Just the Facts, Ma'am: For the second straight game, the Liberty faded down the stretch, and for the second straight game, they took an overtime loss, this time to Atlanta, 85-79. Tiffany Hayes had 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Dream; Atlanta got 15 points after halftime from Angel McCoughtry, who did not play most of the first half. Tina Charles had a monster game in the loss for New York, with 29 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals, and six assists- but Sugar Rodgers (10 points) was the only other Liberty player to crack double digits in scoring.
For screaming, so much screaming, new living room decorations, passionate road fans, cool kids, defensive lapses, Huskies crying wolf, chemistry issues, questionable play-calling, so very many missed opportunities, and lousy officiating, join your intrepid and transient blogger after the jump.
Good morning, everyone! It's your intrepid blogger's least favorite sort of game of the year- School Day, the 11 AM start that messes with my circadian rhythm and forces me to endure thousands of screaming children for the sake of my team. To be honest, I was seriously considering skipping this one, but for work-related political reasons, I decided to take the days I was entitled to.
Of course, if there are children, there are thundersticks. They're black and white, but the 20th anniversary logo is pretty well done.
Atlanta rushed off in a hurry. Reshanda Gray disappointed the kids, but Meighan Simmons at least stopped for pictures (and for my hat, yay!).
We have a biddy game to start things off, and people are so adorably hyped when one of those little kids hits a shot. One kid runs a pretty nice fast break but is just too tiny to hit a lay-up. (No, seriously, between the braids and the gait, she looks like a very tiny Spoon, my heart is exploding with squee.)
God bless you for coming up here, you decked out Dream fan, but you're behind the wrong bench.
At halftime, New York is up 39-32, but the bigger issue for Atlanta is that Angel McCoughtry came out very early in the first quarter and did not return. She's been on the bench, but not playing. We're enduring an anti-bullying lecture/slam poetry session.
The kids behind us are into the game and loathe the officials as much as we do, so that's cool.
The officials have been lousy. The FT differential is ridiculous. Then Mount Laimbeer exploded, and now both teams are getting crappy calls on them.
Tiffany Hayes leads Atlanta with 13; Tina Charles has 10 for New York. Both teams are missing open shots and multiple looks.
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGH AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGH RRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGH
Okay, fine, I'll write coherent Game Notes for you. They're going to be more collaborative than usual, since the Queen Mother and I are hashing the game out as I type.
Atlanta did a marvelous job playing the passing lanes and deflecting balls. That's one thing they're brilliant at. They closed like a trap and batted the ball away. 11 blocks and 13 steals- and that's just what made it into the stats.
Michael Cooper worked heavily with his deep bench in the first half. Everyone saw time. Reshanda Gray's only minutes were in the first half, and even then the announcer almost forgot to mention her existence. She was physical, but otherwise unremarkable. Rachel Hollivay hits hard- she bodied up early and often on the Liberty posts. She had good looks at the basket, but she missed them- then again, the rim at that end of the floor was doing odd things to shots. Lots of stuff was rimming out. Cierra Burdick's first half minutes were unremarkable, but there's something I would like about having her on the floor if I were a Dream fan. It might be the defense. She needs to lay off shooting after the whistle, though.
Meighan Simmons is still very fast, and still likes to shoot a lot, and is still terribly inaccurate when she does. I'm not quite sure when she managed to block a shot, but we were getting swatted a lot by a lot of hands; that might have been a block-by-committee that got assigned to her. Matee Ajavon played very briefly, missed an easy shot, and generally still gets under my skin just for existing, but I acknowledge and accept that it's mostly irrational. Carla Cortijo passes the ball very fast and very hard- in that regard, like a young Ticha Penicheiro. I think at least two turnovers were because the ball got there before the recipient. She's a good energy player. Bria Holmes did a good job drawing fouls and getting to the line, although with this officiating crew pretty much anyone in an Atlanta uniform could draw fouls.
