July 11th, 2018: New York at Connecticut

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Shavonte Zellous's three off the window at the buzzer was the game-winner in New York's 79-76 victory at Connecticut. Tina Charles led New York with 19 points and 11 rebounds, getting strong support from Epiphanny Prince (15 points) and Shavonte Zellous (14 points). Alyssa Thomas had a double-double in her return for the Sun, with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Chiney Ogwumike had a team-high 17 points.

For relief, being on the road again, unexpected detours, karmic balancing, too many sports, the cavalry arriving just in time, and a fine cheesesteak, join your intrepid and relieved blogger after the jump.



It is too early for this and I am never doing this again, Sometimes I think that's actually my motto. I'm not exactly what you would call a morning person. One might even say I am decidedly not a morning person. And yet here I am on a Chinatown bus to Mohegan Sun, at 8:30 in the morning, on my way to see the Liberty take on the Connecticut Sun.

Much to my consternation, the 8:00 bus out of Flushing is the super local, detouring all the way out to Bayside by 170th and going up the Clearview to the Throgs Neck. Part of me is intrigued by the different route. Part of me is going to be extremely annoyed if the extra time and distance make me late for the game. At least there's space, as evidenced by my ability to make these pregame notes, since the woman next to me opted to sit in the back. I think she spotted an empty row or something.

Dear fellow travelers, please note that onions and scallions are not appropriate breakfast foods in enclosed spaces. Either that, or the gentleman behind me needs to put his shoes back on.

To my pleased surprise, they're being less stringent about bag check today. I think it might have to do with Camp Day. On the other hand, there appears to be a distinct lack of campers. But I'll take what I can get. It's halftime here at Mohegan Sun, and Connecticut is up 42-38 on New York. It could definitely be worse. We've been bad on switches and sloppy on passes. But Connecticut's passing has been worse.

Terrible anthem. Pick a key. Pick a tune. Figure out where your R's are supposed to go.

I'm not the only Liberty fan here, which is a pleasant surprise. Meanwhile, the people next to me are spending half the game watching tennis on his phone. I mean, I have no objection to doing other things during timeouts and other stoppages of play, but when there's actually basketball going on, I will disapprove of your actions.

The dance groups at halftime actually weren't bad. I've seen worse, and they were mostly wearing decent clothes, which is a refreshing change.

Wooooo boy does it feel good when the universe finally gives you back one of the ones it owes you! I mean, I want to know if Shavonte called glass, but it doesn't actually matter. Isn't it amazing how one moment can make the whole day worthwhile? I have no idea how we pulled it off. I really thought we lost it in the fourth quarter when the Sun started pulling away, but this team is going to kill me one of these days. I know it.

I'm currently working on these notes from the hotel lobby. We'll see how long that lasts. Trying to catch up the husband's hat with mine, but so far I've only seen Spoon and maybe Kia Nurse. And maybe-Kia was in cell phone land. We all know how that is. Those millennials and their newfangled devices. (I was born in 1984. #thatsthejoke)

Looks like the team is leaving town with no delay. Everyone's got suitcases. Making sure they don't overturn that shot?

Lexie Brown played so little for Connecticut that I only noticed she was in the game when she was running off the floor. While I think the Sun's acquisition of Layshia Clarendon will be good for her in the long run, I imagine it's going to set back her playing time in the short run. Clarendon made a big impact early, hitting her first shot for the Sun to beat the buzzer. She's more of a driver than Bentley was, and passes well out of that driving lane. I think she's going to fit in well with the Sun. Courtney Williams is just instant offense, you don't even need to add water. She's so quick and gets in the way of so much on the other end of the floor. She was one of the cornerstones of the smaller lineup that almost won Connecticut the game.

It always seems like Shekinna Stricklen should be more of a presence on the floor than she is. When she gets hot from outside, that's one thing, but she creates such mismatches on defense that it seems like she could be a monster there if she just applied herself. But she's content with being an outsized outside shooter. I don't get it. Brionna Jones got physical down low. She's pretty good at that. Morgan Tuck cannot defend Tina Charles. There are a lot of players you can say that about, to be fair, but Tuck got wrecked when she was on Tina. I might have felt bad for her, but this was not a Sun day for me. Betnijah Laney brought a lot of energy to the floor for Connecticut, and I'm pretty sure that's her role. But it wasn't focused energy, and while it was good to wake the team up, she didn't provide concrete results for them.

I really want to know if something's up with Jonquel Jones, either physically or mentally. She barely played in the second half. I don't know if she got hurt, or if Miller just really wanted to go small. When she did play, she was good but not great. There were moments when she used her height and length well defensively to block shots and deflect passes, but she did an awful lot of drifting around outside on offense. Your smaller lineup should probably not be your more physical lineup. Alyssa Thomas looks like she's still getting over the shoulder injury and still getting back in proper condition. The people behind me thought she was looking tired by the end of the game, and her free throw technique is slightly more questionable than it was before the shoulder injury. But man, when she drives and she's on, she has that same fluidity that Holdsclaw once had, that Matrix effect that makes you think she has either too many joints or not enough bones. Bend and twist and score. Chiney Ogwumike was banging down low, and she seemed to have better luck on Tina than she did on Kia Vaughn. Tina she could push a little; Kia she sort of just... bounced off. Not in the Braxton/Stinson sense, but in the "I have found an immovable object" sense. She turned up big in the fourth.

