July 17th, 2016: Connecticut at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Down by seven after giving up a nine-point lead, the New York Liberty came back to beat the Connecticut Sun 83-76. Swin Cash led the way for New York with 16 points, while Tina Charles notched another double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Chiney Ogwumike led Connecticut with 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench; the Sun also got 16 points from Jasmine Thomas.

For displeasure, front iron, sassy little girls, catching 'em all, grit, biohazards, and how much I love my team, join your intrepid and training blogger.
Good afternoon, fellow fans! It's game day at the Garden, where the Liberty host the Connecticut Sun.

You didn't get pregame notes because I am an unabashed Pokemon Go player and mama wasn't letting that Fearow go without a fight. The dance group looked rather uninspired, though. (Go Team Mystic. Also, my seat is above a Pokestop, and I am extremely pleased with that.)

Gorgeous, gorgeous anthem. If someone wants to make her our permanent anthem singer, I'd be okay with that.

Jonquel Jones is a sweetheart, even when she's looking for the bathroom.

I didn't watch the halftime entertainment. I wasn't impressed with what I saw, though.

I have a lot of problems with this crew. You can't miss a very blatant timeout signal. You can't let play continue with blood on the floor. Mount Laimbeer is going to erupt in the third quarter, I know it.

To my pleasant surprise, Mount Laimbeer did not fully erupt, though there were definitely some seismic readings in the third quarter. We gutted it out in the fourth quarter. It was a total team effort, and that's when I love this team the most.

Kelly Faris got a couple of minutes in the first quarter, but she really didn't do much- she was feisty on defense and got called for a foul, and at the other end she completely lost clock awareness, leading to a shot clock violation. She didn't play again in the second half. Shekinna Stricklen brought the deep ball in the fourth quarter. I'm always surprised that someone of her build doesn't do more than just set up outside for threes, but then, I'm sure Curt Miller isn't exactly in any hurry to have her do anything that isn't taking a three. Courtney Williams isn't afraid to shoot from anywhere on the floor- the shot she hit was a very pretty finger roll, but you can already see that she's high usage. I don't know if that's what Connecticut needs.

Morgan Tuck was unremarkable. I think she might have been in a little over her head in this one. Fortunately for Connecticut, they retain the services of the truly remarkable and surprisingly unpronounceable (no matter how many times you throw the pronunciation guide at people) Chiney Ogwumike. She was in beast mode for this one, ripping down every rebound she got anywhere near and putting up hook shots so pretty you could almost see the formulae swirling over her head in the moment before she released the shot. She was very physical at both ends of the floor, and got almost as good as she gave. I think she wants to start again, and if Little continues to struggle, I can see it happening.

Alex Bentley got off a couple of quick ones in the first quarter, and one in the fourth when Connecticut looked like they were revving up for tone last comeback. She got a lot of defensive attention and a lot of contested looks. There was also one possession where she appeared somewhat confused as to what sport she was playing, as she tucked the ball under her arm and ran down the lane like a running back, a maneuver that- as per my understanding of the rules of basketball- would be considered a travel. It was not called as such, so perhaps my understanding of the rules of basketball is incomplete. Our defensive attention to Bentley and to the frontcourt left Jasmine Thomas with a lot of room to operate, and she took full advantage of it. She drove well, finishing with sweet finger rolls, and wasn't afraid to let loose from deep. She was aggressive defensively as well. Really great game for her, and since we won, I can afford to be happy for her; she's one of those players who isn't a superstar but can be so crucial to a team's success.

Alyssa Thomas played ferociously today. She was hobbled early on by two quick fouls, but she was relentless in following shots- I'm pretty sure most of her stats came on the same early play whers she was rebounding like nobody's business. She still needs a little polishing, but she's going to be a star. I just don't think it can be with Connecticut. Jonquel Jones still needs to work on her shooting. Most of her shots were horribly awkward-looking. She looks like a woman who's still trying to adjust to her body. Camille Little stretches the defense admirably, and she is ferocious defensively herself. She couldn't get her long-range shot to fall for most of the day, and she had good looks. She always seems to find ways of doing something good for her team.