Layshia Clarendon brought the defense (and as usual, the epic hair). She didn't play as much down the stretch, with Cooper going to Cortijo instead, but she came in for defensive shifts. She plays good, heady defense. I feel like I'm harping, but she was utterly useless on offense. Tiffany Hayes appears to have been working on her upper body strength- with the thickness of her shoulders and the long skinny braids, she was starting to remind me of Loree Moore. She took a lot of hits and fell down a lot. Either she has the strange combination of low pain threshold/high pain tolerance, or she gives no damns about her body, or she's really good at acting like she's hurt. It cost her on one play, where she hit the deck and no foul was called. That was a rarity. She got the call most of the night. She killed us from outside, and she killed us penetrating, and I'm pretty sure by the end of the night she had people wanting to strangle either her or the defender who kept bailing on her. (Ahem. Ta'Shauna.) She's reckless and wild and one of these days she's going to have a 2-19 night and kill her team that way. But if she were a Lib her jersey would be flying off the shelves.
Angel McCoughtry left the game very early in the first quarter, and she was limping when she came back for the second half. Whatever it was, either she got over it or they gave her some mighty fine painkillers to take care of it, because she lit up in the fourth quarter and overtime. That was the Angel we know to fear. She's still convinced she's a distance shooter, but as a Liberty fan I'm okay with that. She and Sancho Lyttle are still one of the most lethal double-team traps in the league, with long arms and active hands and absolutely no give. The two of them together forced I don't know how many turnovers off steals or rebounds or missed shots. Lyttle's shot was off, but for brief moments she looked like the Sancho Lyttle of the Houston Comets. And defensively, of course, she was ridiculous. Her hands were everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Elizabeth Williams was a calm center in the midst of the frenetic defensive activity. She's solid. She could stand to work on her free throw shooting, and she's got to finish at the rim, but she's an excellent piece for the next stage of the Dream's life cycle.
I like the Dream's uniforms. For them, that pop of red on the collar works, and the blue on blue is reasonably attractive. I'm not so sure about the gray jackets, though.
I think the training staff really needs to do something about this recto-cranial inversion that Brittany Boyd is suffering from. It's really getting ridiculous. She's trying too hard to take the fancy shot when she could settle for the straight up shot. She's telegraphing her passes. I want her to succeed so very badly- I'm typing these words while wearing a Boyd jersey, and y'all know how I feel about the price of jerseys. But the pressure is getting to her, or something is getting to her. Her body language is really bad. Everything seems to be accompanied by a grimace or almost a growl. I really hope she's okay. Shoni Schimmel played briefly at the end of the game, and just like last game, she went in about two possessions after she was really needed. She looked to be in a little better shape than she was last game. Something's off with Shavonte Zellous, too. Her shot is off, and because her shot is off, it's throwing off her entire game. She seems like she's trying too hard to draw contact and not enough to actually hit the shot. If you're not getting the calls, learn to recognize that and move on.
Kiah Stokes had a nice sequence with two blocks, and was solid defensively, but she's got to be more assertive on offense. I thought she played well on the boards and in the middle. Amanda Zahui B saw a few minutes in the first half, but she looked like she was out of sync with the team on both ends of the floor. Maybe she's not a morning person. I've been there. Swin Cash hit her free throws, which was more than I can say for most of our posts. It's good to have her defense and her leadership back. She's still a little rusty, but that's to be expected.
Tina Charles went into beast mode today. I'm not going to give her too much grief for the missed free throws, though it would have been nice if she hit one of them in regulation. But she put everything out on the floor and played out of her mind. Inside, outside, swatting shots, claiming boards, deflecting balls- I don't know how many of those steals were legitimately hers and how many she just initiated that other people took off down the floor. She was phenomenal. Carolyn Swords has to finish at the rim. She had offensive rebounds and chances to score, and she missed at the rim again and again. I like what she brings, but I need to see more of it.
