Just the Facts, Ma'am: Connecticut opened the season strong with an 84-69 win over Washington in the Sun's home opener. Alyssa Thomas led all scorers with 23 points, with Jonquel Jones adding a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds. Emma Meesseman led Washington with 14 points.
For free swag, the squad coming through, starters versus reserves, careless cameramen, a poster quest, and energy, join your intrepid and well-traveled blogger after the jump.
Basketball never stops, and neither does your intrepid blogger. We go from home opener to home opener, as the Connecticut Sun open their season with a Saturday night special at Mohegan Sun against the short-handed Washington Mystics.
Somehow, despite the busted seats, the weaksauce air conditioning, and the appalling stench coming from the bathroom, this is still a more pleasant ride than the endless Metro-North ride to That Dump. I'm still wrapping my head around the images of Connecticut in spring. It's so green! And I think I just saw a bus stop. Maybe we're closer to civilization than I thought. We're certainly closer to population; I think we just hit the Stamford traffic jam, unless Connecticut is feeling enthusiastic today and it's actually the Norwalk traffic jam. Well, we are in construction season.
I can simultaneously think it's very cool that the game opened with a traditional (although one presumes modified) Mohegan blessing and be weirded out that the game opened with a prayer, right? That's not too much double-think?
Our bench needs work. Our bench needs a lot of work. Our starters can go toe to toe with anyone in the league and look good doing it. But our bench's inconsistency is going to kill us against teams that aren't sitting a quarter of their roster due to injuries.
Myisha Hines-Allen seems to have bulked up since the last I saw of her, and it was working for her tonight. She gave the Mystics good power inside offensively. I didn't realize she took so many shots until I looked at the box score. Tianna Hawkins made a lot of plays with her butt. These were not always good plays. I think she might actually have deflected the ball with it at one point, and she definitely hit people with it. She's going to need to play a lot better for Washington, especially with their lack of depth right now and the specter of Eurobasket looming.
So... this is what you kept Kim Mestagh for, Coach T? To come in for a few spot minutes as a shooter? She's definitely got that Colorado State touch from beyond the arc, but if she doesn't play it's very hard to gauge her skill on the W level. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough was first off the bench in each half and provided good length, but couldn't finish and made careless mistakes.
I really like what LaToya Sanders brings to the floor for Washington. She didn't do a lot of scoring, but she was very active in motion, setting screens and creating space for her shooters to shoot. She did a lot of hard work on the glass and on the floor, and not all of it is going to show up in the box score. But she was one of the most important players out there for DC tonight, and damn it someone's going to respect her for it. Emma Meesseman's footwork seems to have regressed- she really should have been called for a lot more travels than she was tonight. Like, you know. Any. That's not what they mean by the Eurostep. She's so smooth when she makes the move that it's almost forgiveable. Almost. She's aware of who she has to be for Washington with Delle Donne out, and who she has to be for Belgium, and she's taking on that role.
Kristi Toliver brought her shot tonight, but her game was cut short by a collision with a cameraman with whom she was tangled for quite some time. She left limping and came back with ice on her right knee. We'll see how that goes. She looked so sad and lonely when Coach T threw in the towel and sent in all the reserves he had left. Ariel Atkins kept getting to the line, and I have no idea how. She penetrated, but it didn't look like she was taking the kind of contact that would keep getting her free throws. Maybe she was just taking advantage of us being in the penalty, which is still praiseworthy for clock and foul awareness. She's got touch, but I don't know if she has consistency. Ask me at the end of the season. Natasha Cloud did an amazing job cutting through our defense, and defending on the other end herself. There's an intensity about her defense, a carefully-controlled focus, that's a little bit scary and a little bit cool at the same time. It's like she's determining how she's going to slice you up and if she should use the Ginsu knives or bring out the Henckels.
Washington seems extremely interchangeable. There are days when that will be helpful to them because someone will step up when they need them to. And when they have their full rotation back, then they'll be able to plug in the hot hand and sit whoever doesn't have their act together. But this is a supporting cast in search of a star right now, a problem that will only be exacerbated if Toliver is out for any length of time.
Coach Miller, Y U NO PLAY ANIGWE?
I like what Rachel Banham can bring to the floor on offense, although on that end she looked a little more hesitant than I like. But on the defensive end of the floor, there were at least two moments where I was putting up prayers for her soul after she was immolated on a crossover or a sudden first step. The effort is there. The energy is there. The skill is not. I was under the impression that Bria Holmes was a shooter. Shooting did not happen. Not much of anything happened from her. There was a point in the game where I was done with Layshia Clarendon, which was about five seconds before she found her second wind and started driving the lane more and making better plays on defense. I'm relieved, because I like Layshia and I want her to do well.
Brionna Jones looks like she'll be very effective for short stretches, and then her conditioning or whatever will catch up to her and she'll start slowing down. She brings the power and she brings the pain, but we're going to need her to be able to play more minutes. I did like the big block she had on Tianna Hawkins. Turtle-on-turtle violence is a beautiful thing sometimes. Morgan Tuck hit a couple of threes in the second quarter that got the crowd going (although, to be honest, Morgan Tuck's continued existence is generally enough to get the crowd going, it's sort of refreshing that they've extended their obsessive love to random Huskies to all Huskies instead of... ahem, select ones) but was getting beaten on the boards by Hawkins. She just didn't have the height to compete with Washington's posts, and in most of Connecticut's lineups, she seemed to lined up against Washington's posts so that the other forwards could exploit mismatches.
There are a lot of crazy arrows on my score card indicating amazing ball movement, and a lot of them originate from Courtney Williams. I'm so used to thinking of her as a scorer that seeing her as a facilitator makes me do a double-take. But she realized that her shot wasn't falling, so she passed back. Some of the ball movement with her and Alyssa Thomas was beyond outstanding- they were the types of quick passes you make when you've known someone forever, Ticha-to-Yo kinds of passes. Jasmine Thomas got victimized by rims that were really being too kind to Washington most of the night, but she made some clutch plays defensively. She's the engine that makes the Sun go, much as Kelly Miller was for the champion Mercury back in the day; even when she's not making a statistical impact, she's making things happen for her squad.
Alyssa Thomas, human wrecking ball, took the offense in hand and made sure Connecticut was going to win this game no matter what. While her teammates put in a lot of work to extend the lead, she was the one who took on the scoring load when the game was tight. She drove the lane and took contact without hesitation and without fear. I'm not always thrilled with her floaters, but they were falling in this game, so that seems fine. I was disappointed in Jonquel Jones's willingness ot follow her shot, but she racked up enough rebounds close to the paint with her sheer height that I can't really complain. I'd like to see her take fewer threes, but at the same time I recognize that her ability to stretch the floor is part of what makes her dangerous. It's just frustrating when those long shots go down and there's no one there to rebound except maybe AT, surrounded by four jerseys in the wrong color. Shekinna Stricklen made some surprisingly good defensive plays- there was one sequence where she forced an out of bounds on the sideline that was really slick- but there always seemed to be more on the floor that she could be doing and wasn't. I'd like to see her develop more of a midrange or inside game, even though I know by now it's not going to happen.
The bench needs to get going faster. We lost too much momentum with the reserves in, and the extension of the lead in the second half was as much because Washington collapsed in the absence of Toliver than it was anyone really stepping up big for the Sun.
Camera guys. Stay in your boxes. After the second collision, which was the one that took Toliver out of the game, the entire Washington coaching staff was out on the floor and not shy about expressing their displeasure about the situation, and the officials were talking to the cameramen afterwards. There seemed to be some pushback, so I can only assume there was a debate about the definition of being in the box versus not being in the box.