Oh, Amanda. Amanda Zahui B. came into the game and committed a foul after fourteen seconds. She got better after that, energetic and involved on the glass. She takes a licking and keeps on ticking, and I love that about her. Kiah Stokes was solid defensively, and she finished at the rim, which has been a bugaboo for her in recent times. She cleaned up on the offensive glass- I think most of her makes were off putbacks. (The team also put out "7th Avenue Block Party" shirts for her, and they're pretty cool.) Rebecca Allen brought hustle on defense, but she got popped in the face fairly early on, and it got to everyone because of how the refs reacted to it. (That turnover in the box score? So many flavors of bullshit, and you know I don't swear lightly in the GNoD.)

Brittany Boyd was the energizer- she controlled the pace of the game, especially in the second half. I think the Golden Bear took great pleasure in stripping the Cardinal player. I've also concluded that she needs a degree of difficulty to hit her shots- when she's wide open, she misses, but when she's fighting through contact, they go down. She's not logical, but I think that's one of her more endearing qualities. Shavonte Zellous has to understand that sometimes she commits fouls. Her reaction is hilarious, but it wears on you after a while, and I'm sure that opposing fans find it even more annoying. She brought hustle and defense. She brings the leadership for the bench that Swin Cash brings for the starters.

Speaking of Swin Cash, she had probably the best game she's played in a Liberty uniform. (You know the joke that's been going around- "Clinton is running for office, Pokémon is big, and Blink-182 just released a new album- what year is this?" Maybe you can extend that to Swin's play. :D) When no one else seemed to have the fire, she had it. She went to the basket, she hit jumpers, she tore down rebounds. I like this Swin. We needed her, because Tina Charles has not been herself. Of course, Tina Charles playing at half-capacity still puts up a double-double, so what does that tell you? But her jumpers were consistently missing off the front rim. Her shot's always been flat-footed and high-arcing, so it's going to be inconsistent, but I never realized just how dependent it was on her energy level. She had better luck going to the basket. Carolyn Swords falls down a lot, and her teammates seem to think she can handle passes both high and low that she wasn't able to. She didn't play very much, and I'm okay with that.

I know I've talked about ball security and Tanisha Wright before. Bill has to have talked to Tanisha about ball security before. I'm starting to feel like a broken record, and I don't like it. She brings solid defense, and today she was hitting jumpers, but sometimes I think I might be more comfortable with Boyd down the stretch. Sugar Rodgers found her groove in the third quarter to spur the comeback, but her shot was off most of the day. I think the dependency on her is starting to wear- for the most part, we know what we're going to get out of Tina, but as Sugar goes, so do we go most of the time. It's only been the last couple of wins where that hasn't been the case, and I like that it hasn't been.

This was really a game about energy- when we didn't have it, or when it was disrupted, Connecticut had the advantage. When we had it, we had the advantage, and it powered our defense, which powered our offense.

I've grown accustomed to questionable calls from officials. I've mostly learned to ignore inconsistency. But when you're talking about health and safety issues, then I have a problem. In the second quarter, Rebecca got hit in the face and was bleeding from the nose. No real problem, Rosemary stuffed some gauze in her nostril and she went back out there, because she's an Aussie and that's how they roll. At some point, the gauze came out and she started bleeding again. She went to the sideline and attempted to call time. The officials ignored the timeout request. They ignored the blood on the floor. They sure didn't ignore the foul Boyd had to commit to stop the clock, though. Then, in the fourth, Amanda got her contact knocked out. She was trying her best to get it in, and the officials forced the Liberty to use a timeout. I find the latter darkly funny because Amanda needed less time to get the contact in than Curt Miller had spent arguing in the first half.

I lost a lot of respect for Miller in this game. You don't call for the steal when a player is literally bleeding in front of you. (And if he didn't, I lost a lot of respect for Stricklen.) He should have gotten a delay of game warning at best for the extensive discussion he had with the officials in the first half. A coach's discussion with the officials should not be measurable in multiple minutes without a whistle being blown. Wooten gave him way too much rope.

We won, and I'm happy we won, and I'm happy that we won without superhuman games from Tina or Sugar. But Connecticut's demeanor bothered me, and so did the officials.

I'm going to leave you with a happy mental image, though: the fan tunnel for this game was a Native American group in dance regalia. For the most part, they took their job very seriously, waiting patiently for the team to come out... except for one woman who was gleefully shaking her booty to the music.