Lindsey Harding was missing a lot of shots short, and we were irked that she wasn't getting yelled at for them. Katie Smith eventually took her aside and gave her a talking to, but it didn't seem like it had much of an effect. Sugar Rodgers had another bad shooting night, and reverted back to the approach of "keep shooting, it'll go in eventually". It didn't go in all that much, except for the wild shot to force overtime and drag the suffering out further. She was out of position a lot on defense. If Hayes is shooting as well as she was, why in God's name would you repeatedly leave her open to go double? Why is this a good plan? Tanisha Wright was okay, nothing more. I'm still worried about her shot and her tendency to pass out of good looks, though those two are probably related.
Bill, we need to talk. A lot. We need to talk about you sitting back with your feet up like you're chilling at the bar as Atlanta goes on a run. We need to talk about you hoarding timeouts like you get a bonus for having them left at the end of the game. We need to talk about you grinding the offense to a halt in the last seven minutes and clocking the ball. (I'm pretty sure Stringer was yelling at you to get the offense moving, Bill.) We need to talk about your personnel decisions in overtime, and why you won't use Shoni even as a decoy when you need three-pointers. We need to talk about why this team doesn't know their defensive schemes, and why people are out of position, and why we're not hitting free throws. Something's not right here, and 70% of what went wrong in this game comes down to coaching and coaches' responsibilities.
And then there were the officials. So many bad calls. So much contact allowed at one end and called on the other. And then so many bad calls on both ends of the floor. There was one play that should have been a jump ball and ended up being nothing at all. So many bad calls. So very many bad calls. And they went on both sides after Laimbeer blew his top.
Seriously, that Dream fan was amazing. She came up that morning, from Georgia (she had the Georgia voter pin on her visor), fully decked out: visor, pins, lanyard, schedule, shirt, wristbands, thundersticks, the whole nine yards. We should all be so passionate about our teams. (She was kind enough to pass along the thundersticks when I asked if she had extras. They will hold a place of great honor among the others in our living room.) I hope the rest of her trip to New York is full of magic, wonder, joy, and good karma.
I'm really wondering if Bill is still the right coach for this team. He's brilliant at evaluating talent, for the most part, and he trades well. If we could carve out a position for him to be in charge of that, and let someone else coach, and let Bernert continue to handle the business end, I think we'd be well off. But I've been questioning more and more of his decisions in the flow of the game. Getting outcoached by Michael Cooper has to stick in his craw. Right?
Kids, it's only a t-shirt. You don't have to fight each other like dogs over a bone. Don't get hurt over it. The Torch Patrol overshot their tee guns a bit, aiming for the upper deck and hitting the bridge a couple of times.
We need our young guards to get their act together. We need our veterans to play like veterans. We need someone who can make the chemistry work. Who's going to step up?
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
May 24th, 2016: Atlanta at New York
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.
Monday, May 16, 2016
May 15th, 2016: Dallas at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: New York went up 11-0 and never trailed in their 79-71 win over the Dallas Wings. Tina Charles and Sugar Rodgers each had 24 to pace the Liberty, with Charles adding 11 rebounds. Dallas got 14 points each from Odyssey Sims and Theresa Plaisance.
For Broadway, bright colors, questioning greens, new neighbors, herding cats, forgetting the damn wheelchair ramp, bad passes, big shots, and a Sugar high, join your intrepid and sleepless blogger after the jump.
Good evening! It's Opening Night at MSG, and the New York Liberty are hosting the Dallas Wings. As I type this, it's halftime, and Montell "This Is How We Do It" Jordan just finished performing a customized version of "This Is How We Do It" for the New York crowd.
I don't actually know what the most hideous part of the Dallas color scheme is, the chartreuse or the red. I like their blue, but it doesn't go with either of the other two colors.
Bridget Pettis is one sharp-dressed woman. Rocking that suit.