Officiating was fairly loose for a while, tightened up for a while, then loosened up again. There were some physical plays that could genuinely have gotten someone hurt, like Atkins going knee-to-knee on someone. She got pulled out of the game for that stunt.
The t-shirts look really nice. Well done, Sun.
Nifty entrance video, well-chosen music. The only change I'd have made would be to have even the casual gear be Sun gear. Cal did something similar a few years ago- still showed the different players' different styles, but showed team pride and team unity. (And also, you can market the merch. Cash Rules Everything Around Me.)
Nice touch: the big entrance video features the orange jersey, the "get loud" hype video features the navy blue jersey. Yay, you get to see both sets!
Our neighbors are cool- older folks, season ticket holders since day 1, willing to get loud and support the entire team. I'm going to feel really bad about yelling around them when the Sun play the Liberty. It's not like I'm not going to, though.
"Game of Jones" is funny, but maybe not timely? Please do throwback episodes with Joneses of the past.
Somewhere, there is a coach looking down on an orange Connecticut and laughing. I love it.
Connecticut is definitely more fun to watch than New York. New York is still my squad, but Connecticut seems to enjoy playing basketball far more than New York does.
Sunday, May 26, 2019
May 25th, 2019: Washington at Connecticut
Monday, July 23, 2018
July 21st, 2018: Washington at New York
We lost. It sucks. If you want me to put in an effort, talk to the Liberty about maybe putting one in themselves.
Hey there, everybody! It's the Liberty's last home game before All-Star, and they host the Washington Mystics.
You get no pregame notes today because today was Zapdos Day, and I spent an hour hunting imaginary angry zappy birds with a bunch of complete strangers. Pleased to report complete success and a shiny! Raced my butt back to WCC just in time for the security line to pause for the anthem.
It's 43-35 at halftime. Both teams have missed a lot of good shots. EDD and Tina Charles both look exhausted. Brittany Boyd is energetic but erratic, both to extremes.
Shavonte Zellous is in street clothes and a cast. Epiphanny Prince is in warm-ups, but has been ruled out for this game. For Washington, Natasha Cloud is in a hoodie and has not played.
Shout out to the champions from Hostos! That program has supported the Liberty for a long time.
Another day, another loss to try and puzzle through. We're talking politics on the bus because it's less depressing than trying to figure out Katie's personnel choices. There was also a fairly intense discussion as to whether the County Center is more of a dump or more of a shithole. And yes, I'm swearing again, but I couldn't think of a good way to talk around the word.
I'm pretty sure that if I can see Mike Thibault from my seat, he's out of the coach's box. Not that I actually want these refs to have any more power over the game than they already do, but if they're going to be out there making a collective spectacle of themselves, they might as well be useful about it.
Wasn't there a lot of talk about Myisha Hines-Allen in the preseason? Or in the early part of the season? She didn't see the floor until the end of the game. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough was a spark of offense in the second and fourth quarters. She was easy to overlook, and we paid the price. I'm not entirely certain who convinced Tierra Ruffin-Pratt that she needed to be taking a lot of three-pointers, but I don't know that that suits her game. She had a fantastic offensive rebound near the Mystics' bench. I still don't see what the big deal about Tayler Hill is. I'm pretty sure you don't need to be a first-round draft pick or have a roster spot held open for you for two years while you're unable to play to be able to shoot an airball. Plus-minus is a stat of dubious use, but it might say something if someone is -16 in a game her team wins by 17. (If you're new here, I harbor irrational feelings about Tayler Hill. I'm sure she's a lovely human being, though.)
I was surprised that Krystal Thomas didn't play that much. She's a good physical presence inside. Tianna Hawkins got hit with a spate of fouls in the second quarter. I wish I could remember who she was trying to guard, because I don't think it was Tina Charles, but she was having trouble keeping defensive position.
LaToya Sanders is an old-fashioned post player in the mold of grande olde dames like Vicky Bullett, Tammy Jackson, and Sue Wicks. She knows all the tricks and has absolutely no compunctions about using any of them. She had a couple of big blocks, including one on Bria Hartley that was so emphatic I think Bria's kid felt it. She's such a prototypical Thibault player, understated statistically and indispensable to her team's success. I don't like Elena Delle Donne, but I have to respect her shot, and I have to respect her increasing defensive abilities. She's starting to look like she remembers that she's 6-5 on a regular basis, while still maintaining her incredible shooting. We lost her too often on switches, but that says as much about her ability to get open as it does about our defensive failures.
Kristi Toliver wasn't quite the scoring machine she usually is against us, but when the clock was running down or we were starting to consider the possibility of maybe getting our act together, she came up with the big shot. I thought she was a little bit in her feelings to start the game, complaining and sulking about calls that she didn't agree with. Monique Currie still hits big shots. She's still got game. There's been so much talk this year about the resurgence of Bird and Taurasi, but Currie's right up there, age-wise, and she looks like she wants to show these young whippersnappers a thing or two. Ariel Atkins got off to a strong start on offense, and looks very promising there, but still needs to catch up to the speed of the pro game on defense.
Washington had nice ball movement, or maybe our defense was just that bad. I don't even know anymore with this team.
Oh, hey, a reference to bad defense; there's a perfect segue to discuss Rebecca Allen's extended run. It's not a good sign when someone blows an assignment so badly that I end up yelling "Rebecca, you're embarrassing our name!" I think she played the entire fourth quarter (which raises some questions about Katie's personnel choices, but we'll get there, eventually). She got up a couple of pretty shots, but I think they were of the variety that might have needed another step back to be effective. Go ahead and ask me my feelings about foot-on-the-line shots. You're probably going to need a flak jacket, or a bleep button. Bria Hartley hit tricky shots and committed stupid fouls. For whatever reason, though, coming off the bench seems to be suiting her this year. Kia Nurse got hot in the fourth quarter, so of course we were wondering when Katie was going to pull her out of the game. She was hitting shots in rhythm and making great defensive plays. She looked much more confident, like she was early in the season.
I don't know why Kiah Stokes barely played. Tina was spending way too much time at the five, getting beat up on in the low block, and I was under the impression that that was supposed to be the responsibility of multiple tall people named some variation of Kia. Amanda Zahui B was feisty, and this was one of those games where I appreciated her three-point shot as an option when the clock is running down. This wasn't one of her better passing games, though that could be said about most of the team, to be honest.
Wow, we're shorter-handed than I realized. We must have a ridiculous amount of cash tied up in our current contracts if we can't bring someone in on a seven-day or longer.
Marissa Coleman appears to have hit the wall. She looked bad out there- bad passing, bad shooting, mediocre rebounding. She had one monster block, but that was the only thing of note she did all day. Tina Charles looked exhausted. She racked up points in the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach, and that just seems either pointless or selfish, depending on whether it was her play call or Katie's. She needs a break, and because of All-Star she's not going to get one. Kia Vaughn had a couple of good shots inside, but the moment I keep thinking of is the one where she had that open elbow jumper she loves very slightly less than she loves Beyoncé, had an eternity to take it with Boyd staring at her expectantly, and bricked it. I have been so done with Kia 1 for so long, but every day I seem to get more done with her, and I am so tired of this.
At least Sugar Rodgers had a good game. When she's on, she's on, and it's clear from the moment the ball leaves her hand. Her stroke really is a thing of beauty, and when she's hitting her shots, the rest of her game falls into place. Brittany Boyd played the entire game at high speed, which is not necessarily a good thing. She's got to be more careful with her passes, and someone really, really needs to take her in hand regarding her inability to hit a lay-up on the break. I love her energy, and I love the way she kicks this team into gear, but she's so erratic that she can do us as much harm as good sometimes. We need her to take that next step.
