September 13th, 2016: Washington at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Washington Mystics finished off a lackluster Liberty team, 75-62. Stefanie Dolson had 23 points and seven rebounds to lead the Mystics. Tina Charles had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Liberty.

For ennui, free stuff, failed auditions, t-shirts, evil rims, and playing out the string, join your intrepid and uninspired blogger after the jump.
Good evening! It's Fan Appreciation Night at Madison Square Garden, as the New York Liberty host the Washington Mystics.

It's been a disaster of a day. Let's hope the Liberty make it better.

We received an unexpected olive branch today. I thought Pirates took things, not gave them. I'll accept the booty, though.

Please, please let them run that episode of "Car Karaoke" with the team singing the chorus on "Gotta Get Up" during the actual game, and not just half an hour before tip. (They didn't. I wonder if it was dress rehearsal for the playoffs.)

Lots of swag today- very nice black t-shirts and "Tina For MVP" posters. What do you think, GNoD readers? Put it over the Sun version, or put it next to the Sun version?

I am perfectly okay with Kiah Stokes wearing halter tops whenever she wants. Oh, my. I'm also okay with her covering halter tops with stylish red jackets. Shoni Schimmel, on the other hand, needs to do something about the baggy t-shirts, though honestly, that one's bigger issue is the unhemmed sleeves. Cutoffs work on shorts, not shirts, and definitely not on hoodies. You're not Bill Belichick.

Red does not suit Leilani Mitchell's coloring. Strangely enough, this actually matters to me.

There's a Bollywood dance group in dance outfits next to us. This bodes well for halftime.

Columbia Lions are in the house. Add a free towel to the swag bag.

"God Bless America" choir didn't have to repeat phrases. And as usual, Kym Hampton sang the national anthem for Fan Appreciation, and as usual, her breath control was non-existent and she was all over the scale.

If this is what a future coached by Katie Smith looks like, I'm perfectly okay with it happening elsewhere. We're down by 12 at the half, in a game that's been badly called, badly executed, badly coached, and extremely frustrating. Tina Charles has 12 points and six rebounds for New York, and that's really everything worth mentioning for the Libs. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt has 13 for Washington.

Argh. AAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGH. You know what I did not need today? I did not need the rim deciding that we weren't going to get rolls, and I didn't need the officials ignoring blatant travels and trips, and I didn't need Rebecca Allen to be a shame upon the name Rebecca, and I generally didn't need the team to look like they were running in mud. I know this game meant nothing in the long run, and I know that we were short-handed beyond belief, but I'd like to have something that vaguely resembles momentum going into a single-elimination game.

Ally Malott shoots well. She also had a monstrous rejection of Rebecca Allen. It was brutal. I don't know how developed her game is inside the arc, but I like her shot. Kia Vaughn has good energy, but she couldn't buy a basket- and they were good looks. She's strong, but sometimes I feel like she doesn't use that strength effectively. (Also, as an aside, when did her tattoo start growing? I only remember the big script of her name.)

Kahleah Copper brings raw speed and slashing ability to the floor. She's physical and a little handsy, but she's got the solid Rutgers base to her defense; in time, she'll learn how to play more with her feet and less with her hands. I think she'll make more of those drives to the hoop as well. Leilani Mitchell has adapted well to the Australian style of defense, low and hands-on and relentless. Most of the shots she was taking were long threes near the end of the shot clock. I don't know if Washington is looking for her to be more of a distributor or more of a defender, but she's not there to score, just to spread the floor and change the pace.

(Okay, look, J train, I cannot be dealing with multiple drunks on this train. I can't. Go be drunk somewhere else. Go puke somewhere else.)

Stefanie Dolson is starting to annoy me. It's not the versatility of her game, the way she kills us from outside and then goes inside for the little hook. It's the constant kvetching whenever a call doesn't go her way. Her hair is nifty, though not as much as it used to be, and her personality is great off the court, and I appreciate her advocacy. But her complaining is unbecoming, and it ill suits a Husky. Emma Meesseman had a quiet game- she was active, but not involved. She got looks, but they were mostly contested. I suppose at least one of our defensive plans worked. She did a good job on the boards, though, bodying up and using her length well. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt has acquired a new nickname- Tierra Effing-Pratt, because that's what was coming out of my mouth whenever she got open for a corner three, or flicked her hand into the passing lanes to disrupt the offense, or was generally one of the best players on the floor for either team. When someone finds out how she went undrafted, could you explain the logic of it to me? She brings such a great dynamic to this team- one of the great undrafted finds.