Amanda Zahui B was joking around with all the baby posts for Dallas before the game, so they seem to have left on good terms with her. (Though I noticed Plenette Pierson was all business.)
(We're now in the postgame, and we just had a crowning moment of Canadian. Adut Bulgak and Ruth Hamblin just swapped phone info or something. Holy crap, someone has an original '97 jacket signed by the '97 team... including developmental players. She left before the picture could be taken {it took a while to herd the cats} and that's a shame, because otherwise I would have told her, "Holy crap your jacket is awesome TELL ME ALL YOUR 1997 STORIES".)
Dallas really misses Skylar Diggins. They really don't have a consistent second option without her. Without her, Plenette Pierson and Odyssey Sims were both forcing the issue a lot, especially in the first half. Diggins tried to give it a go in warm-ups, but that knee is still braced, and she was walking very gingerly. She would have been at maybe quarter speed if she'd had to play, and I don't think she was very happy about it; when she came out of the tunnel, she was with the trainer and there was a virtual thundercloud over her head. (It also really doesn't help their rotation.)
Ruth Hamblin played very briefly in the first half and was very unremarkable. She seems friendly, though. Well, she's Canadian. Theresa Plaisance shoots very well, and I think we forgot that she likes to do that. She wasn't very smart on defense, though. I got the feeling that mama Coach Plaisance may have thrown something at her League Pass-enabled device when Theresa committed that foul with .6 left in the second quarter. It was a stupid foul. Jordan Hooper was out there, but not very memorable. I think she was getting beat on defense a fair amount.
Brianna Kiesel is taller than I remembered, but also slighter. She brought speed off the bench, but an unwillingness to shoot and a paradoxical missing step on change of direction. She did have one nice play to completely am-scray a Liberty fast break, though. Aerial Powers has phenomenal athleticism and a very high ceiling. Her midrange jumper was on point, less so her three-ball. For some reason I thought I remembered her having more of a slashing game in college, but here she was strictly a jump shooter. I wonder if Fred Williams was encouraging her to take threes even when they weren't falling, just to work on that facet of her game more.
My goodness, Plenette Pierson doesn't think she's ever committed a foul in her life, does she? Her surprised expression after getting caught with an arm bar was priceless. No, Plenette, you can't hook your assignment's arm and then claim she did it first. She didn't. Really, Plenette, you've been in the league longer than is healthy for me to calculate, everyone's kind of on to that patented trick of yours. She was frustrated early on- her points all came in one big spurt in the fourth, when the game was pretty much out of reach. She was physical. Her posing tendencies came out strong- I don't want to say she telegraphs her moves, but she does take a little bit to get into them. She fell a lot, sometimes with help, usually with not as much help as she tried to give the impression of. Courtney Paris is a lot of woman. I'm not saying that as either a good thing or a bad thing, merely a statement of fact. "Glacial" is a fair description for her- she's not very fast, but she's inexorable. She will get to her spot when she wants to get to her spot, and if you happen to be in her spot, you'll be moved. Other players served as decoys for her and draw away the defense, and there she was for the uncontested lay-up. I'd like for her to stop throwing elbows, though- she fired up a couple that seemed to go unnoticed by the officials. Also, driving into her is a terrible, horrible, very bad idea that people should not do.
Karima Christmas is a fantastic piece to have for a team- but she's not a starter, and having to start her in the absence of Diggins is a problem for the Wings. She does all the little things- she hustles for loose balls, she traps well in the corner, she defends like nobody's business- but she's not a scorer. I was surprised to see her hoisting so many threes, but then, that's our weakness. Odyssey Sims hits the floor like the second coming of Ivory Latta in her Tar Heel days. It gets to the point where you can't be sure she's actually hurt until and unless the trainer carries her off. She found her groove in the third with a couple of quick threes that tied the game for Dallas, but it didn't last long. She drove a lot, but her shots weren't falling. She didn't get good angles because of the defense. Erin Phillips ball-hawked like her life depended on securing the basketball. She got a little bit of offense going in the third quarter, but her most important job was defense.
