May 24th, 2019: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Teaira McCowan's buzzer-beating lay-up was the game-winner for Indiana in their season-opening 81-80 win over the New York Liberty. Tiffany Mitchell exploded for 22 points off the bench to lead the Fever, with Erica Wheeler adding 16 points and five assists. Tina Charles led New York with 32 points and 12 rebounds in the loss.

For pop quizzes, train traffic ahead of us, literal and metaphorical flaming disasters, snazzy jerseys, numerical issues, and banging my head against the desk, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.

Content warning: there is a cluster F-bomb in here. I was in a mood last night.

This is not a drill. This is a game day. Your intrepid blogger was going to skip this game, like so many other weeknight games up at That Dump, but two things happened. One, I started working from home, which at least lets me start out in civilization instead of suburbia. Two, the start time got pushed to 8 for TV. This is going to make the turnaround to the Sun opener tighter and somewhat more sleep-deprived, but I have Diet Coke. I WILL NOT BE DETERRED. I haven't missed a Liberty home opener yet. It will happen.

Because it's a game day, I really didn't bat an eyelash at the sound of the drumline behind me as I headed to the train, but the two guys staring behind me made me realize that it was live, and also in the middle of Jamaica Avenue, which I can assure is not normal. Well, at this time of day on this particular stretch, in any case. The Ave contains multitudes. But it was like, of course there's a drumline. It's a game day.

Holy Mary, Blessed Mother of Jesus. I got on a train at Grand Central at 6:11. Not only did the door jam on that train, but it turns out there was someone on the tracks at Wakefield and also things were on fire. We barely made tip-off. It's not supposed to take that long via Metro-North. I loathe Westchester. (With all due respect to Shadeen. And Bird Gordon. And anyone else I respect who has reason to take pride in Westchester.)

There was a disorganized shambles at Will Call, but fortunately that was a trainwreck I did not get caught up in.

I forgot how much I dislike the small, slippery, railing-free stairs at That Dump, and the constant feeling I have that I'm going to fall and crack my skull open. I forgot how much I hated the obscured views, and the fact that our last ticket rep put us on the wrong side of the floor so I can't see the bench or who's checking in at the scorer's table. I forgot how uncomfortable the lack of leg room got after a while, or how little space there is to maneuver. Y'all wonder why I call it That Dump, right? Or were y'all not wondering?

The new entrance video is excellent. The song's okay, I guess. It hits all the notes it's supposed to hit.

The new court looks amazing. The NY inlay at center court is so subtle I didn't see it until the lights came up.

There need to be numbers on the front of the uniforms, but I love the black jerseys. The two-tone green doesn't work, but the one-tone black does.

We got off to a torrid start and then fell apart, exacerbated by the fact that Captain Genius Katie decided that the time to rest Tina Charles was right when we lost the lead, instead of when she was missing shots short. I am so done with Tanisha Wright and I am so done with Bria Hartley.

It's 39-33 Fever at the half. Tina Charles has 16 of the 33. Kia Nurse has another 10. I think we might have a balance problem. Erica Wheeler has 11 to lead Indiana. Teaira McCowan is a whole lot of woman.

There is a very large rooting contingent for Shenise Johnson, with (paper) heads on sticks, and a couple of Tiffany Mitchell fans too. And there are Rutgers fans rooting for Wheeler and Laney (where were you guys when we had her?)

Please bear in mind that I try not to swear in the game notes. There are children here. There are ladies here, though I ain't no lady, I'm a broad. But oh my God, FUCK WESTCHESTER. Fuck this stupid place forever. Fuck That Dump and fuck Metro-North and fuck the punk kids throwing ice and fuck the suburban emptiness around the station and fuck the narrow seats and fuck the lack of leg room and fuck that it's a Pepsi joint and fuck the illogical security lines and just. Fuck Westchester.

So, game talk. I can totally do this! I have another twenty minutes before the train shows up! Because there are two trains at the top of every hour and then an hour break! Because fuck Westchester!

Stephanie Mavunga got a little bit of run in the second quarter, but she was slow on rotations and picked up two quick fouls, so she didn't get second half run. It also did not help her case that Teaira McCowan feasted on our undersized posts (although, to be fair, compared to McCowan, isn't everyone undersized?) That is a whole lot of woman, and I mean that in a complimentary fashion. She still needs to add a little finesse to her game, but she has the power, and she knows how to use her size. A lot of tall players are just tall, but she seems comfortable with it. Smaller players, and players who are not themselves small, bent beneath her. She might have trouble staying in for long stretches, and it's clear officials don't know how to handle a player who is both markedly taller than average and built like a brick house. Fouls happen around her. I think she might have blocked a shot by accident, just being there with her arms up.

Have we considered the possibility of guarding Tiffany Mitchell? Because that is maybe a thing we should consider the possibility of doing when next we tango with Indiana. She was very effective getting to the rack and sliding around the defense to take just enough contact to get to the line. She also has ridiculous bicep definition. I am in awe. I'm also glad she went with the blonde tips, and that she and Kelsey Mitchell were almost never on the floor at the same time, because same last name and half the numeric visibility is not a good combination. Shenise Johnson got rebounds to please her fan club, and made a really nifty defensive play that I'm not sure counted as a steal or not because New York almost immediately regained possession. I'm also pretty sure her fan club jinxed her shot by their ill manners, so I suppose there's some kind of silver lining there.

We seemed awfully happy to give up the midrange and elbow jumper to Natalie Achonwa. She seemed awfully happy to take those shots. She's very loud on the court. I'm not saying that as a bad thing, except in the sense that opponents doing good things annoys me. Her hands were good defensively in the paint with deflections. Candice Dupree continues to be quite smooth, and also very vocal on the court. There were times when she was a step slow, when her defense couldn't rotate and she gave up buckets, but she got them back just as quickly on Tina Charles. Betnijah Laney couldn't buy a basket for most of the game (she had one spin all the way in and out) but she made a lot of hustle plays, which I'm pretty sure might actually be part of her name. She had one really cool sequence where she corralled a loose ball without ever losing her dribble yet spinning like an acrobat. That play led to a Kelsey Mitchell basket. She came up with clutch offensive rebounds. I don't know if she should be starting in this league, but she most certainly belongs.

Erica Wheeler decided this would be a lovely night to get her revenge on the Liberty with threes in the fourth quarter to answer any attempt we made at maintaining a run. It got a bit annoying after a while. I am easily annoyed right now, TBH. Quiet game for Kelsey Mitchell, but with the work Tiffany Mitchell was doing to get to the line and to make hustle plays on both ends of the floor, she didn't have to be super scorer Mitchell.

There were flashes of the old Indiana ball movement, which I guess was sort of cool if you're into that kind of thing. Indiana's midrange game was pretty solid and they came up with the rebounds they needed. Once McCowan really adjusts to the pro game, they'll have an absolutely ridiculous low post game.

So... is this how Katie's going to develop Han Xu? Not play her except in case of emergency and never test her against anyone who's in her size range? I'm not a fan of this plan. We're never going to know what Xu can do if she doesn't go up against players similar to her in height. (I mean, okay, McCowan is of an extremely dissimilar build and our poor teenager would probably get broken. But you never know if you don't try!) Reshanda Gray was probably the biggest reason we got back into the game after choking away the lead in the second quarter. She was relentless on the glass and finished well at the rim on her putbacks. She did not draw an easy task, and she answered the call. Huge game for her, and if she keeps playing like this she's going to spend the rest of the season in New York. On the other hand, I had been looking forward to the return of Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, only to see her essentially mail in her first half performance enough that she did not make an encore appearance. It was bad. Lackadaisical might be the right word. If she's still recovering from her overseas stint, I guess that's a thing, but then, she didn't exactly have to show up, either.

I honestly don't know what to think of Tanisha Wright wearing the playbook on her wrist. In my more cynical and embittered moments, I suppose it means I should be grateful at least someone on this team knows the plays, since I'm not completely certain Katie does. There just seem to be too many stupid things happening on the floor when Tanisha is in the game, and I have a problem with this when she's a veteran player who should know better and should be teaching her teammates better. What did you think was going to happen when you ran headlong into Natalie Achonwa, T? I mean. Physics, how do they work? (The answer was that Tanisha bounced like a rubber ball off the schoolhouse wall.) Bria Hartley came up with some big offensive plays in the fourth quarter, but I'm still not sure why we held out so long to make sure we kept her. Asia Durr looks like she's at least trying on defense, even if she's failing miserably at times in that regard- she had a brilliant block on Tiffany Mitchell, then got called for a foul when trying to make the same play from a different angle shortly thereafter. She's more confident in her shot than she was during the preseason, and even if it's not going down right now I'd rather have her shooting than not shooting. We tried to run the Jewelly-oop with her, and it almost worked. By the end of the season, it just might, and that will be really cool.

Brittany Boyd did a little too much dribbling, but otherwise did not have a terrible game. I'm not sure what it says about her, or us, or Katie, that Bria was playing the clutch minutes, though. Kia Nurse looked like she was forcing a lot of her shots in the early action and really looked like she was trying to make herself an offensive option by sheer force of will. If it had worked, I probably would have appreciated it more. She knows what she has to do and who she has to become for this team to be successful, but I don't know if she knows how to get there, and I don't trust Katie to get her there. Rebecca Allen continues to be the most frustrating Rebecca, and I say this as a Rebecca. She had a couple of big threes and a couple of big blocks, but her ability to move to the next position on defense was sorely lacking, and I'm pretty sure Tiffany Mitchell snatched her soul out of her body on a head fake sometime in the second half. Figure out who you are already, Bec!

Tina Charles continues to do Tina Charles things. You get the feeling sometimes that she's just So Very Tired of having to do everything around here, like she and deGrom and Syndergaard should go out drinking together and comparing notes on having to be The Man. (in the pre-Becky Lynch sense) I'm worried about her missing shots short early, but she found a second wind in the fourth quarter and took the team on her shoulders. She decided that McCowan and Dupree weren't going to stop her, and they really didn't. I don't know what else we can ask of her. I don't know what else we should ask of her. On the other hand, I'm going to need Amanda Zahui B to do... something. Literally something. She missed shots she should have hit. Calling her a turnstile on defense would have still implied that she was present and that there was a cost to get through. She actually got out of the way of a pass at one point, which led to an over-and-back violation and a glare from (I think) Tanisha. She played like she knew she was already getting her money, so why should she bother doing anything for it? I know she can do better. I know she can be better. I certainly am not accusing her of having the attitude of Tamika Whitmore, but the "I have guaranteed money and therefore I can fail" thing is a disturbing parallel that I don't particularly want to draw.

