July 21st, 2018: Washington at New York

We lost. It sucks. If you want me to put in an effort, talk to the Liberty about maybe putting one in themselves.



Hey there, everybody! It's the Liberty's last home game before All-Star, and they host the Washington Mystics.

You get no pregame notes today because today was Zapdos Day, and I spent an hour hunting imaginary angry zappy birds with a bunch of complete strangers. Pleased to report complete success and a shiny! Raced my butt back to WCC just in time for the security line to pause for the anthem.

It's 43-35 at halftime. Both teams have missed a lot of good shots. EDD and Tina Charles both look exhausted. Brittany Boyd is energetic but erratic, both to extremes.

Shavonte Zellous is in street clothes and a cast. Epiphanny Prince is in warm-ups, but has been ruled out for this game. For Washington, Natasha Cloud is in a hoodie and has not played.

Shout out to the champions from Hostos! That program has supported the Liberty for a long time.

Another day, another loss to try and puzzle through. We're talking politics on the bus because it's less depressing than trying to figure out Katie's personnel choices. There was also a fairly intense discussion as to whether the County Center is more of a dump or more of a shithole. And yes, I'm swearing again, but I couldn't think of a good way to talk around the word.

I'm pretty sure that if I can see Mike Thibault from my seat, he's out of the coach's box. Not that I actually want these refs to have any more power over the game than they already do, but if they're going to be out there making a collective spectacle of themselves, they might as well be useful about it.

Wasn't there a lot of talk about Myisha Hines-Allen in the preseason? Or in the early part of the season? She didn't see the floor until the end of the game. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough was a spark of offense in the second and fourth quarters. She was easy to overlook, and we paid the price. I'm not entirely certain who convinced Tierra Ruffin-Pratt that she needed to be taking a lot of three-pointers, but I don't know that that suits her game. She had a fantastic offensive rebound near the Mystics' bench. I still don't see what the big deal about Tayler Hill is. I'm pretty sure you don't need to be a first-round draft pick or have a roster spot held open for you for two years while you're unable to play to be able to shoot an airball. Plus-minus is a stat of dubious use, but it might say something if someone is -16 in a game her team wins by 17. (If you're new here, I harbor irrational feelings about Tayler Hill. I'm sure she's a lovely human being, though.)

I was surprised that Krystal Thomas didn't play that much. She's a good physical presence inside. Tianna Hawkins got hit with a spate of fouls in the second quarter. I wish I could remember who she was trying to guard, because I don't think it was Tina Charles, but she was having trouble keeping defensive position.

LaToya Sanders is an old-fashioned post player in the mold of grande olde dames like Vicky Bullett, Tammy Jackson, and Sue Wicks. She knows all the tricks and has absolutely no compunctions about using any of them. She had a couple of big blocks, including one on Bria Hartley that was so emphatic I think Bria's kid felt it. She's such a prototypical Thibault player, understated statistically and indispensable to her team's success. I don't like Elena Delle Donne, but I have to respect her shot, and I have to respect her increasing defensive abilities. She's starting to look like she remembers that she's 6-5 on a regular basis, while still maintaining her incredible shooting. We lost her too often on switches, but that says as much about her ability to get open as it does about our defensive failures.

Kristi Toliver wasn't quite the scoring machine she usually is against us, but when the clock was running down or we were starting to consider the possibility of maybe getting our act together, she came up with the big shot. I thought she was a little bit in her feelings to start the game, complaining and sulking about calls that she didn't agree with. Monique Currie still hits big shots. She's still got game. There's been so much talk this year about the resurgence of Bird and Taurasi, but Currie's right up there, age-wise, and she looks like she wants to show these young whippersnappers a thing or two. Ariel Atkins got off to a strong start on offense, and looks very promising there, but still needs to catch up to the speed of the pro game on defense.

Washington had nice ball movement, or maybe our defense was just that bad. I don't even know anymore with this team.