Dallas tried to play to their strengths- interior passes to Paris, driving and dishing- as well as to our weaknesses out on the perimeter. I don't know if they're going to shoot like this all the time.
The woman, the myth, the legend, the Shoni. She played briefly in the first half, had a nifty three, but was otherwise unremarkable. The defense still needs work, but this might be a recording at this point. Shavonte Zellous came off the bench for some good solid minutes, getting buckets when she was open. Lindsey Harding was invisible at point, but in the good way, in the sense that she facilitated the offense for her teammates instead of over-forcing it. She still needs to get used to that weird 14-second reset off offensive rebounds- she was losing track of the clock a couple of times in the fourth. She's fitting in better than I expected.
Kiah Stokes is a defensive specialist, yes? She's good at defensive things, yeah? But she epic failed on Paris today. She kept wheeling to help, and Paris kept hitting lay-ups. That's a lot of woman to overlook, I'm sorry. She did well drawing fouls, but I'd still like to see her be more assertive on the offensive end. 0-0 is not acceptable in 20 minutes. Amanda Zahui B had herself a day. She did work in the paint and drew fouls. She still needs to find where she fits in the schemes, on both offense and defense, but I think she's going to be just fine.
I'm worried about Brittany Boyd. I don't know if it's the wrist, or if she doesn't like the personnel decisions, or if something else is going on in her head, but she's not herself. She's letting mistakes get to her, and that's causing her to make more mistakes. The shots aren't falling, and that's going to happen. She's got to be more careful with the ball. Sugar Rodgers, on the other hand, was phenomenal. She took the right shots at the right time, and the shots she didn't take were almost as important as the ones she did; it means she's learning better self-control within the flow of the offense instead of just chucking it whenever. We usually talk about the big step forward in the third year for posts, but Sugar's making me wonder if it's just as valid for guards. I'll need a statistician to look into that. She played an all-around fantastic game,a nd the only quibble I have with it is the question of whether she can keep it up.
I'm not digging Tanisha Wright at the three. Yes, the three-guard set gives us more options if one of the guards is struggling, and it makes us a little bit faster. But there were too many defensive mismatches for my comfort. I think it affected her shot, too- she got open looks, and her shot didn't look right when she got them. I appreciate her toughness and the defense she brings, but this is not 1997, and you can't start a two-guard at three anymore. (I also understand that this is likely a temporary, makeshift measure until the 24th, thanks to the scoop from Excelle, but it isn't a great makeshift measure.) Carolyn Swords was inconsistent, and I worry about her playing too low to the ground. She brings the ball down way too much, and was having trouble grabbing high passes- the passes that need to be high to go to her and her alone. Her basket came on a very pretty cut to the hoop. Tina Charles started the game like a house on fire. It was glorious. I love to watch the way she moves when she's feeling it. I'm not as sanguine about this long-two thing as the rest of the team seems to be, but I recognize that I have some old-fashioned expectations of frontcourt players. That being said, if you're going to take them, at least follow them instead of admiring them.
I feel like I'm harping a lot on the negative, which is funny in a game where we got out to an 8-0 lead and never trailed. I suppose I'm contrary that way. A lot of people did what was expected of them and not much more. Sugar was phenomenal. Tina did a lot and tried to do too much down the stretch. We need better balance behind our scoring options.
Inconsistent officiating will be the death of me, or at least the cause of my banning from a basketball arena. If you're going to call ticky-tack offensive fouls, then call the trips on both sides. If you want to call a tight game, then call Courtney Paris for throwing elbows. If you want to let 'em play, then don't call touch fouls. Figure out if you care more about the letter or the spirit. And I don't know who peed in Amy Bonner's Cheerios before the game, but she was being very anal about pace of play rules. Dallas got hit with a delay of game warning early on, and almost got another one because it took slightly longer than the requisite time to bandage up a cut on Sims's arm. Amanda got one too, for getting excited about a play and leaping forward onto the Y in the endcourt.