For all the attention that the ridiculous vertical of Courtney Williams gets, Jasmine Thomas can get up there too. She had an impressive tip-in off an offensive rebound. (I think. It might have been credited to Jonquel Jones. They were both in on the play.) She damn near pulverized Brittany Boyd's ankles on a crossover. When she's on the floor, you can see why she's the mastermind of the heist. I'm not sure how I feel about Rachel Banham as a starter. She's improved on defense- witness the Bria Hartley shot she rode into submission like she was trying out for PBR. (Wait. Serious question, though. Are there female bull riders?) But it's still not strong yet, and if she's not hitting, as she wasn't for much of the game, she's not much use to them. They're better with Williams on the floor- but I agree with Miller's decision to bring her off the bench. Williams as a reserve is a second wind, a fresh jolt of energy. If Clarendon can take that role, that changes the equation.

It's strange to say that a smaller lineup is a more physical lineup, but with Jones floating around outside, and with the rebounding ability of Williams and Jasmine Thomas, they were getting tougher inside play with the three-guard set and Alyssa Thomas as the four to Ogwumike's five.

Rebecca Allen was in for literally one possession, and it was as a decoy on the last possession. She didn't screw it up. *shrug emoji* I mean, there's not much else I can say there. Kia Nurse, for the first time that I can remember seeing, looked somewhat like she was in over her head. The dead ball foul she committed against Stricklen- which set up a three-point possession for the Sun- was an uncharacteristically boneheaded play from her. On days like this, I can see why she's getting fewer minutes. She'll learn. Brittany Boyd plays at full speed all the time. It can be good when she's firing the team up and getting the offense flowing. It can be a bit problematic when she's constantly throwing her body in front of offensive players and getting called for the foul, or when she persists in throwing up the worst-looking shots in the lane when she has an opportunity. I do like that she's making the three-pointer more of a weapon, even if I think she has to speed up her release a little bit. She's taking a long time to wind up. Sugar Rodgers got most of her run in early, but she was a little passive for my liking.

Amanda. Amanda Zahui B. Bless your heart sometimes, Amanda. I love the effort she brings, but sometimes I'm going to need her to stop shooting. Just because Tina is taking forced, contested shots and being the first option on offense doesn't necessarily mean you have to fill the exact same role when you're on the floor for her. I can appreciate her ability to spread the floor, but the three-pointer only becomes an unexpected weapon when it's not half your shot attempts. Loved seeing her block Ogwumike, and she had a beautiful feed to Shavonte Zellous wide open down low. Kiah Stokes did have one emphatic block on Courtney Williams (do not run headlong into brick walls, Courtney) but seemed... I don't even know what the proper word is here. Passive seems a little strong.

This was the Epiphanny Prince we've needed to see on the floor all year. She hit big shots in the clutch and was consistent on offense most of the second half. But what stood out to me even more was her defense- she was all over the ball, poking it out and disrupting the Sun's offense time and time again. Something in her looked like it finally woke up, and I hope it never goes back to sleep. Bria Hartley was a trainwreck for most of the game, committing stupid, needless fouls- but credit where credit is due, it took a lot of guts to slide in and take that charge from Alyssa Thomas with five fouls. One wrong move and she would have been out of the game (and honestly, I wasn't so sure it was an offensive foul). That's the kind of move that makes up for all the other stuff.

I give Kia Vaughn a lot of grief, and most of the time she deserves it. But this was not that day. She stepped up bigtime. She spurred much of the fourth quarter run with open shots, and her defense on Ogwumike was solid. Yes, I'm looking at this stat line for Ogwumike and still praising Kia's defense, because Chiney Ogwumike is just that good. This was the game we needed her to have as the muscle inside to complement Tina Charles. Tina had her usual game, though she was missing more inside than I would want to see from her. I think she's tired. She's had to carry too much of the load for too long, and it's starting to show. Shavonte Zellous was, of course, the hero of the day, with the three off the window to win the game at the buzzer. She brought a lot of urgency to the floor. Her defense was great, and she was all over the floor.

This was exactly the kind of game we needed to have at the end. It started out as so much of the usual frustrating dreck we've been putting out, with contested shots leading straight to defensive rebounds for the other team. But we hit the shots we've been missing. We made the stops we haven't been making. The big plays were there. And in the end, there was triumph. We didn't give up, which is a lovely change from much of the last couple of weeks.

The officiating was the usual blend of uncertainty and confusion, and Maj Forsberg should probably not be the person who throws up the ball for a jump ball. I don't think I agreed with a single block/charge call all day, and that's including the ones that went in the Liberty's favor.

For a camp day, there were an awful lot of swathes of empty seats. The campers came late and left early, and except for one group in the upper deck, they weren't very loud. I don't think a lot of places wanted to send their kiddos to the casino, for some reason.

I miss the days when the Sun would humiliate their interns instead of their younger players. No one should have to eat jelly beans that are designed to taste like boogers or spoiled milk. The reactions were so over the top that the green screen effect actually failed a couple of times. Betnijah Laney did a good job of rolling with the horror, though, joking about how she was going to start sharing with the dog because the flavor of the jelly bean wasn't half bad. (Also, why are these a thing?)

All things considered, the road trip was worth it. But I don't think this is something I'm going to be doing frequently. Not a morning person. So not a morning person.