Our defensive communication needs a lot of work. I don't hear us out there the way I hear other teams. Y'all are allowed to talk to each other. Especially when there are multiple players on the floor who generally have no idea what they're doing on defense, communication is key.

So we're going to talk about endgame execution 101. After an extended sequence of offensive rebounds and missed shots, Indiana had the ball and a one-point lead with less than 24 seconds left. What do you do in that situation?

A) foul immediately to have as much time as possible on the clock for the next possession
B) press like hell in the backcourt to try and get a turnover, then foul
C) let the opposing team bring the ball up unopposed and let them run off almost seven seconds out of twenty before your star player goes to the ball and fouls

If you answered C), congratulations, you're Katie Smith and the New York Liberty, and you are part of the reason why I would drink if I drank.

That's extremely on the coaching staff, but that's also on the players on the floor. I'll give Tina a pass, because she's the one who actually took the foul. I'll give Amanda a pass, because she had five fouls. But the other three players on the floor? The coaches? No one looked at time, score, and possession? Really? On a professional basketball team? This is a thing that happens?

Second pop quiz time! I know, it's summer, you thought you were free of pop quizzes, but here we are.

You have two post players, both alike in dignity, in fucking Westchester where we lay our scene. One post player is scoreless with five fouls and five turnovers. One post player has done hard work on the offensive rebounds and helped power the run that gets your team back in the game. It's time to put your superstar post player back into the game. Who do you sub her in for?

A) The scoreless player with five fouls and the defensive prowess of an old-fashioned turnstile (the high-wheel ones are arguably better defenders)
B) The player who has powered your team back into the game

If you answered B), you're still Katie Smith, and while I appreciate you reading my blog, you have better and more important things to do. Like figuring out how to coach.

I don't understand Katie's sub patterns. I don't understand her play-calling. I don't understand her personnel management. Is this some galaxy-brain level nonsense that I'm too basic to understand?

Officials mostly let them play. Not a good thing. Not a bad thing. A thing.

We had to pick up our rally towels at the end of the game instead of the beginning. Not the worst thing in the world, all things considered.

Seriously, though, please don't express your opinion of the buzzer-beater by throwing ice towards the court, or by acting offended that people think you threw it because it's coming from that trajectory.

I think I would be okay with being terrible this season if I saw signs that we might not be terrible. And there are some. I think Asia can develop. I think Kia can become a viable offensive option. I do think Boyd can be a good point guard for us. But I don't know if we have the personnel behind the bench to make these things happen.

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August 4th, 2018: Indiana at New York

It's not fun. Don't do it.

I hate this dump more and more every time I have to visit it. And yet here I am, getting ready to see the travel-lagged worst team in the league take on the most disappointing team in the league, as the Indiana Fever have wended their way to Westchester after travel woes to take on what's left of the New York Liberty.

They downgraded the shuttle bus and downgraded the snacks from cheese-and-cracker packs to a handful of Ritz in a Ziploc bag, and I hope whichever intern they had doing that washed their hands frequently.

Spoon took quite a hit off Brittany Boyd. Must be practicing how to finish through contact. Boyd, I mean, not Spoon.

Uh-oh. Got the coaches out on center court having a serious-looking conversation. God, I hope they're not talking strategy with Indiana on the floor.

And now they're mopping the entire floor. Either we're going to have a pregame curling exhibition or there's condensation from the difference between the air conditioned parts and the non-air conditioned parts. Because this place is a dump. Have I mentioned that this place is a dump? (Turns out they were mopping the floor for the martial arts group that was performing beforehand. They were not that good. And then they were hawking coupons in the stands.)

I think the "PUT IN SUGAR RODGERS!" guy is here. Though I have not heard the call of "I WANT TO SEE SUGAR RODGERS!" so maybe that was a different guy.

Can y'all turn down the volume a little, please? I didn't want to be that kind of disrespectful to the anthem, but it was physically painful to hear a kid with good projection belting the anthem through the over-cranked sound system. (She's young, so her voice still needs to mature, but she holds notes well.)

Indiana got off to a horrible, sloppy start, and that’s pretty much why the Liberty still have a lead. We looked really good in the early going, but unlike most games, our bench let us down, and Indiana's starters got their second wind in the second quarter.

There's a dude here from the Knicks, who's either here to get used to what pain feels like or to get used to the arena he's going to call home in the G League.

Favorite moment of the game so far has been Sugar helping count down the lights. Also enjoyed the tangle between Boyd and Erica Wheeler that ended with Wheeler helping Boyd up. They seem to have a healthy mutual respect for each other.

We were up four at the half. We were up fourteen at the end of the first. Everything is terrible and I want to cry. And they had the audacity to run three season ticket renewal ads during that goat rodeo masquerading as a basketball game. If I'm going to suffer such exquisite and ongoing pain, and pay for the privilege, it better involve a handsome young man in leather, and possibly a whip and handcuffs. This bus is an unrelenting sinkhole of misery, and somehow people have decided Brittany Boyd is a ballhog and it's all her fault. Sure, okay, Marissa Coleman is a non-entity and Kia Vaughn can only hit a quarter of her shots at the rim, and Candice Dupree murdered us stone-cold dead in the second half, but this is somehow the point guard's fault. Please send help, I am trapped in a spiraling mire of absurdity and despair.

The Mississippi State fans who came probably enjoyed the game, though. And I imagine that the dude in the Dupree jersey was pleased as punch with that second half. At least someone gets to be happy.

Okay. I suppose you lot want notes. I'll see what I can do. I'm not making any promises, because if the Liberty can't bestir themselves to score more than two free throws in a quarter, I shouldn't have to make an effort.

Is Kayla Alexander hurt, or just in the doghouse? An inquiring mind wants to know. It's me. It's my mind.

Either Indiana is going to have to start initialing their Mitchells, or they're permanently going to have to have extremely different hairstyles, because for some reason I'm having the world's hardest time telling them apart. I shouldn't. I know that. Maybe it's just not watching enough W this year. It doesn't help that they usually came into the game together and played a lot together. Anyway. The ongoing attempt to turn Kelsey Mitchell into a point guard is still extremely ongoing. I think the nicest way to put it is that she's ball-dominant and hasn't adapted to the longer WNBA arc; a lot of her shots seemed to be falling short. Tiffany Mitchell seemed more assertive in the paint- she got the free throws that put Indiana ahead, IIRC.

I was surprised not to see that much of Stephanie Mavunga and Erica McCall. I guess you go with what's working, but I thought McCall was good on the boards (or at least getting tips) and Mavunga could body people up.

I suspect Cappie Pondexter Googles her own name- she certainly searches it on Twitter enough- so hi, there! Guess what? Your team is better when you aren't taking all the shots! Admittedly, her teammates seemed almost as surprised as I was when she threw them passes- Dupree fumbled one beautiful feed that comes to mind. She could hit shots when she got open- the three was on a play where the entire defense was drawn into the paint, somehow managing to forget her very existence. Erica Wheeler manages to be both regular fast and sneaky fast going into the paint. She hustled hard after loose balls. I think I remember why we gave her up, but on days like this, it looks like a bad idea.

Victoria Vivians doesn't always hit shots, but when she does, she does so with style. Her two buckets were a three that kissed the glass gently before dropping down, and a deep three that she didn't necessarily have to take from Starkville. She's handsy, though. There was a sequence where she pulled Marissa Coleman out of position on offense, and Marissa looked at her like, "um, that was quite the move, shouldn't that be a foul?" She's got to be more careful with that. Natalie Achonwa would probably have spent a couple of minutes in the box in the NHL for simulation on her falls. She had one where she didn't start going to the floor until after the whistle blew. I mean, come on. She was amazing at scooping up rebounds and tipping them out to teammates. If she'd been able to finish at the rim more often in the third quarter, we might have been able to start drinking sooner. And Candice Dupree was absolutely unstoppable in the high post and in the midrange game. Whatever she floated up seemed to go in, whether it was the baby hook or the jumper. She's so smooth. She's so slick. She gets in and she makes things happen.

Indiana swarmed us relentlessly on defense. I think that, more than anything else, was what keyed their fourth quarter run. They found their second wind, and we were not ready. Once they took the lead, it was like they had stolen our collective souls and it was just a matter of time before we died.

Rebecca Allen blocking shots is fun and somewhat unexpected. Rebecca Allen beating her teammates for rebounds and blowing fast break lay-ups is, sadly, not fun and also not unexpected. Because we were going small, and because we had injury problems, and because of a slew of depressingly good reasons, she got entirely too much playing time in this one. I like Bec, because who doesn't like Aussies? But she hasn't been good. Kiah Stokes looks like she wants to be in White Plains about as much as I do. She's been a resounding disappointment this year. Amanda Zahui B stepped up defensively, but her offense suffered for it. (Tina is not that tall.) We needed her, and we got a lot out of her. We also got a lot of primal screams. She does that.

Kia Nurse was all over the place. Her energy was good, but her shot selection was dubious. I'd still like to see more of her at the three than either Marissa or Bec, though. Bria Hartley communicates well on the floor- we could hear a lot from her. I like when the quick threes go in. I like that a lot. They're not as fun when they don't.

I do hope Kia Vaughn is okay after what looked like a sprained ankle. She came up gimpy and went back to the general area that I suppose is considered the locker room. She started the game well, but seemed to fade back to her usual shrug-emoji self.

You know w hat? I'm tired. The team is tired. The team was uninspired. About the only thing I can really question is why people were getting on Brittany Boyd's case. I'm not impressed with her vision in this game, to be fair, and sometimes it seems like she's trying too hard to deke out the opposing defense by making the flashy pass where a plain pass would do. But here's the thing: she's trying. How many players on this team can you not say this about? Sadly, I don't think it's a non-zero answer. This team is a mess and I love them still, but it's not fun anymore.

And when it stops being fun... why do it?

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June 10th, 2018: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Marissa Coleman's three with sixteen seconds left turned out to be the game-winner in a close 78-75 Liberty win over the Indiana Fever. Sugar Rodgers led five Liberty players in double figures with 16 points off the bench. Kelsey Mitchell had 19 points to lead Indiana.

For putting on the cape, missed shots, bringing the noise, hitting people in the face, gratuitous hockey references (hit somebody!), riding with the usual suspects, and the permanency of impending doom, join your intrepid and ever so slightly fearful blogger after the jump.


It's back in the saddle again for your intrepid blogger, as the New York Liberty take on the Indiana Fever in the wilds of Westchester.