The national anthem, as sung by the Schuyler sisters from Hamilton, was fantastic. I think the waiting list for tickets just got a month longer, and that's under the assumption that people at the game were already on the list. I could have done without the second round of "God Bless America", though; if you have to sing multiple verses, sing the actual verses, not the first verse twice.
I prefer the black jerseys, but the seafoam aren't horrible.
We have new neighbors in the section! Very excited! And they seem to like us being loud. This is a good sign. I like neighbors. Fan community is as important a part of the W experience as the game and the players.
A good showing for opening day, but the Sparks and The Wrath Of Parker will be more of a challenge.
Friday, May 6, 2016
May 5th, 2016: Minnesota at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Minnesota Lynx raced out to a big early lead, then held off a second half charge by the New York Liberty to win 77-74 at Columbia University. Renee Montgomery had 17 points to lead the Lynx, with Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles each adding 10 in limited minutes. Sugar Rodgers led all scorers with 22 points off the bench.
For bleachers, festivities, funny hats, dogs in ponchos, Talia Caldwell's dance moves, fantasy games, grit, and the gift of t-shirts, join your intrepid and renewed blogger after the jump.
You knew it was coming. Maybe you feared it; maybe you anticipated it. Maybe you didn't want to think about it.
The Game Notes of Doom are back.
We'll be coming to you from the friendly and vaguely familiar confines of Levien Gymnasium, on the campus of Columbia University, as the New York Liberty take on the Minnesota Lynx. Unfortunately, your intrepid blogger has this pesky thing called a job and will have to miss the pregame festivities celebrating Cinco de Mayo. (Which is not to be confused with Cinco de Maya, the feast day of Maya Moore, patroness of large cats and championship trophies.)
Our season tickets look pretty awesome, and the envelope is even more spectacular. (I'm in the profession now, so I notice these things.) The season subscriber gift was a lanyard and plastic badge holder big enough for the tickets. (By the way, our official name is apparently "Liberty Loyal", but that's a stupid name, so I'm electing to ignore it.)
Look. Guys. If you're going to put preseason games in places WNBA games are not normally held, can you please get the security straight? Tell people which door to go through and what to do when they get there. Don't block the door on my husband when you've just let me in.
Maya's having fun out there. Finished her stretches with a couple of 360-degree spins on her butt. I wish the DJ would turn down the music a little, though.
We got maracas! I know, you're excited about the prospect of me being able to make even more noise, right?
There's someone on the end of the Liberty bench who looks an awful lot like Aleesha Powell. Turn around, person with big fuzzy hair! In the end, I don't think it was her.
Hee, Kym Hampton singing along with "Dancin' in the Streets". I'm easily amused.
I think they're still working out the handicapped seating a little bit.
We have mariachis at halftime. Also at halftime, Minnesota is up 44-31, on some really lousy shooting by both teams. Brittany Boyd has got to hit the shots she gets when the penetration is available.
Dude, you can either show up late, you can extol the virtues of Saint Maya to me, or you can come in stinking (and I mean stinking) of weed. You can't do all of these things at once.
Heh. The two Fever gals catching up at the half, Shavonte Zellous and Natasha Howard.
Kiah Stokes did not dress for this game. Street clothes are very nice, though far too many zippers.
We look rusty. Too many missed shots, too many steps slow. Minnesota looks a little rough, but still better than we do. That being said, if we play like this when we have our full roster, if we bring this kind of grit and hustle and three players diving on the floor in a preseason game, if we can come to the point where we declare "this far and no further" and mean it, we have a shot to be as good as we were last year.