I do not understand Katie's personnel decisions. Or her play-calling. Or a lot of things, really. How do we have so many good defensive players and play such poroush defense? What's with the lack of minutes for Kiah and Kia? Why run Tina into the ground when the game is out of hand? Katie looks like she's in over her head, and the one thing she was doing well- motivating the team and keeping their energy up- is no longer working. Folks who were sitting across from the bench reported zero energy there. It almost takes talent to drain the spirit out of a team that has Shavonte Zellous, Brittany Boyd, and Amanda Zahui B on it.
Isaac Barnett is pretty enough, but he does understand that people aren't here to see him, right?
It's taken me the better part of two days to write these notes, and it's because I just don't want to. I don't have the energy for this. Even when we made a run in the fourth quarter, it never seemed like we were going to get back into the game. Ennui is a hell of a drug.
And they have the audacity to start advertising for 2019 season ticket renewals, including the return of the "Always Loyal" auto-enrollment plan. There's a non-zero chance the team will either fold or be moved, and we have no idea what building, or city, or county, the team will be in, but sure, I'll sign up for you to automatically charge my credit card every month. Yeah, no, the last time I did that we moved from the World's Most Famous Arena to a dump two hours from my house. I don't think there's a NO big enough to encompass my feelings about this. Won't get fooled again.
Monday, September 11, 2017
September 10th, 2017: Washington at New York
Just the Facts, Ma’am: Don’t wanna, don’t have to, can’t make me.
I’m not sure whether this should be “good afternoon” or “good evening”. 5 PM is a strange start time, but I’ll take it if it means getting something that vaguely resembles coverage.
We have rally towels. They’re white, and still kind of stiff. They need the newness shaken out of them.
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe is trying out another new hairstyle, from the looks of it. She’s even harder to recognize now. And he fogot her pants again. I’m starting to think this might be a thing, but I’m not sure if it's intentional or just absent-minded.
Looks like it’s going to be tight in the lower bowl. I’m okay with this. It’s good to see all the Usual Suspects in place.
I’ve been informed that a couple of busloads of Mystics fans will be joining us fo rthis game. For the most part, I’m okay with Mystics fans on the road. They tend to behave themselves, they know where to sit, they don’t take our giveaways, and they’re passionate for their team without talking trash about the other team. (Delle Donne fans are somewhat more annoying, but that’s to do with their myopia.)
Slow-arriving crowd, and a lot of red. Folks, the Jets game is over, you can come to the Garden now. I can’t guarantee we won’t trip over each other and turn over the ball that way, but I’m pretty sure we’ll look more competent than the Jets did. I know, famous last words, but really. Mom always taught me to take the Bills when they’re playing the Jets, but that’s usually because they’ll cover, not because they’ll win.
Beautiful anthem.
At halftime, it’s 41-35 Liberty, after a hot start got negated by the injury to Shavonte Zellous and some questionable officiating. (I mean, really, Tianna Hawkins, I didn’t know you were also on the diving team at Maryland.) Tina Charles has put in work for the Libs with 11 points and four rebounds, but I also love what Epiphanny Prince has been doing on loose rebounds and from the perimeter. Kristi Toliver has come out of her shell (as it were) and been putting up points.
I really don’t feel confident in this lead without Shavonte. She’s our best defensive player, especially at forward, and that’s exactly where we need a defensive ace. Unless someone can work some shenanigans with a time machine and get Crystal Robinson on the playoff roster for the second half, we’re going to have a problem.
Our DJ’s hype man might maybe want to switch to decaf for the next couple of minutes before ratcheting it back up for the second half.
Okay, seriously, to the woman in front of me: it’s a single-elimination playoff game, all or nothing, winner goes home, and you show up in all your Yankee gear and keep your face glued to your phone for updates on a Yankee blowout? WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE? Why are you spending almost $50 on your seat and being territorial about it? You can watch the Yankee game form any other damn seat in the arena.
This will teach me never to say that we can’t suck worse than the Jets on any given day, because boy howdy, was that second half a giant stinking turd pile for the Liberty. I don’t know what happened. I don’t think I entirely want to know what happened. But I stalked out of the Garden with my hands clenched into fists, unkind thoughts in my head, and rage boiling in my heart. I’m used to the Liberty disappointing me in the playoffs- after all, four Finals and no rings still rankles, even after all these years. I even remember last year. But I’m sick and tired of it. I’m tired of this nonsense. I’m tired of this playoff system already. I’m tired of having fantastic regular seasons where it look like all the pieces are coming together, and then following those with playoff games where the team looks like they’re not entirely sure they recognize these other people who happen to be wearing the same jersey they are. I keep saying I can’t do this anymore, and I keep doing it, and someday it’s going to be true that I can’t do it anymore. My heart hurts. My chest hurts. What else can I do? What more could we have done in the stands?
I suppose at this point I have to say nice things about the Mystics now, since they won the game, and it would be uncouth not to. I don’t necessarily want to, though. But that’s my temper speaking. The original purpose of this blog was to report on games for fans who couldn’t see how their team was doing on the road; the advent of League Pass and ESPN hasn’t changed the fact that there are still details you misss. And there are DC fans out there who I like. So I’ll try to give it a go.
Allison Hightower’s shot has not returned from rehab the same way the rest of her has. Her length and defensive instincts make her a useful situational piece, but if she can’t shoot, she’s a long-term liability. There was nothing worth mentioning in the 47 seconds of Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Asia Taylor. I have to remember that it’s not Asia Taylor’s fault Minnesota chose to bring her to a game where I was looking to see Nadirah, and thus her existence should not by itself cause me to grind my teeth even further into powder. (Hi, my name is Rebecca, and occasionally I hold irrational grudges for far longer than I have reason to.)
I cannot believe that it took me until the end of the season to notice that Natasha Cloud has a pun on her jersey, one that would have been even more evident back in the day where the name was on top. (She’s Cloud 9! Why did I not see it before? How?!) She was showing off her dance moves before the game and swooping athletic drives to the basket during the game. I don’t know if she fits this roster, but she’s definitely an interesting piece. I could do without her inciting the traveling DC fans from the Liberty logo, though. I could also do without Ivory Latta and the rest of the Mystics bench pumping up those fans on the road. It’s one thing to do it before the game (readers may remember one of my favorite memories of Kara Braxton being her doing the Maddie stomp at Connecticut) and doing it during the game. She had a nifty dribble drive around Lindsay Allen that she managed to put in. Tianna Hawkins had a blatant dive at the end of the first half and still can’t seem to hit her threes, but did work on the glass. She’s got a really tough build; I’m always surprised we don’t see her mix it up more inside.
Krystal Thomas made broken plays whole again. I think all of her offensive rebounds resulted in baskets, and the other two were nice finds along the baseline. Her defense was tough and her toughness was remarkable. She’s got to understand that even if someone else initiates contact, refs will call retaliation, especially if someone else is Tina Charles. She’s been in the league long enough that she should understand that. Emma Meesseman ws the only Mystic who looked discomfited by the Liberty defense. She wasn’t getting good looks, and she wasn’t hitting the good looks she did get. Small mercies, I suppose. She did okay on the glass. Elena Delle Donne didn’t really get loose until after Shavonte Zellous left the game with the ankle injury, and we had to change up the defense. The problem is that we had no other single defender who could stay with her, and the doubles were not only ineffective against her, but also left other shooters open, and that was so far beyond okay it entered into some kind of zen state vaguely resembling okayness from the other side.