Communication skills. My franchise needs them. Don't promote that the gates open at 1 if you mean "the gates open at 1 only if you're going to the panel we didn't actually tell anyone about until the last minute" and the gates actually open at the standard 2.

This time we went up on the season subscriber bus, which was half full (and yet apparently someone had been told there was no room on the bus for her, all right then). It got a little bit awkward. Pro tip to the MSG flack: trying to drum up excitement about Isiah Thomas or White Plains on a bus full of inconvenienced Liberty fans will extremely not go over well. If we were fans of either of these concepts we'd probably not be on this bus. It might be a good idea for someone to prep trivia questions and discussion topics for Kym Hampton if she's going to host every ride, too. She didn't seem to have enough material to last the entire way.

The 2018 Liberty Pride shirt has a nifty design, but not the highest-quality material. Still, we bought it, because that's what we do. We're allies, and I'm technically gay spawn. As one might expect, there are lots of rainbows about here on Pride Day.

I'm starting to get annoyed at the dicey wi-fi quality here. Y'all, can this place have maybe one redeeming quality? Just one? If we have to live here this season? Can the wi-fi not be impossible to connect to, on top of the lighting being dim, the security lines being insufficient in quantity and slow in speed, the sight lines being obscured, the pitch of the seats being dangerously low, the food options significantly reduced, the available soda being Pepsi, and the travel time an absolute nightmare? Please? Pretty please?

(Honestly. Coming to this place the day after going to the multi-time Arena of the Year at Mohegan Sun is positively depressing. I've compared WCC to Walsh Gymnasium, but Walsh is a) set up for basketball, b) has much nicer bathrooms.)

Pretty solid choral anthem.

At halftime, we're up 38-36. Given that Tina is something like 2-for-googol from the field, I'll take it. The refs are letting a lot of contact go. But the three rapid miscues with the clock in the final minute of the second quarter are on whoever's operating the clock today, and the refs actually did a pretty good job of handling both the inability to start the clock and the inability to stop it. The reviews were quick.

I think there are at least two people in this building who would rather be at the Puerto Rican Day parade on Fifth Avenue.

The sad part is that we're getting good, at least somewhat organic, crowd noise. But we can't throw it in the ocean.

Katie May, whoever told you horizontal stripes and capri pants looked good on you lied to you and does not love you. I don't mean to get all Victorian on you, but cover your ankles.

You know, just once I'd like to have a no-doubt win. I'd like to not be in a dogfight. I didn't realize I was asking too much, but apparently I am. The only saving grace, I suppose, is that we played one of our worst games of the year and still managed to eke out a win. But I don't know how much more of this my heart can take.

Hind Ben Abdelkader came in briefly in the second quarter, and the PA guy stumbled so badly over her name that I thought he was just going to give up. She wasn't out there long. Kayla Alexander also got her only run in the first half. She was physical on the boards.

I was surprised to see Jazmon Gwathmey getting so much time, but she provides an outside option that Alexander really doesn't give Indiana. She hustled hard on the offensive glass and hit contested shots. I think she and I have different opinions as to how far her range extends, however. Victoria Vivians brought extra offensive punch and size off the bench for the Fever; she came up big in the fourth quarter, including a nice steal off a telegraphed pass, and the game-tying three that gave me flashbacks to the Stricklen shot. She's still raw in places, in terms of floor spacing, but she's going to be big for them. Stephanie Mavunga hit hard down low. I don't know how many rookies can say they have a block against Tina Charles to their credit, but she had a monster one. She's really tough. I don't know if Indiana has the right personnel to mentor her, though. Dupree's a different kind of player, and Achonwa can really only teach her the dirty stuff. I wonder if they could get Larkins in as a tutor.

No, in point of fact, I am not the world's biggest Natalie Achonwa fan. I can respect her midrange jumper, but I don't think she's ever set a legal screen in her life, and she certainly wasn't about to start today. She's mastered the veteran tricks at a precocious age. Driving directly into her was not the smartest thing Bria Hartley has ever done in her life, and Achonwa made that clear with a resounding block. Erica McCall fought like hell on the offensive glass and did big work on Tina Charles defensively. I don't know if she's starter material, but she's the kind of player you want to have on your team. She does work. I didn't know she could shoot threes like that, either.

I don't know if it's been brought to y'all's attention yet, but Kelsey Mitchell gets buckets. It's who she is. It's what she does. She killed us both from outside and on wild floaters in the lane (though if she gets a crew that actually calls travels, those drives are going to turn into turnovers). You can't leave her open. You just can't. And Indiana has the kind of ball movement that can get a player open in a hurry if the defense doesn't know how to switch properly. Tiffany Mitchell's a little bit tougher than Kelsey, a little bit better of a defender, and a little more willing to take contact. Too many Mitchells. Cannot cope. Erica Wheeler kept getting overlooked by the defense and sneaking to the free throw line for buckets. She's little and she's quick, and I'm surprised she never ended up matched up against Brittany Boyd.

Indiana's work on the offensive glass is amazing. They swarm the ball so well. When they're really cooking, their ball movement creates good looks for their plethora of shooters. They get caught on defensive mismatches, though. I'm pretty sure Tiffany Mitchell gave her teammates a piece of her mind for leaving her on Tina Charles.

Well. I think Sugar Rodgers is feeling better. Her lateral movement still leaves something to be desired, and her shots in the lane were coming up short, for which she tried to overcompensate by putting extra spin, but she was spot on as a spot-up shooter. So glad to see her offense back on track. Brittany Boyd knows how to turn the speed of the game up a couple of notches whenever she comes in- the ball moves faster and everything gets a little more intense. She's got to be more careful with her fouls, but at the same time, if you corral her intensity too much you take away much of her effectiveness.

Having Boyd and Sugar back allowed Katie to play Kia Nurse more at the three. I wasn't sure how thrilled I was with the concept of a three-guard lineup with that trio, but it seemed to work. Kia showed a lot of good ball thought on the floor. She's got a way better sense of the game and the floor than the average rookie. I'm so glad we have her. Amanda Zahui B spent enough time mixing it up with Achonwa I was expecting them to drop the gloves. (You get a Swede and a Canadian pushing each other around on the floor, you'd better believe I'm going to make hockey jokes.) She played a lot of minutes in the second half as Katie tried to give Tina as much rest as possible, and while she had a couple of strong plays down low, she was full of mistakes as well. It wasn't her best game, but I'll take it.

Tina Charles forced too many shots against too much defense. She played like it was a couple of years ago and she was getting no help, instead of in a scheme where things aren't supposed to revolve around her. That was part of what allowed Indiana back into the game in the fourth quarter- they were getting good ball movement and finding the open player, and we were force-feeding Tina. I don't know if that was the call from the bench, or the squad panicking, but we can't keep trying to make Tina happen on days when she's not happening. She's carried this team enough. Maybe everyone else can remember how to step up. That being said, I am desperately in love with her hook shot and it makes me happy in ways inappropriate to articulate here. And the previous point about leaning too heavily on Tina not withstanding, Marissa Coleman came up clutch to win the game for us with a three. She was quiet most of the day, but stepped up when we needed her. I like being able to shift her back to the three- I don't think we're at our best if she's at the four and Tina has to get battered around at center. Kia Vaughn alternated between making incredibly stupid plays on both sides of the court and making clutch physical plays down low. I'm starting to think her middle name should just be "Bless Her Heart". I did love the whooping she put on an Indiana fast break.

One of these days, Shavonte Zellous is going to get herself thrown out of a game for excessive yapping at the ref, or at whoever happens to be nearby, and it's going to be glorious. She got going at the free throw line early- for a good chunk of the first quarter, she was all of the offense we could muster. She didn't have a great game after that, but we didn't need her to. Bria Hartley made enough mistakes defensively that the concept of the stop-being-stupid beam was brought up. But then she put on her cape in the fourth quarter to pour in big shots and make a big block on the Kelsey Mitchell shot that could have tied the game. She stepped up when we needed her, and I'll take that. I'll take all of that.

That push in the fourth quarter helped save the game for us, but I don't think we would have needed to make it if we'd been able to stop the previous Indiana run. Sharing the cape is a good thing. (Especially if it's the nifty rainbow cape Maddie was sporting along with the Pride t-shirt.)

I appreciated the officials being clear in the calls that they did make. Fahy is good at communicating on floor to indicate what just happened, or at least his opinion thereof. There was a lot of contact on both sides that went un-called. Tiffany Mitchell is probably tired of being hit in the face. Being hit in the face is not fun. Do not try this at home.

Some salesman from a promotional product company was handing out generic samples in the rows behind us. He was not authorized to do so by the team. The extra noise was appreciated, but the freelancing is not cool.

This team is frustrating. But I love them. But I think Westchester is going to be the death of this franchise. Pride's usually one of the biggest draws of the year, and we couldn't even sell the place out. I can't really blame people, either. The travel is killer, even on weekends. Metro-North runs once an hour and costs $12-$20 round trip depending on age. Bee-Line buses are inconsistent and the ride takes eighty-leven kinds of forever, and best case scenario you make it down to Fordham. Tolls? If you have to cross a bridge, that's about $15 out of your pocket. And all of this, to get to a place that's not even worthy of college basketball, much less paid professionals. The natives are indubitably restless. So far, every time I've gone to WCC, I've heard at least one person say they're not coming back. Adds up over time. It really feels like Dolan has looked at the examples of franchises that have folded and teams that have moved, taken notes, and started to apply those lessons to the team he so clearly disdains.

Downer note to end these GNoD on, I suppose, but even when we win I can't shake this feeling of impending doom...

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May 26th, 2018: Indiana at Connecticut

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Indiana Fever came back in the fourth quarter, but the Connecticut Sun had built up too big a lead for them to overcome, and came away with the home win 86-77. Alyssa Thomas had 21 points to lead five Sun players in double figures. Kelsey Mitchell notched 18 points for the Fever, 13 in the fourth quarter.

For lost devices, panic, chivalry, new neighbors, high emotions, shaking off the rust, and young guards, join your intrepid and distracted blogger after the jump.


Well, that was quick, right? Your intrepid blogger is back on the road, off to Connecticut to see the Sun take on the Indiana Fever. We're currently paying toll on the thruway somewhere near Larchmont. This bus, at least, has air conditioning, unlike yesterday's adventure.

If you're ever looking for us, keep an eye out for the Tari Phillips jersey. I collect throwbacks, and that's one of my favorites. I may also have a 2003 Sun jersey, because I think the McDonald's jerseys were hilarious.