I almost forgot about the Mystic guards, which tells you something about their effect on the game. I don't think Natasha Cloud is a WNBA-level point guard. She brings an interesting skill set (which seems like the primary rule for a Mike Thibault draft pick), but not necessarily one that fits the role she's being called upon to play. Tayler Hill likes to shoot and has an annoying habit of getting calls. I suppose she's finally turned into a WNBA-level player, but she'll have to have a far better game than that to pry any praise out of me. (Skeptic is not the word. Bitter and salty might be closer.)

I don't like that Washington made the game chippy with illegal screens and unnecessary drama. I expect better out of a Thibault team than that. Win on your own merits. (And on whatever the officiating gives you. More on that later.)

Amanda Zahui B is starting to show her hockey side a little bit (and let's face it, Sweden and Minnesota both have pretty good hockey backgrounds). I understand the urge to dish out payback for hits that weren't called by the officials, but she hasn't learned the subtlety necessary to wreak revenge- her fouls were both offensive and both seemed to be payback for hard Mystic hits. I think that left her out of her element on offense- I really thought she would have looked to shoot more on the inside. But maybe that's Katie. Swin Cash showed signs of life, with a great defensive play that led to a steal by Tina, and some good looks at the basket. She's still being unusually tentative, and that worries me.

Rebecca Allen was such a hot mess tonight I'm actually hesitant to call her a Rebecca. The foul on the Malott three was a spectacularly stupid play that didn't need to happen. She just didn't have her A game tonight, or even her D game. Katie had no faith in her, and for good reason. She hit a three near the end, and that was nice, but overall she was a hot mess. Tanisha Wright is a very welcome return. Her timing isn't completely back, which I chalk up to sitting out, but her instincts are still sharp. She provided a good spurt on both sides of the floor, and maybe the starting lineup just got a little more confused.

Sugar Rodgers left the game early in the third quarter- she was scrambling on the baseline for a loose ball, the ball landed between her feet and went out of bounds off her, and Katie pulled her. We thought Katie was overreacting to a play she thought Sugar should have made, but then I noticed her coming back from the locker room and hobbling slightly. We found out afterwards she was injured. She showed more ability with her cuts than she did with her shot, and whether it was by choice or by defensive will,most of her threes were from somewhere in the vicinity of Jersey City. Brittany Boyd got frustrated, but didn't let it get to her until the end of the game, which is a major step in her maturity. Her shots were just not going down- it might be time for her to work with a shooting coach, whether Spoon, Katie, or someone outside the organization, and get that extra English out of her shot. She was a little cavalier with her passing, which suggests maybe she didn't prepare for the Mystics defense as much as she should have- or that Washington changed up their defense, I suppose, but TRP has always been a solid defensive player. You can't throw casual passes around her.

Shavonte Zellous got the start at three, and while she wasn't terrible, I don't know if she fits into the lineup. Part of me likes her aggressiveness going to the basket, and the energy she brings. Part of me wants to scream at her to stop taking stupid shots for the sole and express purpose of attempting to draw fouls. She took over more of the offense when Sugar left the game, and while it was out of necessity, it wasn't a good look. Carolyn Swords never really found her groove, and when she did start to get there, she committed a couple of rapid-fire offensive fouls that took her out of the game and out of her rhythm. Tina Charles was the focus of the defense all night, with three or four red jerseys collapsing on her whenever she got the ball. It was abundantly clear that the primary goal of this game was to get her to 23 points and 10 rebounds, then sit her down. I really would like for her to either take the step back and shoot a three, or take a few steps in. The two-and-seven-eighths Essence Carson special is not my favorite shot in the world.

I feel like when Sugar went out of the game, then that was it, the switch went off. We stood no realistic chance of winning as short-handed as we were, and it seemed more important to be cautious for the playoffs. But it was a disappointing finish to the home schedule, especially on Fan Appreciation Night.

And to be honest, for Fan Appreciation Night, it was really low-key. Yes, there were shirts, and yes, a few fans were showered with MSG gift certificates, but other than that there wasn't a lot of the effusiveness we'd become used to. I suppose it makes sense, in a way; the game didn't mean much, and it was a mid-week game against a team with very limited drawing ability. It's hard to get enthusiastic about that.

The game, in a nutshell: in the last two minutes, the Liberty are down ten and Tanisha Wright has a picture-perfect fast break that can bring it down to eight and breathe life back into the team. Off the iron and out, and Washington pulls down the rebound. I don't think I've ever literally seen someone gnash their teeth before, but Tanisha did.

All I ask for out of officials is consistency, and if y'all aren't calling defensive three seconds on both sides of the court, we're going to have a problem.

I pity Chicago fans. This next game is gonna suck.