Tierra Ruffin-Pratt couldn’t hit water falling out of a boat for most of the game, but her defense was on point. She’s tough, and she’s tenacious, and she follows up on defensive plays exceptionally well. She’s problematic offensively for the Mystics, but her defense is still a net positive, especially when facing a team that has, or at least is under the impression that it has, one or more perimeter threats. Hey, there’s a nice segue to talking about Kristi “where have you been for the last three months?” Toliver, who decided that this would be a wonderful time to go bananas from beyond the arc. If this was the Liberty’s defensive game plan, then perhaps it should have been adjusted sometime between the fourth and fifth threes. She killed us out there, and it’s so infuriating that I think I can hear my teeth cracking under the pressure.
I just- how can you watch somebody do the same thing over and over againa nd not get a hand in her face, not adjust the defense to handle her, not do anything to affect the shot? Yes, I know shooters get into a rhythm, but this is absurd, this is ridiculous, this is obscene, this is unreal.
The Mystics settled down after the first quarter and really started to play more within themselves. They weren’t settling for the first shot, or the most convenient shooter, as much as they were early on. That gave them the momentum they needed.
I don’t know if Amanda Zahui B would have been of any help, but it couldn’t have hurt as much as anything else we tried would seem to have. Rebecca Allen was at least able to make the first defensive move consistently, but couldn’t make the follow-up play- she might disrupt a shot, but then not be ready for Washington to get the offensive rebound, or make a deflection but not be ready for the recovery. That’s an improvement from the beginning of the year, but not enough of one. Lindsay Allen had a pretty pass to Tina Charles, but defensively she wasn’t up to the task.
Sugar Rodgers’s numbers look good, but she launched a lot of those shots, including at least one of the makes, in the waning minutes of the game, when it was garbage time. She didn’t bring the tenacious defense that’s normally been offsetting her disappearing offense, either, which made me wonder exactly why we were playing her and what we needed her for. Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe fought for rebounds in the paint and finished well at the rim. She’s one of the only players who I’m not deeply disappointed in right now. She put in effort. She put in work. Kiah Stokes was unimpressive, and the block she has in the box score should be credited to Tina- Tina hit that shot from behind while Kiah fronted the shooter.
But to be fair, Kiah was more effective than her counterpart. Kia Vaughn did not have her head in the game. There was one play- I think it was in the second quarter- where she was gifted a layup right at the rim and blew it badly. She was a disaster on both ends of the floor, and I’m reminded of all the times I didn’t want her on the roster, both the first time and the second time. Tina Charles had stretches of being her superstar self, at one point finishing through a triple-team. But she started to wear down in the second half, and I don’t think she was able to keep her head in the game (there’s a play that’s coming to mind where Bria passed her the ball and she was facing the wrong way to receive it). Tina can’t do it alone, nor can she be left with the impression that she has to do it alone. She needs backup. She needs support. She didn’t get a lot of that today.
Bria Hartley shot well, and at least tried to keep us in the game that way, but she made too many stupid mistakes with the ball. Some of them may also have been on her teammates (I think the aforementioned pass that Tina should have been ready for was put down as hers) but she was careless, and we couldn’t afford to be careless if our defense wasn’t pressuring the ball away from them. Shavonte Zellous put in work defensively, and until she hurt her ankle, she was shutting down Elena Delle Donne. She gave it a go in the second half, but her explosiveness and lateral movement were missing. She probably should have sat out, but we couldn’t afford to not have her, and I don’t think she was going to pull herself out of a game this important. I probably should fault her judgment, but I can’t question her heart and her passion. Epiphanny Prince was decent, but not remarkable, and in a game like this someone else needed to be remarkable. I don’t think she fits with this roster as it’s currently constructed. There’s just something missing there, some next step that she hasn’t taken and that it might be too late for her to take.
I don’t know why the team’s energy level cratered in the second quarter and kept falling through the floor. Shavonte’s injury was a turning point, but if a 31-point swing hinged just on her, then the team relies on her too heavily and something needs to be done about this unhealthy fixation. All the rebounding intensity that we were keeping up during the winning streak? Gone. The hustle, the heart, the drive, the willingness to sacrifice for loose balls? Gone. They played like they didn’t care, and sometime in the third quarter, it turned into playing like they had accepted their inevitable defeat. I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS.
The officiating didn’t help, but I’m not going to blame them for the breakdown of our defensive plans, or our lack of intensity. We had this game, and we let Washington get back in it, and then we let Washington take it over.
What really grinds my gears about the Liberty’s collapse was that the crowd was behind the team. We had spontaneous cheers. We had noise and passion and glory. We were there for the team, and for a little while it was the old magic again. And this team that we believed in, that we watched knock off the top three teams in the league in a row, squandered that chance. How many of those fans do you think will come back after another soul-crushing loss? How much more of this can we take?
I’ve calmed down from last night. I’m not quite so inclined to set everything on fire right now. But I don’t think Sugar and Piph can co-exist, and I’m ready for Bill to retire again and take Katie with him. We need an impact player beside Tina- she needs her Nneka, or her Big Syl. She needs someone who can consistently take the pressure off her, and right now I don’t see anyone else on this roster who can do that. We thought it could be Piph; it’s not. We thought it could be Sugar; it’s not.
I’m heartbroken. I’m tired. (There’s a secret, ruthless part of me that’s relieved I don’t have to pay for further playoff tickets. Reality sucks.) I don’t know if I’m going to watch the rest of the playoffs.
See you all in November. Spreadsheet’s almost done.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
August 25th, 2017: Washignton at New York
Just the Facts, Ma’am: The Liberty put the defensive clampdown on the Mystics in the fourth quarter to pull away in their 74-66 win. Tina Charles and Epiphanny Prince each had 20 points to lead the way for the Liberty. Krystal Thomas had a team-high 17 points for Washington.
For energy, defensive pressure, chemistry, concerns in the backcourt, and how ridiculously much I love this team, join your intrepid and continuingly optimistic blogger after the jump.
I think it’s safe to say I’ve had better days, so I’m hoping that this match-up between the Liberty and the Mystics helps me exorcise some of today’s frustration.
Tonight’s the Liberty’s Planned Parenthood night, though they backpedaled on how heavily they were emphasizing it. In other words, Dolan got backlash and didn’t have the guts to stand up to it.
I don’t know what they were filming, but someone was interviewing Rebecca Allen and Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe for something.
I think some kid got dared to ask Bill for an autograph and a handshake. They certainly seemed very “I am doing a daring thing by doing this” about it.
As usual, Mystics fans have done a respectable job of traveling up to MSG. It’s still very early, but I’m already seeing some blocks of red in the stands.
Tina Charles is doing a lot of work out there. Someone’s frustrated with her performance, and it might even be her.
I don’t think the two teams intentionally turned their back on the flag- they were set up to face the anthem singers. (And boy howdy did Elena Delle Donne look like she wanted out from between Tina Charles and Kiah Stokes. Me, I’m petty, I might have put her between Shavonte and Piph.)
This halftime game has some pretty good fundamentals and better skills than I was expecting from kids that small. We’ve already seen a foot-on-the-line two and some sweet passing.
At halftime, the Liberty are up 43-41. Tina Charles got her MVP on in the second quarter, with something like three straight buckets among her 17 points. Epiphanny Prince has 13 in support. Emma Meesseman has been the star of the show for DC with 10 points. Krystal Thomas has been solid down low; the battle between her and Kia Vaughn has been rough.
The folks behind me are pretty cool- they don’t know the team, but they know the game (and that the refs are not good).
This team. This team. The way they’ve been shutting opponents down late has been nothing short of amazing. The supporting cast has been taking turns being clutch. (Sometimes there are disadvantages to that. But they’re dealable ones. And I don’t care if that’s a word.)