We detoured a bit in the Bronx, but we're making good time through Westchester, which is the only way I prefer to deal with this county in the summer.

So far, this trip is not starting off well. Traffic was obnoxious and my hotspot decided to go AWOL. My husband is valiantly offering to leave the game early to make the bus to find it. That's how you know it's love.

We're in our regular, for a given value of regular, seats for this game and two others. I get the feeling I would prefer our neighbors from the first game.

Dupree looks weird with the blonde buzz cut.

47-38 Sun at half, but I'm not satisfied with the way Connecticut has played. Their shooting has been streaky and the offensive rebounding is not good. Indiana got a lot of good energy off the bench from Stephanie Mavunga.

Our halftime entertainment is a man who balances on small moving objects. I'm impressed but not necessarily entertained. Oh, good Lord, there's a guy trying to balance on his seat.

Not impressed with the anthem. If you're doing a military appreciation thing, get a good singer.

Shout out to the guy in the Courtney Williams jersey.

Rebecca Lobo has the call on this game, and I'm pretty sure her daughter's AAU team had the ball exchange tonight. (thought I recognized the town name, and the girl in the Rushin jersey was a pretty good hint too)

That got closer than it had any right to be. Indiana has a lot of young talent that's feeling their way in this league, and if they all figure it out together, things are going to get very real very fast in the Circle City.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Hind Ben Abdelkader. I certainly wasn't expecting her to have a shot deep enough to have a legit chance of going in from about 30 feet out. I'm sort of curious how she would have developed after four years in the US college system (she spent a year at Cal), but maybe going pro overseas did her more good. I don't approve of how Victoria Vivians wears her shorts, but I'm also well aware that it's not my decision how she does it. In any case, her shot is still quite pretty. I think my favorite was the straightaway three she kissed off the glass right at the top of the key. She made a heck of an impact in the fourth.

Jazmon Gwathmey found someone to do her eyebrows! And that's probably the nicest thing I can say about her tonight! The Fever got a lot of good post play off their bench tonight. it wasn't from her. Kayla Alexander did some work down low, though what was probably her best defensive play still resulted in a Sun basket on the recovery of the loose ball. It was still a very nice deflection. Stephanie Mavunga brought them a lot of power off the bench. The second half star in the paint, though, was Erica McCall. She was all over the offensive glass. She made so many things happen for the Fever, whether it was setting screens (she had a beauty that sprung Vivians for three) or getting putbacks. If she could be more consistent, she'd be as much a part of the rebuild conversation as the Mitchells are.

I don't know what happened, but Tiffany Mitchell had to switch to the spare jersey for the second half. It took a little while for the PA guy to make the announcement, and people behind us were whispering in confusion about it before he did. She didn't have the greatest game, but I can see the potential of her working with the other Mitchell to make a very dangerous backcourt tandem in the near future. I started taking a real dislike to Kelsey Mitchell in the fourth quarter, in the sense of "I wish that young lady would stop beating up on the team I'm rooting for". She started lighting up Connecticut for threes and driving the lane for free throws. She's going to hit the rookie wall eventually, because everyone does, but once she leaps over that wall she's going to be amazing. She's actually got some defensive chops, which is something you don't usually see from high-octane offensive players coming right out of college. Erica Wheeler was the player constantly getting overlooked by the Connecticut defense, which led to her getting open jumpers and easy drives down the lane. I know she's short, but she shouldn't be that easy to overlook.

Natalie Achonwa doesn't like getting called for fouls, even moreso than the average player. She sent a Courtney Williams shot somewhere into the stratosphere briefly. She didn't play a lot; small ball seemed to be going more effectively for the Fever, plus they were getting good minutes from Mavunga and McCall. Candice Dupree is still so ridiculously damn smooth. Even with the weird haircut making her look distractingly bald, she looks good. She finds space, or makes space, and there goes the midrange jumper or the cut to the lane. She's the closest thing this team has to a star right now as the young'uns develop, and I think she's accepted the responsibility.

I like how this team held it together even when they were down big. A young team could easily have folded down 19, but instead they fought it back to double digits. Much respect. This isn't going to be their year, but if Chatman can keep developing this core, they're going to be very dangerous very soon.

Miller didn't go to Brionna Jones and Betnijah Laney until very late in the game. I don't know what sent them both so far back into the doghouse, but neither of htem had much impact on the game, other than Jones attempting to make a tackle. This is not a recommended course of action in a basketball game. Jonquel Jones still seems to be lacking some of her springiness, for lack of a better word- she was slow getting back, and didn't seem to be going after rebounds with her usual enthusiasm. Getting to camp late is really starting to show. She did have a fantastic block on Achonwa that effectively served as a make-up call to a missed foul on the other end. Morgan Tuck got a lot of pop from the crowd, as she always does, and had a couple of nice baskets in the lane. At least she wasn't throwing elbows this time. They were quite unnecessarily last time I saw the team.

Really good offensive game from Rachel Banham. She threw some variety into her offense, and that's fun to see. Her defense still needs work, as she's especially prone to reaching like a chump, but that's a Sun-wide problem on defense. She was a big catalyst for the Sun in the fourth quarter as they held off the final Indiana run. Lexie Brown didn't get a lot of run- didn't see her until the fourth quarter. I don't think I like that plan. Alex Bentley took a lot of quick shots, and I'm not a fan of that style of offense on a good day. Then again, she fired off some good passes that were subsequently fumbled by her teammates, so I can understand a little bit why she wasn't quite so willing to pass.

Chiney Ogwumike is still a bit slow and a little clumsy holding on to the ball. But she's getting better with every game, looking more and more like her old self. She was at her best down low. Alyssa Thomas cuts through all defenses like a hot knife through butter. You can pretty much tell when she's going to blow the free throws- it looks like she's forgotten which hand she's actually supposed to be shooting with. I wonder if that's a "thinking too much hurts the ball club" kind of thing, because in the flow of the game she's lethal.

Courtney Williams did her best to shoot Connecticut out of the game in the first quarter. But, wow, can she ever get up for boards. Her ups are awe-inspiring. She brings such speed and such explosiveness to the floor for Connecticut. She set up Tuck for one of her buckets with a wicked steal. Jasmine Thomas had a rough shooting night, and she's got to be smarter with her fouls. If you're a true point, a floor general, not a combo guard or a lead guard or whatever newfangled term they've come up with, you're an extension of the coach on the floor. You need to be out there. And they were not good fouls. If you want to do a compare/contrast with Shavonte Zellous's behavior during the Liberty-Lynx game, I'm down for that. I'm not really sure what to make of Shekinna Stricklen in this game. It seemed like she was being really passive.

Refs got to a point where they were really letting them play. There was one sequence with Ogwumike and a Fever player (maybe McCall?) where I was shocked no one was called for a foul, and if their personalities were different, there might have been a fight.

Our regular seats are amazing, but I'm not fond of our neighbors. Not terribly exciting or interesting people.

Connecticut needs to invest in better paper tape or rubber bands for their t-shirts. A lot of them are opening up mid-air and not going all that far. Combine that with Solar Power dancers who can't even be bothered to try to throw shirts, and you have a recipe for disappointment.

While I'm pessimistic about the direction of the league in a management and ownership sense, I'm optimistic about the future on the court. The talent coming in just keeps getting better and better, and they're more and more ready for the pro game That's the importance of longevity- these kids coming in have always known the W was a thing, and it gave them something to aim for. Every young team I see looks like they're going to explode into glorious success. Leaning on veterans isn't going to work much longer in this league.

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August 8th, 2017: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma’am: The New York Liberty survived a career night from Erica Wheeler and a strong comeback from the Indiana Fever to come away with an 81-76 win. Tina Charles had 26 points to lead four Liberty players in double figures. Wheeler’s 33 points led all scorers.

For outside shooting, fight scenes, and random encounters, join your intrepid blogger after jump.

Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, and well-mannered non-binary folk! We’re coming to you from the familiar confines of Madison Square Garden, where the New York Liberty are hosting the Indiana Fever for their first home game in entirely too long.

How long has it been? I was planning Legendary raids today because I forgot it was game day.

(That being said, never let it be said good karma is not a thing. Did three hours of volunteer work today. Caught my first Lugia to complete the legendary set.)

It’s halftime of Garden of Dreams night, which means that we’re watching various young and talented teens and kidlets perform. So far the young dancer in the middle has been my favorite, though the singer who’s closing out the performance is rapidly rocketing up the charts. She’s carrying off Carole King pretty well.

At halftime, the Liberty are up 46-40, though the Fever have been on a run. Tina Charles is doing Tina Charles things. My vision is a little blurry, but I think she has 18 points and five rebounds. Erica Wheeler is dishing out vengeance to the Liberty, with 20 of the Fever’s 40 (and Candice Dupree has another 10 of the remaining 20, so, uh, I think I know where our defense needs to focus). We’ve seen a lot of the Liberty bench, which has had its good moments and its bad moments.

I don’t like the new song choice for the intro video. Can I have Beyoncé back, please?

Amanda Zahui B got so mad at a non-call in the paint (while she was on the bench, to clarify) that her hair exploded.

Hi, Neika! Stopped for dinner and ran into Shenneika Smith, slayer of Huskies and bad-ass Reggae Girl. (At least I assume the basketball teams use the same nickname as the soccer teams.)

That was closer than it needed to be, and I think we need to get to work on our perimeter defense. Unless that was all part of the cunning plan, in which case I don’t like the cunning plan.

Marissa Coleman did a thing! From everything I’ve been hearing, I gather this is a thing I should be surprised at, but she took advantage of her height over her defender and scored deep in the paint. That was really it. Jeanette Pohlen-Mavunga played briefly, caused hesitation on the part of our PA guy, and got knocked around by everyone, including her own teammates. (There was a whole lot of Stanford-based violence going on in one first-half sequence involving Shavonte Zellous, Pohlen-Mavunga, and Erica McCall. I think either Kia or Kiah was in on it too.) Erica McCall seemed to find her stride in the second half, using her build more effectively and getting looks from the midrange. She has some of her sister’s gawkiness, though it's less pronounced with her stockier build.

Erlana Larkins brought physicality down low, including a big block on Kiah Stokes. She was in good position a lot for rebounding and boxing out. She had trouble finishing over the taller defenders that the Liberty threw at her, though. She took a lot of contact, and more than a little of it should have been called. Jazmon Gwathmey looked a lot like her old self from JMU- aggressive offensively, both inside and on the perimeter, and not afraid to take contact on the glass. She really seems to have come into her own in Indiana, and I’m really happy for her- she took a lot of unwarranted heat for being the other end of the Jia Perkins trade (it’s not her fault Perkins wanted out of San Antonio). I’m having trouble putting my finger on it, but she seems more comfortable more assertive, more in the flow and rhythm of the game on both ends of the floor.