Porsha Roberts has all the tools to be someone's Michelle Campbell or Aneika Henry, the player who goes overseas for a few years and becomes a star there before returning to the United States and becoming a solid piece to a W team. She's phenomenally athletic and has a good build, and I like her eye for rebounds. She's not as skilled as she could be, but those things can be learned. Bashaara Graves has pretty good instincts for a rookie. She had a nice steal in the first quarter that led to a break and a lay-up for her. I don't think I've ever seen someone foul out in a preseason game before, but Keisha Hampton managed it. She played like a Blue Demon- in other words, whenever the opportunity presented itself to take a long shot, she took it.
Sydney Wallace wasn't afraid to shoot, and I think that helped her a lot. When she missed, she missed badly, but when she hit, she was deadly. Renee Montgomery is a human pinball, especially on inbounds plays. I don't think she endears herself to opponents very much, judging from the number of times she got tangled up with either Swin Cash or Jennifer Lacy. She has phenomenal quickness and no fear. That floater near the end was pretty clutch. She just rubs me the wrong way, though. Nika Baric was unimpressive, but our PA guy probably wants Minnesota to keep her just so he can keep saying her name. He has a fondness for Eastern European names. Courtney Clements has pretty intimidating eyebrows and a hilariously wild shot. She reacted well on the boards, and she's a good hustle player, but she can be a liability on offense.
Jia Perkins had a quiet game, but that doesn't mean you can leave her open, Shoni. Jia Perkins hits open shots. Lindsay Whalen, like most of the starters, didn't play very much, so it's hard for me to get a sense of where she is this year as compared to all the other years, but she drove a bit. Maya Moore will do Maya Moore things, like hit step-back jumpers as the half expires, or pass the ball under an opponent's leg so Natasha Howard can hit a lay-up, or snatch the ball from Swin Cash like the candy from the proverbial baby. She burst to life in the second quarter, which was really all they needed from her.
Natasha Howard has so much potential, but if the Indiana "Welcome All Post Reclamation Projects!" Fever can't make heads nor tails of her, she might have a long way to go. She's in the third year, though, so if she's going to make a leap, this is the time she's going to do it. She's got to move her feet more and her arms less. Seriously. Sancho Lyttle at and in Houston video. NOW. Am I the only one who sees it? Sylvia Fowles had a big first quarter, getting Minnesota off to a quick start with power moves in the paint. She didn't play much after that, but I think she proved that she's still Big Syl.
I honestly don't know how much confidence Cheryl Reeve has in her team. Minnesota seemed to burn through their timeouts a lot more quickly than the score seemed to require. They've also still got a problem with foul discipline- there's a difference between physical defense and overly grabby defense, and Minnesota's first instinct is to grab. I'm also not sure how much coaching she herself was doing; Jim Petersen was on his feet and doing clipboard magic almost as much as she was.
Elin Eldebrink didn't look quite as lost as her last box score seemed to indicate, but there's still no way she's making this team. She wasn't terrible, and I like her heart, but she didn't show anything spectacular enough to squeeze her onto a crammed roster. Ameryst Alston showed willingness to drive the lane somewhat, but couldn't keep up with the speed of the game and couldn't hit the shots she was given. She's another player who might do better developing in Europe before attempting to break back into the WNBA. Sugar Rodgers had herself a fourth quarter. She's streaky. She's inconsistent. She's maddening. But when she's on, she's a sight to behold. Is there a way to be cool and excited at the same time? Because that's how she rolls. Shoni Schimmel can fire up an offense, but we'd better be in serious need of offense and not defense if she's anywhere near the floor. She's not a good defender. She doesn't know how to stay on or near her assignment. Her lack of movement creates horrific mismatches, and at least tonight, we didn't have anyone who could fully cover up for her.