Oh, hey, a reference to bad defense; there's a perfect segue to discuss Rebecca Allen's extended run. It's not a good sign when someone blows an assignment so badly that I end up yelling "Rebecca, you're embarrassing our name!" I think she played the entire fourth quarter (which raises some questions about Katie's personnel choices, but we'll get there, eventually). She got up a couple of pretty shots, but I think they were of the variety that might have needed another step back to be effective. Go ahead and ask me my feelings about foot-on-the-line shots. You're probably going to need a flak jacket, or a bleep button. Bria Hartley hit tricky shots and committed stupid fouls. For whatever reason, though, coming off the bench seems to be suiting her this year. Kia Nurse got hot in the fourth quarter, so of course we were wondering when Katie was going to pull her out of the game. She was hitting shots in rhythm and making great defensive plays. She looked much more confident, like she was early in the season.

I don't know why Kiah Stokes barely played. Tina was spending way too much time at the five, getting beat up on in the low block, and I was under the impression that that was supposed to be the responsibility of multiple tall people named some variation of Kia. Amanda Zahui B was feisty, and this was one of those games where I appreciated her three-point shot as an option when the clock is running down. This wasn't one of her better passing games, though that could be said about most of the team, to be honest.

Wow, we're shorter-handed than I realized. We must have a ridiculous amount of cash tied up in our current contracts if we can't bring someone in on a seven-day or longer.

Marissa Coleman appears to have hit the wall. She looked bad out there- bad passing, bad shooting, mediocre rebounding. She had one monster block, but that was the only thing of note she did all day. Tina Charles looked exhausted. She racked up points in the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach, and that just seems either pointless or selfish, depending on whether it was her play call or Katie's. She needs a break, and because of All-Star she's not going to get one. Kia Vaughn had a couple of good shots inside, but the moment I keep thinking of is the one where she had that open elbow jumper she loves very slightly less than she loves Beyoncé, had an eternity to take it with Boyd staring at her expectantly, and bricked it. I have been so done with Kia 1 for so long, but every day I seem to get more done with her, and I am so tired of this.

At least Sugar Rodgers had a good game. When she's on, she's on, and it's clear from the moment the ball leaves her hand. Her stroke really is a thing of beauty, and when she's hitting her shots, the rest of her game falls into place. Brittany Boyd played the entire game at high speed, which is not necessarily a good thing. She's got to be more careful with her passes, and someone really, really needs to take her in hand regarding her inability to hit a lay-up on the break. I love her energy, and I love the way she kicks this team into gear, but she's so erratic that she can do us as much harm as good sometimes. We need her to take that next step.

I do not understand Katie's personnel decisions. Or her play-calling. Or a lot of things, really. How do we have so many good defensive players and play such poroush defense? What's with the lack of minutes for Kiah and Kia? Why run Tina into the ground when the game is out of hand? Katie looks like she's in over her head, and the one thing she was doing well- motivating the team and keeping their energy up- is no longer working. Folks who were sitting across from the bench reported zero energy there. It almost takes talent to drain the spirit out of a team that has Shavonte Zellous, Brittany Boyd, and Amanda Zahui B on it.

Isaac Barnett is pretty enough, but he does understand that people aren't here to see him, right?

It's taken me the better part of two days to write these notes, and it's because I just don't want to. I don't have the energy for this. Even when we made a run in the fourth quarter, it never seemed like we were going to get back into the game. Ennui is a hell of a drug.

And they have the audacity to start advertising for 2019 season ticket renewals, including the return of the "Always Loyal" auto-enrollment plan. There's a non-zero chance the team will either fold or be moved, and we have no idea what building, or city, or county, the team will be in, but sure, I'll sign up for you to automatically charge my credit card every month. Yeah, no, the last time I did that we moved from the World's Most Famous Arena to a dump two hours from my house. I don't think there's a NO big enough to encompass my feelings about this. Won't get fooled again.