My goodness, Erica Wheeler, have yourself a day and a night, why don’t you? I still maintain that that last three-pointer she hit should have been ruled a 2, but it ultimately wouldn’t have mattered and I really shouldn’t be petty like that. Tonight, she was the player we expected Sugar to be- lethal from outside, fearless on the inside, a pesky gnat on defense. We left her open, and she made us pay over and over again. Superb game from her. Briann January was tenacious defensively, and you can definitely see her martial arts background in the way she uses her feet. It's not just what I’m sure is an accidental tendency to trip people, but the fact that her feet are constantly in motion. She seems to have more body awareness than most people, and I know that comes from her mad leet black belt skillz. Tiffany Mitchell in the three-guard set did not have a good night- the rims were especially unkind to her, even when she had good looks, and I wonder if the hit to the face in their last game discouraged her from mixing it up too much on defense. Gwathmey gave them more inside while not losing most of the perimeter threat, so it's no wonder Gwathmey got the minutes.

Candice Dupree is so ridiculously smooth. The new hair is taking some time to get used to (hey, someone rocks the same look for 10 years, it's hard to adjust). The defense seemed to key on her in the second half, showing a whole bunch of different looks- I remember more than one possession where Bria Hartley or Epiphanny Prince worked on her on the perimeter. She and Tina Charles were going at it on the inside, and she definitely got the worst of it- I don’t know how the forearm Tina put into her throat wasn’t called anything. Natalie Achonwa got off to a good early start, but I think picking up the second foul fairly early in the game threw her off, and facing physical Liberty defense didn’t help. She had fantastic inside position on offensive rebounds- in general, the Fever posts did a good job sealing off the Liberty posts on inside rebounds.

I love how possessive Rebecca Allen is when she gets rebounds. She brings the ball down and wraps it in both arms like she’s about to start calling it her Precious. I am less in love with the stepping on the baseline thing, especially twice in a game. The lines are bright orange, Bec, how are you missing them? I have to look up how old she is later, because I know what her play is reminding me of now- a college player who hasn’t quite gotten the hang of her body yet and is like “Holy cow, I can do these things now!” Amanda Zahui B actually had a pretty good run in the first half, with a sweet pass to set up Rebecca Allen for a bucket in the lane. She took a hard fall and got up slowly, so I think whatever progress was made on the health of her back just reversed. I suspect that’s why we didn’t see her in the second half, unless there’s some kind of weird Canadian-Swedish treaty I haven’t heard about. Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe got the second half forward minutes, but did nothing of note with them.

Some of the shots Sugar Rodgers has been taking have been so ill-advised and so off-target that I’m starting to wonder if she needs to have her vision checked. I love the energy she brings on defense, but she needs to be a two-way player if she’s going to be the linchpin of our bench squad. One floater in the lane comes to mind as a particularly misguided attempt to channel Mark Jackson. Lindsay Allen helped speed up the tempo- when she was at point, there was a lot more ball movement. I’d love to crunch the numbers with both her and Shavonte on the floor; my theory is that it would show both more possessions per however-many units of time these things are measured in, and better plus/minus. She had a beautiful pass to Kiah Stokes cutting in the paint. Kiah was a rock down low, finishing the easy looks she got (there were at least two occasions where she was able to cut into a wide open lane with no defenders in sight) and defending well at the other end. It was the kind of performance we need to see consistently from her. (Though I’d like to see more rebounds. The offensive rebounding is nice, but the total is underwhelming.)

Shavonte Zellous has metaphorical cojones of steel. She took hit after hit, including one we were almost certain either rang her bell or did something to her neck, and kept getting up again. She was fiery on the court, and even if her shots weren’t going down, she was making things happen with her drives to the lane and mad dashes for rebounds. She brought an unreal amount of energy to the floor- it was glorious. Tina Charles should probably wipe her hands after she’s had a long rest- there was a fourth-quarter sequence where two passes slipped through her hands. I think she’s starting to wear down from the minute load, and it’s showing in the second halves of games. She’s a beast down low, and her perimeter game is a nice change of pace, but it seems like she’s been relying more and more heavily on the midrange game than on the inside game. I get that she needs to put less strain on herself, but that’s not how to do it. Kia Vaughn moves around a lot on the floor, but there never seem to be good results out of it. I like the occasional hook shot, but she misses it more than she makes it. There’s a reason she’s not on the floor in crunch time- there actually appear to be several reasons.

Bria Hartley is one of the most up-and-down, love-hate players we’ve had on the Liberty in a long time. She has moments of brilliance when she hits big shots, and she has moments of exasperation when she bricks open lay-ups. Her defense needs a lot of work- you could see the team trying to hide her on rotations. It didn’t go well, especially with both Piph and Sugar struggling. She slows the game down too much, and she seems very hesitant when she’s making decisions on offense. I’m not fond of that. I question Epiphanny Prince’s decisions with the ball, too; it seems like she holds it too long too often instead of passing, and then tries to do too much herself instead of looking for her teammates. Have you tried not painting yourself into corners, Piph? She has the ability to create her own shot, but it seems like she doesn’t use it often enough.

Free throws won this game for us, and I’m not afraid to say that we got the better of most of the dubious officiating. (How dubious was it? Garden graphics gave one ref’s name as Sue Blaugh instead of Blauch.) There was a lot of contact on both teams that wasn’t called, but the Liberty gave more and got less called.

Speaking of physical play... I don’t know what exactly went down, but there was some kind of altercation in the general admission stands. I think everyone on our side of halfcourt was looking over. There were most definitely shenanigans. Security was all up in there.

I don’t understand people who stomp out of a close game in the last minute, as if it offends them that people are getting into it.

Perimeter defense. This is a thing we need to work on. We’ll get there, I’m sure. But we need everyone to be the players we know they can be.

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July 21st, 2016: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Indiana Fever started strong and finished stronger in a 80-68 Camp Day win at the New York Liberty. Lynetta Kizer had 21 points on 10-14 shooting to pace the Fever. Tina Charles of New York had game highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds, but no other Liberty player had more than 10 points.

For freedom of expression, interior play, touches for the posts, the hard work of role players, raising the torch, pesky campers, and freedom, join your intrepid and outspoken blogger after the jump.
I hate Camp Days. I hate Camp Days. I hate Camp Days.

I'm saying it three times, because we're on our third camp day of the season, and this one has been a hot mess. I'm not even talking about the basketball. I do not appreciate security checking my ticket, but not the ill-behaved camp counselors' tickets. So far, the kids are fine- the counselors are being jerks.

Shoutout the kid in the Shenise Johnson Miami jersey. You're pretty awesome.

Fantastic Broadway anthem, but the kid didn't even need the mic.

After the debacle with the fines, the Liberty are back to the regular warm-up shirts, and Tina Charles, in an act of most awesome rebellion, has turned hers inside out.

At halftime, the Fever are up 45-38, because Lynetta Kizer is having the game of her life with 15 points. Tina Charles already has 15 points and five boards for the Liberty. We're getting whooped by the Indiana support players. That’s usually what we end up allowing, but it seems more prevalent today because our bench mob isn't stepping up like they did yesterday.

Some mornings you have it, and some mornings you don't. This was one of those days where we just didn't have it. I don't think the bench mob was recharged after the big game yesterday, and the starters weren't ready to resume being the stars of the show. Meanwhile, Indiana exploited all our weaknesses. They're almost built to destroy us.

Marissa Coleman destroyed us with corner threes in the fourth quarter, as if she had telepathically discerned that we were considering the possibility of a comeback and was going to nip it in the bud before we got started. Her length was a huge bonus on defense. You can't leave Shenise Johnson open for jumpers. You'd think we'd have figured that out by now, but we haven't. She created space for herself and used it effectively. Indiana didn't roll very deep, so the minutes she gave subbing for Catchings were huge. Tiffany Mitchell was instant offense- she gets a moment of space, especially beyond the arc, and there she goes. She still has work to do on defense, but she's a rookie and it's not the first thing on her task list, so if I'm Indiana, I'm perfectly okay with that.

Briann January makes things happen. She hustles, she defends like crazy, and somehow she so often ends up being the beneficiary of her teammates' work. I didn't think she had studied at the Cobra Kai dojo- there was a play where she pretty much literally swept the leg on Shavonte Zellous. Her jumper was off today, but she made up for it in the lane. Erica Wheeler got off to a hot start, hitting the first two baskets for the Fever, but her streakiness started to show later in the game- she was playing faster than her body could catch up to. She seems to have a good handle on that backdoor cut (I think we taught her that).

Tamika Catchings hit a couple of shits, and she really seemed to be forcing things near the end to try to get into double figures, but while Catch can score, that's not what she's known for. She's known for her defense- reading passes, getting steals. She's known for her motor, for never giving up on a play, for her physical play and her rebounding and the thousand things a team needs. That's what she did today. There was one sequence where she poked the ball away, chased it down, saved it, poked it away again, and saved it again to January for the lay-up. If that ball was a pinball, Catch was the flipper, except the flipper doesn't literally chase the ball across the table. I'm not going to miss her getting the benefit of the doubt from the officials, though. Erlana Larkins is slick, especially with the screens, and she's not afraid to sacrifice her body (which we already knew). She's got more range than the scouting report apparently gave her credit for, because our defense was backing off her in the midrange. I'm starting to think New York has never credited passing and facilitating centers enough. Lynetta Kizer had probably the best game of her career, which seems to be a pattern when she plays the Liberty. She was scoring at will with pull-ups, elbow jumpers, backdoor cuts- the entire repertoire of a mostly-power forward. She got physical on defense, and we were hoping that she'd get deeper into foul trouble in the second half, but no such luck.

It's strange watching an Indiana team that doesn't depend completely on Catchings on both ends of the floor. I think their defense will be shakier once she retires, but their offense seems to be be rolling along pretty solidly.

