fourth quarter, when the game was decided. When she's on her game, boy, is she ever fun to watch. The passes are slick and crisp and sharp, and the shot is beautiful. Of course, she's a defensive liability, but that's going to take a long time to fix, if it can ever be fixed. But she definitely makes the game more interesting. Brittany Boyd still needs to work on her control, and pairing her with Sugar Rodgers is fun but rather dangerous. But I love the ferocity she drives with, and I think hitting shots has restored enough of her confidence that she's passing with less fear, as well as being more willing to take harder hits. We need her to be awesome. Shavonte Zellous played really well- she had a couple of dumb moments, but for every one of those she had two brilliant plays. She was fearless, which is the kind of play you need against Indiana. The play to end the first half, where she drew the three-shot foul, may very well have been the psychological game-winner; if nothing else, it reminded this team that we're capable of hitting free throws.

Tina Charles faced a lot of double and triple teams, and sometimes when she tried to pass out of them, she panicked and threw the ball right into the teeth of a prepared Indiana defense. But she didn't have to be the star today, and that was huge for her. She was able to do work on the boards and set up her teammates. She had a beauty of a pass to Kiah for the finish in the lane, and if they can get that two-man game working on a consistent basis, this is going to be brilliant. Swin Cash doesn't have the range that she used to, no matter what she thinks, but when she gets her junkyard dog on inside, she's a beast- she did work on the offensive boards and kept plays alive. I do need her to stop taking long jumpers, though; this isn't Detroit, or even Seattle. Carolyn Swords's mobility still worries me, but she looked a little better than she did against Indiana, and I knew that we were playing with renewed fire when even she was diving on the floor for loose balls. (Not that I doubt Carolyn's commitment, but she doesn't tend to dive, because it's awfully hard for her to get up again.) We were definitely better with Kiah on the floor, though.

Tanisha Wright at the point- no, Bill, I refuse to refer to that position as "lead guard" no matter how many times you say it- works way better than Tanisha Wright at the small forward. She has a mastery of the offense that comes with her experience and knowledge, one that the younger guards don't yet match. She might have been able to play a little smarter on defense, but Indiana tends to draw fouls out of you, even if they're not doing so intentionally; it's the style of the game, the way it flows when these two teams take the court. Sugar Rodgers wasn't always sharp on defense, but she came up with the big threes when we needed them. As much as this is Tina Charles's team, and don't let anyone tell you this isn't Tina's team, we rise and fall with Sugar. Tina will be Tina. Sugar is inconsistent, and she's glorious when she's on, and she's chaos when she's off.

There was a sense of urgency to this team that we hadn't seen in the last three games. More, Bill learned from the mistakes he was making in those losses: the bench got playing time, allowing the starters to rest; we used timeouts more tactically to maintain control of the game and possession of the ball; everyone's body language was better, focused on the game.

I love the joy on the bench when the starters see the reserves going off. Tina was strutting when Shoni hit that second three.

Officiating was pretty solid, though they seemed unsure of themselves at times. It was a pretty experienced crew, so I was surprised at some of the hesitancy.

This was exactly the kind of game the Liberty needed before heading out on the road. This was the kind of game that makes me wonder if the Fever are more concerned about the season or about Stephanie White's departure.