Washington almost seemed like they weren’t sure what to do with Delle Donne and Meesseman on the floor at the same time. I think it messed up their schemes somehow.
Asia Taylor played just long enough to commit the shooting foul that got the Liberty their halftime lead. I guess Coach Thibault wanted her length on defense. Allison Hightower’s shot has not returned, and I don’t think Thibault’s faith in her has, either; after all, why else would he keep her on the bench when a guard of her defensive mindset was needed on the floor in late-game defensive sets?
Tianna Hawkins looks very different with her hair down in a simple ponytail; I barely recognized her without her crown. She’s gotten inordinately fond of the long jumper (I’m pretty sure even her twos were long ones). I don’t know if that’s a road I’d go down if I were her. Ivory Latta was surprisingly quiet, in more ways than one. She was a bit pesky defensively, but I don’t know if she’s been hurt or if time is starting to catch up with her. (That is one of the most personally depressing sentences I’ve ever had to write. I’m the same age as Latta’s class...) There just seemed to be something missing from her, whether it was energy or something else. There’s something I like about Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s certainly not how WNBA jerseys are not equipped to handle her name. I think she’s learning how to put herself in good defensive position, and use her length to her advantage. She was the pest I think I expected Latta to be.
Kristi Toliver hit her first shot, and I was convinced that after a quiet, disappointing season, this was going to be the game where she busted out, hit all her shots, and generally caused Liberty fans to tear out handfuls of their hair. But though she got some looks, they were often contested, and not the shots she seemed to be looking for. She played a lot of defense with her feet, in the “deflect the ball by whatever means possible” sense, not in the positioning sense. She lost her footing a lot, and I think it might have been the sneakers. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt brought physical defense on one end of the floor, but wasn’t much of an option offensively- even token defense was enough to change her shot. She had an open jumper and hit it, but everything else was hurried and hassled. She showed great hustle on the glass, though.
No matter what condition her hand is in, Elena Delle Donne’s not going to miss free throws. And when she was able to get or create space, she was money. Space was hard for her to come by, though; help defense was always on the way. I was more surprised with her bringing physical defense and hustling after loose balls on the sideline. If she’s learned how to mix a little nasty into her game, I guess that’s good for her. I’m just happy we held her to around 50% from the field and a minimal number of rebounds. Emma Meesseman carried the load for the Mystics in the first half, getting a little bit of space and hitting midrange shots. Our defense on her was far better in the second half; she didn’t get as many looks and they were far more contested when she did get touches. I think the offensive foul that took a basket off the board for her really stuck in her craw. Krystal Thomas impressed me with her touch at the basket, with her physical play on both ends of the floor, and with her hustle. She was a rock for Washington where and when they needed one. She’s put in the work to get herself into this league and stay here for a while, and I have to admire and respect that.
Much to the regret of the nice folks behind us, Amanda Zahui B was a DNP. Sorry, guys. You were fun to talk to, but the Amanda thing probably wasn’t going to happen.
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe played briefly in the second quarter to give Tina Charles the only rest she was going to get. I thought this would be a better matchup for her, but it turned out not to be. Then again, how much was she realistically going to do in ninety-two seconds? Rebecca Allen hit a shot in the lane and made stupid defensive decisions. (I am also side-eyeing her interest in social media follows.) Lindsay Allen got her lunch eaten on defense and was hesitant to shoot on offense. It was like all the confidence she had in the last couple of weeks evaporated in the last two games. Don’t break the rookie, Bill.
Kiah Stokes rebounded really well, whether it was taking them down with brute force or tipping the ball over to her teammates. I would have liked to see her be more of an option on offense, and she’s got to do better with her ballhandling and holding on to the ball. I love her defense so much. Sugar Rodgers’s shot is still AWOL, and it worries me. She doesn’t have good games when Piph has good, or even passable, games. She gets open looks, and they don’t fall. She takes quick shots, and they don’t fall. She takes stupid shots, and they don’t fall. I wasn’t impressed with her defensive intensity, either. With Bria’s stamina the way it’s been, we’re going to need Sugar and Piph on the floor at the same time, and I don’t think we can ride the see-saw with them in the playoffs.
We might have to blame Kia Vaughn for Krystal Thomas getting loose, but we’re also going to have to give her credit for working hard on the glass and pulling down rebounds and boxing out. She’s started focusing more on her role, and that’s great for her. Credit where credit is due, always. Tina Charles changed the complexion of the game in the second quarter, almost single-handedly turning a five-point Washington lead into a Liberty lead. She went into the lane and she hit hook shots. I like that she has offensive versatility to her game, but sometimes I think she tries too hard to be versatile, and ends up playing to her weaknesses instead of her strengths; she brought the ball up the floor more than a few times, and while she mostly managed it, it was clear she wasn’t comfortable with it (there was one sequence where Kiah was trying to give her the ball and Tina was like GIVE IT TO A GUARD WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, only with emphatic hand gestures.
Shavonte Zellous gave as good as she got in the defensive match-up with Delle Donne- not necessarily as a physical back and forth, but as basket-for-basket exchanges. They were often similar baskets, too- one would jab forward, then fade away for the jumper. The only difference was that Z drove the paint and got free throws out of it. I love her energy. Bria Hartley came up with big plays early in the game, and did a marvelous job of running the clock down late so Washington had no time to come back. (That’s not sarcasm. Milking the clock effectively is a useful skill.) I’m worried about her durability, though; she’s been running out of steam earlier and earlier in games, which has led to the Sugar/Piph combo that hasn’t been working so great. Epiphanny Prince showed off her dribbling skills to create space for herself in the midrange, and brought some old-fashioned Rutgers defense.
The chemistry this team has together really shone. Whether it was the backtaps between pairs of teammates like Kia and Piph or Kiah and Bria, or the incredible work on long rebounds by everyone, or the crisp passing that made the wheel play beyond the arc work so well, or the nice finds in the corners- everyone seemed to be on the same page, except for the bit where pretty much everyone was dropping the ball on passes. Are there drills for pass catching?
Officiating was bad, and I think we got the best of it, but not by much. Counting appeared to be especially difficult for them, with numerous travels going ignored (pretty sure Delle Donne went from the right baseline to the basket without a dribble).
The energy in the building was phenomenal. Everyone was really into the game, even the people who sit in front of us who are usually not paying attention to the game. It was great. I think the crowd knew what this game meant.
Play of the game was the beautiful quasi-alley-oop from Shavonte to Kiah; I think it’s the play that gets called the Jewelly-oop if you throw it to a guard.
Gotta keep on moving forward. Even eight won’t be enough.
Monday, July 17, 2017
July 16th, 2017: Washington at New York
We won. This is a thing I like.
For anything resembling details, join your intrepid and lazy blogger after the jump.
Here we go again, back at the Garden as the Liberty take on what’s left of the Washington Mystics.
Mel Greenberg over by the Mystics bench, getting his dose of Philadelphia from Marianne Stanley.
I kind of want that seafoam green jacket Brittany Boyd is wearing as she dribbles in the courtside seats, but it’s a little tight and form-fitting for my style. She’s been discovered by one of the group sales groups. She still looks kinda lonely, though. Don’t worry, Boyd. This too shall pass.
They moved the flags, which is very confusing during anthems.
At halftime, the Liberty are up 45-29, and Washington looks demoralized. Someone lit a fire under the Liberty, and it shows. Almost all the loose balls are going New York’s way. The hustle has been fantastic. We questioned the change in the Liberty’s starting lineup, but it seems to be working.
I’m really not sure what these refs are smoking, but I don’t think it's legal in the state of New York in the present time. I think during one review, Bill and Mike were going to buy each other commiseration beers.