Shavonte Zellous. Oh, dear. I love Z as a person, and overall I think she's been a positive to the organization, but dear heavens was she awful today. Stupid fouls. Slacking on defense. Terrible shot selection- she was pressing way too hard and seemed to think she was the best option on the floor at all times. Careless with the ball. The only facet of her game today that was anywhere near being on point was her dance game. Brittany Boyd brought speed, and probably should have brought more of it, to be honest. I love that she's learning to control her speed instead of playing at breakneck speed every single moment, but I think she might have been taking it a little too far in the final few minutes she played. Her passing was on point and I love it. Shoni Schimmel played, but if you're expecting detailed analysis of fifty-five stat-less seconds, you won't find it here. I just find it ironic that the people next to us who yell, "Put Shoni in the game!" left right before Bill put her in.

I know Rebecca Allen technically subs for Sugar and Shavonte technically subs for Swin, but Bec comes off as way more of a forward than Z does, so I reshuffle the lineups the way I see fit. That's how I roll. I like Rebecca's offense, and when she gets into the passing lane she's good on defense, but she's not quick. Seeing her, I understand the difference between being fast and being quick. And she's fast, but she's not quick, and that killed her on defense. If her shot's not falling, against a team like Indiana she's a liability. Kiah Stokes was finishing at the rim when she got her hands on the ball- there were some passes that were out of her reach or were perhaps not the best pass to throw to that particular player at that particular time. Fumbling is not a good look. She got beat on defense more than I like, too. Amanda Zahui B. was aggressive, but sometimes doesn't realize that just because she wants the ball, that doesn't mean it's a good idea to pass it to her. Her one basket came when the game was pretty much over, and to be honest, I think she traveled.

Would whoever stole Sugar Rodgers's shot please return it? It's a very nice shot, and I think we all want it, but it's hers and it needs to not be stolen. She had open looks and that instant release she's so good with, and it just wasn't falling. She rebounded well, but we need her to shoot better. And I'm harping on the shooting because she and Tanisha Wright had a brilliant connection going, with Tanisha consistently finding her across the court with the skip pass, and having those passes wasted is quite distressing. Tanisha wasn't spectacular, and her decision-making still needs work, but she wasn't too awful today. In a game like this, where there was some really bad play, you take "not too awful" and you like it.

Swin Cash wasn't hitting her shots, but she was strong in the paint, and she drew the unenviable task of guarding Catch. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. I don't usually say this, but I think she should have played more today than Z did. Carolyn Swords doesn't have the sure hands that her teammates seem to think she does- too many passes went off those hands, so it might be back to the drawing board on those passing drills they've been working on with her. She had a monster block on Catch that was very satisfying. She could have used a few more touches today, if she was able to keep her hands on the ball- Indiana's posts are feisty but undersized. Tina Charles was on a mission today, and it was glorious. Her shots weren't falling short off the front iron- if anything, she was shooting it too strong, with the misses coming off the back iron. She looked like MVP Tina again, which is good, because we need MVP Tina if we want a shot at the double bye. Which, hey, maybe we don't. Maybe this team won't play as well with an extra round of rest. But what I liked most about Tina today was her choice to speak out with her shirt turned inside out. We'll see if the league tries to Photoshop in the appropriate logo for her Player of the Month picture, because she wore plain black for that.

Other than the usual biased opinion that we don't get calls and Tamika Catchings does, no real complaints about the officiating. It was a very physical game, and one that was allowed to be very physical. I'm okay with that, as long as it's called both ways, and for the most part it was.

Of course, there may have been plays I didn't see, because the camp group around us couldn't figure out what row their seats were in, and they were parading in and out of the aisle like it was going out of style. It didn't seem to occur to them that people might actually want to watch the game. This is not okay. For the most part, the kids themselves were pretty well behaved (but if your thunderstick falls in my lap, I get to keep it, it's the spoils of war). The counselors were far more obnoxious. And then the usher goes and asks for my ticket- not theirs, mine. My season ticket. Melissa- our long-suffering, painfully-educated, former ticket rep- picked these seats out for us at the border of the price change. These are our seats. We're here every game.

(Painfully-educated = survived getting her head bitten off because she wanted to make small talk while Nadirah McKenith was in the "oh God what have I done to my knee" position during the Maggie Dixon game against Baylor. Thank all the gods it wasn't an ACL, but we sure thought it was at the time, and no, if my point guard appears to have a torn ACL I do not want to talk about Christmas plans. Melissa at least learned from that. But as usual, I digress.)

This isn't the feeling I wanted to go into the break with, but we need to recharge. We'll be okay. For now, I'll take a firmly entrenched third and growth from the bench. I'll take the ups and downs.

Most importantly, we go into the break knowing who we are and what we stand for. In the end, basketball is a game- and it's a platform. I stand with the Liberty. Their lives matter. Their voices matter. So does yours.

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June 5th, 2016: Indiana at Connecticut

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Indiana Fever went up big and held off a fourth-quarter rally from the Connecticut Sun to win 88-77. Tiffany Mitchell had 21 off the bench, including 12 in the fourth quarter, to lead all scorers. Tamika Catchings, Marissa Coleman, and Devereaux Peters each added 12. Alyssa Thomas had 20 to pace the Sun.

For mismatches, size differences, color confusion, things of questionable popularity, terrible merchandise, Huskies, Terps, pegs in wrong-shaped holes, boss managers, and natural phenomena, join your intrepid and inspired blogger after the jump.
Oh no! My team has gone on an eleven-day, three-game road trip! What shall I do with myself? Catch up on housekeeping? Work on the Great American Novel?

Screw it, I'm going to Connecticut. The Sun are hosting Indiana. So we squeaked and rattled our way out of Queens to Mohegan Sun, making good time on quiet roads. As it turns out, the squeaks and rattles were ominous- we changed buses on the way back.

I don't know who's managing behind the counter at Geno's this afternoon, but that dude is a trooper. There's a new woman on the register who knows diddly-squat, and he took charge back there like a boss.

I think the Connecticut Sun are at a crossroads. They have talent. They have a coach who has a system. What they don't currently have is talent that matches that system, or a system that matches that talent. They're going to choose. And to me, it looks like they're about to choose the system and the coach over the talent, and I think that's a mistake. I think that's going to lead to a couple of very rough years, especially without the pick they traded for Jonquel Jones, before they come out of it, and Miller might be a casualty of those rough years.

Today I got to see out of Indiana what wasn't as apparent in the game against New York- their offense is heavily predicated on ball movement. When they can get that crisp, sharp ball movement going, the offense is unstoppable. When that ball movement gets impaired, the offense breaks down and they become more dependent on one-on-one play.

I was surprised to see so much of Natalie Achonwa after her short minutes in New York, but she was second post off the bench today for the Fever. She was unremarkable, but she closed well in the paint on defense. Devereaux Peters had herself a nice, nice day. The outside shot was falling, she was hitting the looks she got inside, and she got those long arms up on defense to really mess things up for Connecticut on the inside. Part of me understands why Minnesota traded her, but at the same time, they might very well have given up on her right when she was ready to blossom. We'll see how that plays out.

Erica Wheeler, bless her heart. So much speed and no idea where she's going with it. Her clock awareness at the end of the first and third quarters was a bit questionable- the play worked in the first, but gave Connecticut a chance at another shot in the third. She definitely makes the game faster, but I don't know if it's always to her team's benefit. Tiffany Mitchell got her Microwave on in the fourth quarter, when Connecticut was making a run. She broke their backs with the three-pointer that extended the lead back out to 10. She's a bit of a defensive liability, but if she can keep scoring like she's scored in the last couple of games, she'll score more than she gives up.

I see why Fever fans have been complaining about Marissa Coleman. She's got a pretty three-point shot, to be sure, but she should be doing more than setting up for threes. She has the strength to do more on the inside. She also needs to do more vis-à-vis ball security. I don't think her decision-making was quite there. Erlana Larkins got out-sized by Connecticut, but she swooped in for offensive rebounds like a boss. She finds and makes space so well. Tamika Catchings was tough defensively, of course, because she's still breathing, and right when we were discussing in the stands the low probability of breaking Tina Thompson's scoring record, she hit back-to-back shots. (I still don't think it's going to happen, but would that make her any less of a legend?)

Shenise Johnson brings firepower and a legitimate distance threat. I think she must have said something about someone's mother, or something, because near the end of the game she was getting knocked down a lot by the Sun reserves. Briann January found the open player brilliantly time and time again (fairly often it was Larkins). She and Catchings together spearheaded the defense and set the tone.

What I would like about this Indiana team if I were inclined to like a team that isn't my own is that they're no longer Tamika Catchings And A Bunch Of Random Parts. They're balanced. They're no longer dependent on Catch to do anything and everything all at once. The future is coming and they're getting ready.

Jonquel Jones has a world of potential, and as the saying goes, you can't teach height. You can, however, teach ball securityand the ability to hold on to the ball upon receipt of a pass. She has to go up with more authority, and she has to get some of the jerkiness out of her shot. Once that happens, she'll be a double-double machine. Chiney Ogwumike has lost some speed after the knee injury, and she was never super fast to begin with. But she cleaned up down low, especially in the second half- that baseline was hers. Morgan Tuck was spectacularly unimpressive. She held her place on defense well enough, and the play where she scored was a nice hustle play, but when the first impression you make is letting a pass bounce off you for an out of bounds and a turnover, and the first shot you attempt is a finger roll two steps short, well.

Kelly Faris hit a three-pointer, but I'm pretty sure it was an accident and it won't happen again. (I'm not just being snarky, either; it was an off balance shot as she as falling to her left.) She hustled well enough, but I can't help but think that a defensive specialist would have done a better job on Mitchell. I have a lot of trouble being objective about Faris. Rachel Banham's shot is lightning quick. I'm going to try to avoid snake jokes, though. She's still struggling to learn the defense, but she needs to be freed on offense. (The steal was mostly not her own doing, except being in the right vicinity when the Indiana player dropped the ball.)

Kelsey Bone needs to remember her size. I grant that Curt Miller's system is pretty much designed for players to forget their strength and focus on their shooting, but sometimes you need to get outside the system and use your strength. Bone was scoring when she went inside and used her build to throw people around. Granted, that was also when she was getting into foul trouble offensively. (Lowering elbows into people's backs is generally not the way one makes friends.) Camille Little was solid all around, because that's who she is and what she does. We're all going to not talk about the second free throw, of course. We're going to pretend that a veteran in her ninth season did not airball a free throw. Alyssa Thomas needs to be set free from this place that will never use her properly. She needs to acquire a jump shot from somewhere, but when set loose inside, she's a beast. She penetrated the Fever defense with strength and speed, and when she got inside, she was pretty much unstoppable. She has no reason to be taking perimeter shots right now, though.