Avery Warley-Talbert brought her lunch bucket today. She was a huge part of the second-half comeback, playing hard on defense and pulling down boards. It's going to be a tight squeeze if we want to fit her on the roster, but she's been good for us (and honestly, I think we've been good for her- she seems a lot more relaxed than she was when she first started with us). Jennifer Lacy was a tweener, stretching the offense but playing interior defense. She did a good job defending her teammates- there was a sequence where one of the guards got hit on offense, so Jennifer turned around and sawhorsed the offender on the other end of the floor. Talia Caldwell was very physical, but she's not going to get anywhere if she keeps committing offensive fouls. I feel like she'd be a good person to have on the team, but not the right fit as a player. Adut Bulgak has promise, and she had a really nice block on Bashaara Graves. She needs to work on her game, but she's a rookie, that's how they roll.
Brittany Boyd was super frustrating tonight. She got good looks at the basket and got good passes to take those looks, but they don't count if you can't hit them. She brings life to the game and life to the team, but again, it means nothing if the shots don't go down. Tanisha Wright seemed to settle back into playing shoothing guard, but she took a lot of jumpers and missed a lot of jumpers. I still like having her around for her defense, though.
Swin Cash cleaned up on the glass- both of her baskets were on putbacks. She also took charge of explaining to Amy Bonner why she was wrong about things. There was a lot of explaining to be done. Tina Charles didn't play much, but she looked good when she did. She's still a little too fond of the outside jumper for my personal preference, but I know Bill prefers to use her as a four, and that's part of being a four in modern basketball. That doesn't mean I have to like it. Carolyn Swords used her height well to pull away rebounds from shorter opponents. She's got to hit her shots at the rim, and she has to hold on to the ball- there were a couple of plays where she fumbled or dropped passes and rebounds.
We need to work on our shooting. Maybe things were off because we weren't familiar with the sight lines at Levien. Maybe we were tight, nervous, trying too hard because it's preseason and there are a lot of players competing for very few spots. But the shooting was bad. The defense was solid in the second half. That's what we hang our hat on; that's what we make our identity on; that's how we're going to succeed.
Levien wasn't equipped with replay technology, because otherwise there were several plays that would have gone to the monitor. There were two out-of-bounds plays that were sketchy, and there were issues with the clock reset for much of the night. I think both the teams and the officials are getting used to the new rules. It was a tightly called game, for the most part, except for one sequence where Montgomery got tangled with everyone and then Jennifer retaliated. (And the sequence where Montgomery held Swin at one end, Swin hooked back at the other, Montgomery hooked her again, and then the foul was on Montgomery.) The new guy communicates well, but we need to see what he can do in a regular W arena with the usual bells, whistles, lights, horns, sirens, and equipment.
Pretty good turnout, all things considered. I was certainly glad we brought our WCBB seat cushions, though- the chairback seating was reserved for Delta Club, so the general admission seats were in the bleachers.
There was a short fantasy game after the regular game, for some lucky season subscribers to suit up in Liberty practice jerseys and get on the court. Liberty players coached, or "coached", or at least coaxed and encouraged, their teams to a surprisingly competitive fourteen-minute, two-half game. The funniest part was the pregame entertainment- they needed to stall so the players could come out, so they played that game where one person in the middle throws the ball at people and if they don't catch it, they're out. The crowd was quite gleeful when the guy in the middle dropped the ball with three players to go.
The incident mentioned above with security led our long-suffering rep Morgan to hook us up with wristbands to the post-game autograph session. (Thanks for putting up with us, Morgan.) The n00bs were there- Adut, Ameryst, Shoni, and Shavonte, who were all very nice. And then we got bonus Lynx, Whalen and Fowles. They were both very professional, but I got a "er, why are we part of an event for a bunch of opposing fans?" vibe off of them, like they felt a little weird about delaying everyone else. (I also have no shame and snagged Courtney Clements, who was hanging out by the door with Jia Perkins.)
The rosters are really hard to pare down, especially for the Liberty. There's too much up in the air with Piph and potentially Rebecca Allen. I can't even fathom a guess. But I'm looking forward to the regular season and seeing how all the pieces fit together.