EDD first sighted at halftime, still in the boot. Yeah, I think we’re going to have a couple of replacement All-Stars...
We needed a game like that. I don’t know how much of an indicator it is for the rest of the season, since Washington looked pretty shaken up, but we needed to get out and run, and we needed to have players other than Tina prove they could step up.
Thibault went all the way down to the end of his bench and gave extended run in the second half to Jennie Simms and in both halves to Asia Taylor. I was unimpressed with Simms, and only slightly less unimpressed with Taylor, though Taylor at least had a good look at the basket (she missed it, though). Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had the green light from beyond the arc. Something about the way she handles herself on the court reminds me of a poor man’s Kahleah Copper, which is funny, because they’re so different stylistically.
I don’t know if I would have given Tianna Hawkins the green light to shoot quite as much as she did. I get that she was a mismatch, and she was hitting early from the outside, but I don’t think she was the best option. She missed too many shots on the inside- contested, but she should have had the power to put them in. Natasha Cloud brings an interesting, different dimension at the point, and I wonder if she’ll get the start next game. Might make more sense. She had a nice block on Rebecca Allen.
I’m really glad Kristi Toliver couldn’t hit water falling out of a boat in this one, because she had reasonably good looks. She really seemed out of it. I don’t know if it was her playing out of position, or if she just wasn’t taking the slow start well, but she really didn’t seem to have her head in the game, especially on defense. Ivory Latta was busting her ass, especially in the second half when the Mystics tried to string together a comeback, but time is starting to catch up with her- she looked a step slower than her brain.
I can’t say enough about Tierra Ruffin-Pratt’s hustle in this game. She was one of the few Mystics whose head was in the game- she wasn’t great shooting, but that’s never been her strength. She hit the floor hard and often for loose balls. Krystal Thomas was solid in the middle, picking up rebounds and blocking shots. She’s not a superstar, but she’s a brilliant example of the right person in the right place in the right time in the right system. Emma Meesseman lit us up from outside, and drove the lane with beautiful changes of pace. She reached a lot on rebounds and defense, and that didn’t help Washington; when your most effective player picks up her fourth foul early in the third quarter, you’re not going to have a good day.
I think everyone in the arena who wasn’t wearing red was rooting for Amanda Zahui B to finally get one of those shots to fall. She was coming up short consistently enough that I think her back was really bothering her. I’m also assuming that was the reason she didn’t hit the floor for the loose ball that she so awkwardly bent over. I’m thrilled about the resurgence of Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe- she still relies too heavily on throwing her shot off the glass, with all the crazy bounces that result, but not only is it good to see her on the floor again, it's good to see her fighting for rebounds and getting putbacks. Kiah Stokes was an anchor in the middle (though her best block was out on the perimeter), cleaning up rebounds. I’d still like to see her be more aggressive offensively, but I’ll take double-digit rebounds any day of the week (and twice on Sunday).
Lindsay Allen seemed to get stronger as the game went on, though that might also have been a statement about the quality of her opposition. She stepped her game up on defense, deflecting and stealing passes, and generally disrupting whatever excuse for flow the Mystics had. She’s going to need time to develop, and I don’t know if New York will ever give anyone that kind of time. We’re not a patient city. I think she’ll make something of herself, and I’m afraid it's going to be somewhere else. Rebecca Allen showed flashes of offense in the fourth quarter, and hustled on the boards, even if she had very little effect in that respect. Sugar Rodgers seemed to respond well to leading the second unit- it opened up more opportunities for her, and she was able to get good looks.
Bria Hartley had a great game offensively, and wasn’t half-bad defensively. She had open looks and hit them, and she made some fantastic passes to set up her teammates. She flourished in this lineup. So did Epiphanny Prince, even if the numbers don’t reflect it. She was able to make plays on defense, disrupting the ballhandler and going for loose balls. Taking her off the point also sped up the game- we were way more of a transition team, and it was glorious. Shavonte Zellous brought the fire, and some slick passing as well. She looked good.
Kia Vaughn was solid, finishing on the inside and either grabbing rebounds straight up, grabbing rebounds off her teammates’ deflections, or deflecting the ball to her teammates. I think I’d still rather have Kiah starting, but I’ll take whatever Kia provides. (Including confusion, between Kia, Kiah, and Bria.) This was actually one of the most passive games I’ve seen out of Tina Charles- again, she’s relying too much on the outside jumper, and she’s not reacting well to being doubled and tripled defensively. I’m glad we didn’t need her to be Superstar Tina in this one, but I’m worried about her at the same time.
Officiating was very hands-off. I’m surprised no one got seriously hurt.
Two busloads of Mystics fans showed up and cheered their team during intros; their team gave them little to cheer about during the game. I still want a variation of the “if lost, please return to Verizon Center” shirts for us, though I suppose you’d have a checklist of places you could leave me, personally.
We needed a breather game, a get-out-and-run game, a light-the-tree game. Now the tricky part is bottling that energy to go up against a stronger, deeper, talented Connecticut team.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
September 13th, 2016: Washington at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Washington Mystics finished off a lackluster Liberty team, 75-62. Stefanie Dolson had 23 points and seven rebounds to lead the Mystics. Tina Charles had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Liberty.
For ennui, free stuff, failed auditions, t-shirts, evil rims, and playing out the string, join your intrepid and uninspired blogger after the jump.
Good evening! It's Fan Appreciation Night at Madison Square Garden, as the New York Liberty host the Washington Mystics.
It's been a disaster of a day. Let's hope the Liberty make it better.
We received an unexpected olive branch today. I thought Pirates took things, not gave them. I'll accept the booty, though.
Please, please let them run that episode of "Car Karaoke" with the team singing the chorus on "Gotta Get Up" during the actual game, and not just half an hour before tip. (They didn't. I wonder if it was dress rehearsal for the playoffs.)
Lots of swag today- very nice black t-shirts and "Tina For MVP" posters. What do you think, GNoD readers? Put it over the Sun version, or put it next to the Sun version?
I am perfectly okay with Kiah Stokes wearing halter tops whenever she wants. Oh, my. I'm also okay with her covering halter tops with stylish red jackets. Shoni Schimmel, on the other hand, needs to do something about the baggy t-shirts, though honestly, that one's bigger issue is the unhemmed sleeves. Cutoffs work on shorts, not shirts, and definitely not on hoodies. You're not Bill Belichick.
Red does not suit Leilani Mitchell's coloring. Strangely enough, this actually matters to me.
There's a Bollywood dance group in dance outfits next to us. This bodes well for halftime.
Columbia Lions are in the house. Add a free towel to the swag bag.
"God Bless America" choir didn't have to repeat phrases. And as usual, Kym Hampton sang the national anthem for Fan Appreciation, and as usual, her breath control was non-existent and she was all over the scale.
If this is what a future coached by Katie Smith looks like, I'm perfectly okay with it happening elsewhere. We're down by 12 at the half, in a game that's been badly called, badly executed, badly coached, and extremely frustrating. Tina Charles has 12 points and six rebounds for New York, and that's really everything worth mentioning for the Libs. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt has 13 for Washington.
Argh. AAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGH. You know what I did not need today? I did not need the rim deciding that we weren't going to get rolls, and I didn't need the officials ignoring blatant travels and trips, and I didn't need Rebecca Allen to be a shame upon the name Rebecca, and I generally didn't need the team to look like they were running in mud. I know this game meant nothing in the long run, and I know that we were short-handed beyond belief, but I'd like to have something that vaguely resembles momentum going into a single-elimination game.