I don't know what's going on with Alex Bentley. I don't think her head was entirely in the game, but it was hard to get a read on her with how little she played. I was surprised she spent so much time on the bench. Jasmine Thomas was telegraphing too many of her passes, and Indiana was ready for them. She played better than the stats indicated, though.

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but Erlana Larkins got stuck in her warm-up shirt, and it took three teammates to detangle her. Somewhere in here, there's a joke related to the academic acumen, or lack thereof, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I, however, have entirely too much of a self-preservation instinct to make that joke.

Anthem singer had a nice voice, but couldn't sing. And there's no excuse for messing up the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner when they appear on the screen in front of you.

"Enterting" the arena, Mohegan Sun? Really?

Officiating could definitely have been worse, but there were some dubious calls. The worst was the foul on Banham- I'm pretty sure she never actually got a hand on the shooter.

Remind me never to get into a game of Chinese jump rope with Briann January. She'd probably do some of the really tough layouts.

Note to self: do not call the Sun's orange uniforms ugly when talking to a man in an Illini shirt. (They didn't wear the orange, but they came up in conversation.)

There's a lot of promise to these young Sun players, but there's going to be a long adjustment period while they come into their own. And I don't know if this franchise is going to have the patience to ride it out.

The arena was pretty dead until the final push. Even the announcer seemed to be mailing it in when the Sun scored, and the MC as lower-key than usual. I figured there might be trouble when their own people accidentally razzed Morgan Tuck for the pass that bounced off her chest. Someone's not used to the lack of home whites, and the teams were shooting at opposite ends from the way things are usually aid out.

We're on the Whitestone Bridge now, and there is a brilliant rainbow shining to our left, from deep red through bright orange and pale green to indigo. This has nothing to do with the game, but it brings me great joy and glee, and it's a beautiful end to a busy day.

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June 3rd, 2016: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: After a nip-and-tuck first quarter and a competitive midgame, the New York Liberty turned on the afterburners in the fourth quarter to blow out Indiana 91-59. Sugar Rodgers had 21 points to lead New York, with Tina Charles adding 14 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Tiffany Mitchell led Indiana with 11 points.

For squee, kicking the back of the chair, seeing the reserves, learning from mistakes, and Tina Charles's gleeful strut, join your intrepid and unfocused blogger after the jump.
Hello and welcome once more to the Game Notes of Doom! It's Friday night, I just got paid, and it's game night at the Garden. The Indiana Fever are in town, and it's time for vengeance. Rain fire and blood upon them from the heavens and let them hear the lamentations of their loved ones. Or, you know, something like that.

Shooting at opposite baskets during warm-ups today, which was a little confusing and a little frustrating when Lindsey Harding was right there and then ran off down the usual Liberty tunnel. I have a hat that needs a Lindsey, damn it.

The UPS guy who delivers the ceremonial game ball is quite early. Not what I ever expect out of UPS.

Carolyn Swords is still working on her passing and ballhandling skills with the guards, though now it's Katie Smith working with her instead of T-Spoon.

The dance troupes appear to be well garbed and competent, though I'm really not sure how blue sequins go with "Joyful, Joyful".

At halftime, the Liberty are up 42-29, energized and sharp. Something about Indiana has brought the best out of us, like a whetstone honing a sword's edge. Tina Charles has been her superstar self, but she's getting support from Sugar Rodgers, Shavonte Zellous, and most of the supporting cast.

More dancers. Not bad, but again, I question their costume choices.

Shavonte is a mad genius to draw that foul at the buzzer.

Wow. I love that that happened, but I'm not quite sure even how it did. Everything just worked. We're not going to have thirty more nights like this, but even three-quarters of this will do.

Indiana wasn't ready. I think they just didn't know what to do with a Liberty team that was as ready to fight them as they were to fight. They miss the outside threat of Maggie Lucas. They miss the spacing, the balance, the security, that come from having an extra shooter to pick up when everyone else is off their game.

I see why they call Brene Moseley Bones. She's so slight! I wasn't impressed, but she didn't have much opportunity to impress. You can tell she's a rookie. She's still hesitant and adjusting to the speed of the game. The Fever looked better with Briann January on the floor, but that might just be experience speaking. They needed her not to shoot as much, though- her shot was way off. She was wide right twice, and her jumper in general looked like it needed a lot of work. Her defense was on point, with strong steals and relentless pressure. Shenise Johnson worked really well with Lynetta Kizer, and was able to work herself open for looks- they just didn't fall. (Big hair observation of the day: yes, Kiah, it's still a foul even if you only hack her in the hair.)

Lynetta Kizer brought a lot of energy, and a midrange jumper. She has a knack for being in the right place in the right time. She's not spectacular, but she's super useful. Plus, she's given up frosting her hair in blue, so there's another plus. Devereaux Peters is very physical- you can tell she spent her formative years in the WNBA in Minnesota, where the defensive discipline is somewhat lacking. She doesn't have the kind of outside shot she thinks she does. Ruth Riley she is not. I was surprised that Natalie Achonwa played so little and came in so late. She looked somewhat out of sorts, and she seemed to have some kind of disagreement with Adut Bulgak late in the game, though for all I know it could have been about the Leafs and the Oilers instead of whose responsibility it was to dislodge the ball wedged between the rim and the backboard. There was a moment where she looked like herself, but for the most part she was a step slow and a step off.

Erica Wheeler had her good moments with her speed, but I think sometimes she forgot what team she was playing for- she had plenty of passes that went straight to Liberty players. Her speed killed her more than it killed the opposition. There were fans who used to call Helen Darling the Headless Chicken back in the day with the Rockers, and I think Wheeler may have earned the right to take the nickname from her. Tiffany Mitchell started the game like a house on fire, but she tried to push her range too far out and got a little hesitant because of that. She's got great potential, though. She'll be brilliant for Indiana. They just need to get her defense up to Indiana's par, and it usually takes rookies longer to adjust at that end.

I have a tendency to look at Erlana Larkins, and see her physicality, and see the width of her frame, and completely forget just how fast and mobile she can be. She has the kind of defensive versatility that makes even the purportedly simple task of bringing the ball up the floor hazardous to any player's sanity. She's a very heady player, too. She picks her spots well. Marissa Coleman set up for long range shots, but honestly, she was more of a threat as a smothering defender, using her height to pressure our guards on the wing. I'm happy for her that she's found a place where she fits, after Washington and Los Angeles. Tamika Catchings is, of course, still Catch: relentless, tough, brilliant on both sides of the ball, willing to stand up for her teammates and willing to do all the little things that make the difference for her team. But the defense keyed on her, help coming pretty much every time she got the ball, so she was forced to pass out to the open man- and that open man either didn't hit the shot, or the ball was intercepted before it ever got to its intended target. It was a surprisingly efficient game for Catch- but less of one than she's normally capable of.

I think Indiana lost a little bit of their fire in the fourth quarter, when the Liberty came at them strong and kept it coming, but I have to applaud their tenacity through the first third. They were everywhere. It was fun to watch.

Adut Bulgak lives! I thought she was being saved for Olympic qualifying, but she lives! And she rebounds! And she scores a little! She's awfully spindly compared to other WNBA players, but she'll grow into that body of hers if the training staff works with her properly. She cuts well to the post, and there's good instincts in her. Kiah Stokes did good work in the paint on both ends of the court- she was the recipient of some beautiful passes, and unlike games earlier this season, she was able to capitalize. She brought the house down with a big block in the second half. (However, whatever she did to Tiffany Mitchell that had Mitchell looking like she'd taken a shot to the crotch is not cool. I am not okay with this.) She really looked like someone lit a fire under her. Amanda Zahui B looked somewhat tentative. She floated around the three-point line more than I like to see out of a big, and she hesitated inside far too often. The one big three-pointer was nice, but I'd like to see her be more assertive in the paint.

Shoni Schimmel brought the showtime in the fourth quarter, when the game was decided. When she's on her game, boy, is she ever fun to watch. The passes are slick and crisp and sharp, and the shot is beautiful. Of course, she's a defensive liability, but that's going to take a long time to fix, if it can ever be fixed. But she definitely makes the game more interesting. Brittany Boyd still needs to work on her control, and pairing her with Sugar Rodgers is fun but rather dangerous. But I love the ferocity she drives with, and I think hitting shots has restored enough of her confidence that she's passing with less fear, as well as being more willing to take harder hits. We need her to be awesome. Shavonte Zellous played really well- she had a couple of dumb moments, but for every one of those she had two brilliant plays. She was fearless, which is the kind of play you need against Indiana. The play to end the first half, where she drew the three-shot foul, may very well have been the psychological game-winner; if nothing else, it reminded this team that we're capable of hitting free throws.

Tina Charles faced a lot of double and triple teams, and sometimes when she tried to pass out of them, she panicked and threw the ball right into the teeth of a prepared Indiana defense. But she didn't have to be the star today, and that was huge for her. She was able to do work on the boards and set up her teammates. She had a beauty of a pass to Kiah for the finish in the lane, and if they can get that two-man game working on a consistent basis, this is going to be brilliant. Swin Cash doesn't have the range that she used to, no matter what she thinks, but when she gets her junkyard dog on inside, she's a beast- she did work on the offensive boards and kept plays alive. I do need her to stop taking long jumpers, though; this isn't Detroit, or even Seattle. Carolyn Swords's mobility still worries me, but she looked a little better than she did against Indiana, and I knew that we were playing with renewed fire when even she was diving on the floor for loose balls. (Not that I doubt Carolyn's commitment, but she doesn't tend to dive, because it's awfully hard for her to get up again.) We were definitely better with Kiah on the floor, though.

Tanisha Wright at the point- no, Bill, I refuse to refer to that position as "lead guard" no matter how many times you say it- works way better than Tanisha Wright at the small forward. She has a mastery of the offense that comes with her experience and knowledge, one that the younger guards don't yet match. She might have been able to play a little smarter on defense, but Indiana tends to draw fouls out of you, even if they're not doing so intentionally; it's the style of the game, the way it flows when these two teams take the court. Sugar Rodgers wasn't always sharp on defense, but she came up with the big threes when we needed them. As much as this is Tina Charles's team, and don't let anyone tell you this isn't Tina's team, we rise and fall with Sugar. Tina will be Tina. Sugar is inconsistent, and she's glorious when she's on, and she's chaos when she's off.

There was a sense of urgency to this team that we hadn't seen in the last three games. More, Bill learned from the mistakes he was making in those losses: the bench got playing time, allowing the starters to rest; we used timeouts more tactically to maintain control of the game and possession of the ball; everyone's body language was better, focused on the game.