Ally Malott shoots well. She also had a monstrous rejection of Rebecca Allen. It was brutal. I don't know how developed her game is inside the arc, but I like her shot. Kia Vaughn has good energy, but she couldn't buy a basket- and they were good looks. She's strong, but sometimes I feel like she doesn't use that strength effectively. (Also, as an aside, when did her tattoo start growing? I only remember the big script of her name.)
Kahleah Copper brings raw speed and slashing ability to the floor. She's physical and a little handsy, but she's got the solid Rutgers base to her defense; in time, she'll learn how to play more with her feet and less with her hands. I think she'll make more of those drives to the hoop as well. Leilani Mitchell has adapted well to the Australian style of defense, low and hands-on and relentless. Most of the shots she was taking were long threes near the end of the shot clock. I don't know if Washington is looking for her to be more of a distributor or more of a defender, but she's not there to score, just to spread the floor and change the pace.
(Okay, look, J train, I cannot be dealing with multiple drunks on this train. I can't. Go be drunk somewhere else. Go puke somewhere else.)
Stefanie Dolson is starting to annoy me. It's not the versatility of her game, the way she kills us from outside and then goes inside for the little hook. It's the constant kvetching whenever a call doesn't go her way. Her hair is nifty, though not as much as it used to be, and her personality is great off the court, and I appreciate her advocacy. But her complaining is unbecoming, and it ill suits a Husky. Emma Meesseman had a quiet game- she was active, but not involved. She got looks, but they were mostly contested. I suppose at least one of our defensive plans worked. She did a good job on the boards, though, bodying up and using her length well. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt has acquired a new nickname- Tierra Effing-Pratt, because that's what was coming out of my mouth whenever she got open for a corner three, or flicked her hand into the passing lanes to disrupt the offense, or was generally one of the best players on the floor for either team. When someone finds out how she went undrafted, could you explain the logic of it to me? She brings such a great dynamic to this team- one of the great undrafted finds.
I almost forgot about the Mystic guards, which tells you something about their effect on the game. I don't think Natasha Cloud is a WNBA-level point guard. She brings an interesting skill set (which seems like the primary rule for a Mike Thibault draft pick), but not necessarily one that fits the role she's being called upon to play. Tayler Hill likes to shoot and has an annoying habit of getting calls. I suppose she's finally turned into a WNBA-level player, but she'll have to have a far better game than that to pry any praise out of me. (Skeptic is not the word. Bitter and salty might be closer.)
I don't like that Washington made the game chippy with illegal screens and unnecessary drama. I expect better out of a Thibault team than that. Win on your own merits. (And on whatever the officiating gives you. More on that later.)
Amanda Zahui B is starting to show her hockey side a little bit (and let's face it, Sweden and Minnesota both have pretty good hockey backgrounds). I understand the urge to dish out payback for hits that weren't called by the officials, but she hasn't learned the subtlety necessary to wreak revenge- her fouls were both offensive and both seemed to be payback for hard Mystic hits. I think that left her out of her element on offense- I really thought she would have looked to shoot more on the inside. But maybe that's Katie. Swin Cash showed signs of life, with a great defensive play that led to a steal by Tina, and some good looks at the basket. She's still being unusually tentative, and that worries me.
Rebecca Allen was such a hot mess tonight I'm actually hesitant to call her a Rebecca. The foul on the Malott three was a spectacularly stupid play that didn't need to happen. She just didn't have her A game tonight, or even her D game. Katie had no faith in her, and for good reason. She hit a three near the end, and that was nice, but overall she was a hot mess. Tanisha Wright is a very welcome return. Her timing isn't completely back, which I chalk up to sitting out, but her instincts are still sharp. She provided a good spurt on both sides of the floor, and maybe the starting lineup just got a little more confused.
Sugar Rodgers left the game early in the third quarter- she was scrambling on the baseline for a loose ball, the ball landed between her feet and went out of bounds off her, and Katie pulled her. We thought Katie was overreacting to a play she thought Sugar should have made, but then I noticed her coming back from the locker room and hobbling slightly. We found out afterwards she was injured. She showed more ability with her cuts than she did with her shot, and whether it was by choice or by defensive will,most of her threes were from somewhere in the vicinity of Jersey City. Brittany Boyd got frustrated, but didn't let it get to her until the end of the game, which is a major step in her maturity. Her shots were just not going down- it might be time for her to work with a shooting coach, whether Spoon, Katie, or someone outside the organization, and get that extra English out of her shot. She was a little cavalier with her passing, which suggests maybe she didn't prepare for the Mystics defense as much as she should have- or that Washington changed up their defense, I suppose, but TRP has always been a solid defensive player. You can't throw casual passes around her.
Shavonte Zellous got the start at three, and while she wasn't terrible, I don't know if she fits into the lineup. Part of me likes her aggressiveness going to the basket, and the energy she brings. Part of me wants to scream at her to stop taking stupid shots for the sole and express purpose of attempting to draw fouls. She took over more of the offense when Sugar left the game, and while it was out of necessity, it wasn't a good look. Carolyn Swords never really found her groove, and when she did start to get there, she committed a couple of rapid-fire offensive fouls that took her out of the game and out of her rhythm. Tina Charles was the focus of the defense all night, with three or four red jerseys collapsing on her whenever she got the ball. It was abundantly clear that the primary goal of this game was to get her to 23 points and 10 rebounds, then sit her down. I really would like for her to either take the step back and shoot a three, or take a few steps in. The two-and-seven-eighths Essence Carson special is not my favorite shot in the world.
I feel like when Sugar went out of the game, then that was it, the switch went off. We stood no realistic chance of winning as short-handed as we were, and it seemed more important to be cautious for the playoffs. But it was a disappointing finish to the home schedule, especially on Fan Appreciation Night.
And to be honest, for Fan Appreciation Night, it was really low-key. Yes, there were shirts, and yes, a few fans were showered with MSG gift certificates, but other than that there wasn't a lot of the effusiveness we'd become used to. I suppose it makes sense, in a way; the game didn't mean much, and it was a mid-week game against a team with very limited drawing ability. It's hard to get enthusiastic about that.
The game, in a nutshell: in the last two minutes, the Liberty are down ten and Tanisha Wright has a picture-perfect fast break that can bring it down to eight and breathe life back into the team. Off the iron and out, and Washington pulls down the rebound. I don't think I've ever literally seen someone gnash their teeth before, but Tanisha did.
All I ask for out of officials is consistency, and if y'all aren't calling defensive three seconds on both sides of the court, we're going to have a problem.
I pity Chicago fans. This next game is gonna suck.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
September 22nd, 2015: Washington at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Tina Charles put up 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Sugar Rodgers poured in 20 off the bench, to defeat Washington 79-74 in Game 3 and 2-1 in their playoff series. Ivory Latta led Washington with 18 points and seven assists in the loss.
For fashion reports, diabetic shocks, step-back threes, party favors, the man we call stan, digging deep, questionable rotations, wandering fans, and exhaustion, join your intrepid and booked blogger after the jump.
So here we are. Backs to the wall, or more precisely backs to the back-to-back, say that three times fast. Winner plays Indiana for the right to hang an Eastern Conference Championship banner from their rafters. Loser goes home. Liberty-Mystics, one more time.
So it's time to get superstitious. Don't mix the Lobo and the Boyd jerseys, we lost on Friday with those. Wear a hat. Hats are cool, plus we need all the mojo we can get. Add a lei. Add another lei. Leilani's gone, but the leis live on. All black everything. White bra, not the red, because the Mystics wear red. Devil's in the details, you know.
Is it a good sign someone else in a Liberty shirt got on at Grand, or bad news because that happened on Friday too? Very superstitious, writing's on the wall...
There's no room for fear. There's no room for doubt. Worries have to be left on the train. Can't plan for anything tomorrow except Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. That's the energy we have to bring. Calm. Confident. Winning is the only option. Alternatives are not to be even considered, because they're not happening.