I love the joy on the bench when the starters see the reserves going off. Tina was strutting when Shoni hit that second three.

Officiating was pretty solid, though they seemed unsure of themselves at times. It was a pretty experienced crew, so I was surprised at some of the hesitancy.

This was exactly the kind of game the Liberty needed before heading out on the road. This was the kind of game that makes me wonder if the Fever are more concerned about the season or about Stephanie White's departure.

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September 29th, 2015: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Liberty went ice cold from the field and the Fever rose to the occasion, as Indiana topped New York 66-51 to take the Eastern Conference Finals 2-1 and advance to the WNBA Finals. Marissa Coleman canned five treys to lead Indiana with 15 points. Tamika Catchings had 14, Erlana Larkins 12 with eight rebounds, and Briann January added eight points, six steals, and eight assists. Candice Wiggins had 15 off the bench to lead New York; Tina Charles had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

For classless behavior, frustration, bitterness, rage, exhaustion, blame-slinging, Greek tragedy, and superficial basketball analysis, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.


I refuse to entertain the possibility that this is the end. I can't go into the game with this mindset. No worries. No fears. No doubts. No hesitation. Can't bring those vibes.

It's been a bear of a day. Stressful and intense. Left my jersey and my hat at home, so the faithful husband had to bring them. Left my phone and my keys at the office to make the bus. This isn't helping.

Tina Charles is burning bright. Everyone else looks like dead coals. I don't know what's wrong with Piph, but it worries me. We're missing shots my high school team could make. Indiana is outplaying us, and it's not like we're making it easy on defense.

I rather question how Indiana had 4 fouls with 6:17 left in the second quarter and ended the second quarter with four team fouls. But the officials aren't yet worthy of blame in this game. We're bringing it on ourselves.

But I have to believe. What else can I do? This is my team. I ride or die with them. This is summer. My loyalties are not split. I don't have a fallback plan.

Right now, I honestly don't know what's more frustrating, the Liberty's ice cold shooting or the number of people standing in the aisles because the ushers can't be arsed to usher people to their seats and get the GA tickets out of already claimed seats. Today has been a hot mess of late-arriving large groups clustered in the aisles.

This had all the fixings of a magical night. The place is packed. Spike Lee showed up, at least ofr the first half. Knicks legends are all over the place: the Pearl, Clyde, Starks. The towels are waving. The fans are psyched.

...and historically, that's when post-2002 Liberty teams most often lay an egg, oh crap.

It sounds selfish to say this hasn't been my day, but this really hasn't been my day. This doesn't help. This was supposed to be coronation. This was supposed to be catharsis. This was supposed to be exorcism, supposed to be the link between the first and the last. Instead, the ghosts came back hungrier than ever, bigger than ever, cold and cruel and taunting.

Hamartia, the tragic flaw that brings down the hero in Greek theater: Piph's shooting, Tanisha's hesitation, Kiah's youth, Carolyn's knee, Essence's body, Sugar's impetuousness, Bill's nonchalance.

23 wins and homecourt are ashes and dust now. There's no advantage when you're not playing. Does the regular season mean nothing? No, it doesn't. This was a hell of a year and a hell of a team. But it's tainted now, overshadowed by the choke in Game 2 and the blown chances in Game 3, forever haunted by all that was supposed to be and all that could have been.

If Piph shot like the superstar she was...

If Tanisha drove instead of dribbling on the perimeter...

If we could hit our free throws...

If Kiah hit the bunnies...

But as a fan, and as one admittedly overinvested in the rise and fall of my team, there's a tiny voice in my head. If you had remembered your jersey… if you had worn the black on black like you did for Game 1... if you'd played through the playlist... if you'd done all the things you did when we won...

It's only weird if it doesn't work. Or maybe it's only not weird when it doesn't work.

All right. Time to breathe around this tension in my chest. I'm really hoping it's just my bra.

Both coaches emptied the bench at the very end, so Maggie Lucas and Jeanette Pohlen got a minute at the end of the game. Layshia Clarendon got a couple of minutes in the first quarter but was not terribly effective, so she went back to the bench until it was time for the victory formation. I miss the gold in her hair- you lose the headband without that contrast against it. Shavonte Zellous was aggressive offensively and generally seemed to be annoying people. She's good at that. Her emotions are a large part of her game, for both good and for ill.

Natasha Howard got some early minutes, but she showed in those minutes that the mental portion of her game hasn't necessarily caught up to her physical gifts. Lynetta Kizer was sorely missed by Indiana in that first game- she stretched the offense and brought physicality on defense. She's one of the most underappreciated players on this Fever roster, and that's saying something.

Briann January was tenacious on defense, fell down with style a lot, and sealed the deal with two late baskets, including one utterly ridiculous reverse lay-up late in the game that might as well have been the equivalent of ripping out our beating hearts and holding them up as sacrifice to the gods. (It's quarter to one, I'm slightly loopy and having a lot of trouble forcing myself to write these notes. If you're expecting brilliant commentary, go read Mechelle Voepel.) She chased down loose balls all over the court and read our offense better than most of our players did. Shenise Johnson and her giant hair did more work inside than out today, which I don't think we were expecting. Marissa Coleman shot the lights out from outside, because apparently we don't learn from our mistakes and don't understand that leaving Marissa Coleman open is a rather unintelligent thing to do. Any chance we had of getting our act together was shot down, and I mean that with a fair amount of literalism, when she got loose beyond the arc. Her height was a help defensively as well.

Erlana Larkins brought the physicality and set wicked screens for her teammates. She made sure the Liberty did not have good rebounding position, and she made baskets in the second half by taking advantage of open space. Tamika Catchings did Tamika Catchings things, but seemed to be hitting the deck more than usual and less of her own volition. She was the star, and she did her job, but she didn't carry her team except perhaps spiritually. She didn't have to. Gosh, that would be nice.

(Yes, I'm bitter like a mouthful of lemon and a spoonful of cinnamon. Next question?)

Erica Wheeler got a moment in the waning minutes and missed a shot over the basket, one of many Liberty players to do so. Sugar Rodgers was guarded closely enough that she couldn't get the looks she was getting earlier in the series, and she wasn't ready for it. (The petty, bitterest, part of me is all like you weren't familiar with that when you were Georgetown? {No, that's not a missing word. I saw her as a Hoya. She was pretty much all there was for a couple of those baaaaad years.}) She had shots. She missed. She fumbled. She made careless plays on the sideline. This was the Rodgers that Minnesota gave away for, ultimately, literally, nothing. Candice Wiggins played like her life was on the line. I question some of her shot selections, but she at least took the shots. She at least stepped up and brought fire to the court. That's more than I can say for most of her teammates.

Essence Carson hit one big shot and one smaller shot that might have been bigger if her foot had not been on the line. But she barely contributed defensively, and she made stupid mistakes with the ball. Kiah Stokes played like a rookie, and like the rookie she was projected to be when she was at UConn instead of the rookie she played like all season. She was late on defensive rotations, she was soft on the glass, she missed bunnies in the lane. We needed her to be rock-solid, and she crumbled.

Our starting backcourt might have been the biggest disappointment of the night, in a night that was full of them. Epiphanny Prince couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. There was a point in the game where she genuinely looked glazed over, like she was attempting to retreat to her happy place but she kept getting distracted. She pulled herself together briefly in the third quarter, but a combination of defense and... you know what, I can't even sugar-coat that bad shooting. When a slick shooter like Piph goes 1-4 from the free throw line, there's something wrong with the player on that particular night. But she's not even the starting Liberty guard I'm most disappointed in. Piph, for all her failures as a scorer, at least rebounded, defended, passed. Tanisha Wright? One of our veteran leaders? One of the players who's supposed to be at the forefront of the defense and the general of the offense? She checked out sometime in the second quarter. Her head left the game and never really came back. No way you're winning a game with a player in that mental condition. She strangled the offense with endless dribbling and made some truly dumb passes. It got to the point where Piph was playing point and Tanisha was pretending to be the shooting guard.

Tina Charles can't do it alone. We've seen how that ends. It usually ends with Tina flouncing (which, see below). She had a double-double midway through the third quarter. But Indiana doubled her constantly, or sent Tamika Catchings (AKA the woman DPOY should be named after someday) at her, or did both. And she had to guard Catch at the other end. She's only human. She faltered in the fourth. Someone should have been there to catch her. Swin Cash did her best. At least she hustled and went to the basket, but we shouldn't have had to ask that of someone who's thirty-mumble and has knee issues. I thought she should have been the defender on Catchings, but surprise. Carolyn Swords was ineffective. She fell down more than usual. She had good looks at the basket and missed. Again, story of our lives.

Bill all but pulled a Nancy Darsch in the fourth quarter, when we were still within range, taking out the hot hands and putting the starters back in. At which point everything went to hell in a handbasket, and by the time we hit the final five it was all over but the crying. (Yes, I cried. Judge me and I will hurt you with pain.)

I'd like to blame the officials, because Michael Price and Roy Gulbeyan are such good targets, but we did this to ourselves.

Even all of this might have been tolerable were it not for the endless seething frustration I spent the night stewing in. We saw an usher for the first time sometime after halftime, after we had missed probably five minutes' worth of game time due to people standing in the aisles and arguing over seats. There was almost a fight two rows in front of us that I still don't know the story behind. And the woman behind us was intolerable. Look, I love fans being loud. I'm one of them. You wanna yell at everyone and anyone on the court? I'm okay with that. But I draw the line at profanity at games, especially when there are children around, and there were two schoolgirls in the row in front of us. The woman behind us persisted in shrieking profanities at the top of her lungs in a shrill, carrying voice that probably killed untold cilia in my ears, even after we asked her to please stop swearing.

And then Tina decided that everyone else had disappointed us (except Candice), so why shouldn't she join the fun? As soon as the game was over, she tried to bolt for the locker room without shaking hands or anything. Swin was not having with that. I saw the play as it was in the midst of developing, so the first thing I saw was Swin sprinting full speed for the tunnel, and I thought she was the one frustrated and wanting to get away from everything. Then I saw her corral Tina and haul her back to the court to shake hands. Well done by Swin and disappointing by Tina. I understand the urge to get away from the scene and either go cry or go punch things, but if you're a professional, you need to paste on a smile for an extra few minutes before you go vent.

On the plus side, the organist is definitely ready for Rangers season. Me? I'm not ready for more basketball yet. I'm taking a break this weekend. I don't care about the Finals- I don't have a dog in the race and there isn't anyone on either team who I care about getting a ring.

Petty? Yeah. Fucks given? Zero.

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