If the guy on the escalator is to be believed, I came up the escalator directly behind Shannon Bobbitt and may have almost hit her in the head with a towel. I'm not always good with faces, and it's not like Shannon Bobbitt stands out from the average human being in terms of size and build.
Today's giveaway is towels with the #BurnBright hashtag. They're not quite twirlable yet- too new, too starchy, but as quick as the turnaround would have had to be, I can't say I'm surprised. (I work in the business. Four days is asking a lot, especially with a weekend. Essentially next day? Fantastic work by the vendor.)
Bad mojo to change the walkout music for this game. No objections to Jay Z here, but you don't change something you've done, in full or in part, for 19 years.
At the half, the Liberty are up 45-37 on the strength of a 30-12 second quarter. Maybe the mojo isn't so bad after all. Sugar Rodgers and Candice Wiggins have stepped it up off the bench. Sugar has 14 off the bench and Candice has a pair of treys to go with fantastic defense.
I just hope these dunkers at halftime don't bend the rim too badly. That's where we're shooting in the second half.
The place really filled up in the second quarter. Not sure how much of it was tickets being given out at the last minute and how much of it was late arrivers. Apparently a lot of people are hanging out at the concourse bars, too. Stupid hip young things.
Spike Lee is in his Knicks seat, in his Knicks colors. Nice of him to join us- now someone get him a jersey!
We're sitting behind the Sugar stan. (You know. That guy who always screams, "PUT SUGAR RODGERS IN THE GAME! I WANNA SEE SUGAR RODGERS!" You've probably heard him.) Together we make a loud tandem. But we weren't the only ones. By the last couple of minutes of that fourth quarter, the Garden was rocking. Everyone was on their feet without prompting. I love it. That's Liberty basketball.
My hat is off to the Washington Mystics, and especially to Ivory Latta. They put up a fantastic fight. I may swear at Latta and call her a goddamn Smurf (picked it up from a Maryland fan in her UNC days), but at the end of the day, it's the disrespect of respect.
Ally Malott came in at the very end of the game as a shooter, but I don't even know if she got a touch. She was there as an option. Kia Vaughn had moments where she torched Kiah Stokes in the paint, but she always seemed a moment behind the play, taking a moment to think before she moved. When she got low in the paint, she moved like an avalanche, but the slightest hesitation and the defense broke her down. She did not deal well with pressure.
Taylor Hill looked hassled out there. We weren't able to cover that weak-side corner when Latta was shooting it, but Hill was a step slower to the spot. We don't always learn quickly, but we learn eventually. Natasha Cloud, demoted to the bench as Mike Thibault tinkered with the lineup, was a non-factor. Kara Lawson's defense, if not spectacular, was heady and sticky. She had a couple of nice, deft poke-checks. Her release was, as always, super fast. Her shot is just so efficient.
Stefanie Dolson played a very tough game. She had a hard assignment, with Tina Charles on her at both ends of the floor, and she showed flashes of her outside shot, as well as some nice rebounding work. I admire her flair and her toughness. LaToya Sanders stroked some early jumpers in both halves, but really seemed kind of quiet today. I don't know that the gamble worked. Emma Meesseman was quiet in the first half, though she rebounded well, then came on like gangbusters in the third quarter. Her usual shots didn't seem to be falling, so she made up for it on the glass.
I love to hate Ivory Latta. Sometimes I think she feeds off that as much as she feeds off the passion of her own fans. She made things happen. I think she might have had more trouble hitting shots without a hand in her face, because she certainly had no trouble taking that step back and letting them fly when the defense was all up in her business. She hustled. She found her teammates. She was fantastic and has nothing to hang her head about (not that I think she ever has in her life). Tierra Ruffin-Pratt was phenomenal defensively- you could tell the difference when she was on someone, versus when one of her teammates had the assignment, and I thought our comeback would die aborning when she switched onto Sugar Rodgers. She flashed some offense by the basket, too.
I swear on my honor as a former Girl Scout I will end up breaking things if we continue to ignore the corner in front of the bench and let three-shooters run rampant in it.
When Eric Thibault is trying to get Mike Thibault back to the bench before he gravely offends the officials, do you think he ever says something along the lines of, "Dad, stop, ohmigod, you're embarrassing me!" as he does so?
Am I bothered that Kiah Stokes is our only post off the bench right now? Damn skippy. We're going to need to go to some way smaller lineups tomorrow to juggle our personnel better. But Kiah came through for us tonight, picking up all the loose change on the glass, finishing at the rim, and coming up with the big, big, big block to end the game on Latta. She made the right plays at the right time.
Essence Carson made a cameo in the first half. It was unremarkable, and she was not asked to return for an encore. She needs to step up big tomorrow (which is now today). But the other two guards off the bench (yes, I still consider Essence a guard even though she usually lines up at forward) more than made up for it. Candice Wiggins was the sparkplug that spurred the comeback after that putrid first quarter. She fired the team up on both ends of the floor. She has so much enthusiasm. I understand why other teams want to smack her around, but I'd appreciate if the officials would call it. And Sugar Rodgers just would not be denied. She wasn't just jacking threes, either- she was driving hard to the rack. Love seeing that from her. We needed someone to turn it up, and she turned it up big time.
I'm a little worried about Swin Cash- not because of the stats, but because of the minute count. We could have used her before the last possession of the fourth, when Tina Charles looked like she was completely out of gas. Even a minute or two- enough to get some Gatorade and take a breath- might have been enough for Tina to stop jacking up long jumpers and find the strength to get into the paint. A lot was asked of Tina tonight, and she delivered a lot. She took some stupid shots, and she fumbled passes she should have caught. But she came through when we needed her. And she's going to have to continue doing it. Avery Warley-Talbert, bless her heart, and that's about all I can say about that.
Tanisha Wright made the right plays at the right time. She usually slows the offense up, but she was running with the rest of the pack tonight. She went hard to the basket, expecting more calls than she was getting. Epiphanny Prince had a rough night all night. Her shots were just not going down... well, except for the one that had to go down. In the end, that's all that matters, isn't it? Well, at least until tomorrow, which now comes today.
I'd love to know the backstory on why Bill didn't take Tina out in the fourth quarter when she was obviously gassed. I know Avery is not an option, but Swin and Essence both seemed to be available. I wonder if it had anything to do with the heated conversation he had with Laura Ramus early in the game.
Fashion report: Brittany Boyd rocked it tonight. Those long, loose, jackets and vests really work for her. Carolyn Swords wore what, in scale, would be an LBD, but can a black dress truly be little if the wearer is 6'6" and broad in frame?
Play of the game: Stoooooooooooookes.
Favorite moment of the game: after Kiah scored on a sweet little drop pass from Tina, or maybe it was the other way around, Sue Wicks, sitting on the endline near the basket, reacted with such joy that I'm pretty sure she wanted that pass in her life. (Or possibly sat down next to Kym Hampton and said, "Hey, Kym, you never passed me the ball like that!")
The officiating got extremely frustrating in the second half. All I ask for is consistency and for people to stop calling Candice for the audacity to be run over, sawhorsed, ridden, tangled, wrapped up, and otherwise physically abused by the player she's on. Call the contact on both sides.
General admission seating continues to be an issue, but the good news is that ushers are cracking down on people in seats that have been specifically sold. The bad news is that they kept hassling the two guys across the aisle from us, who actually had their seats. It was the other people in their row that seemed to be an issue. The only reason I'll give security any kind of pass today is because the Garden was double-booked- there was a concert tonight at the Theatre.
Let's see if we build on the guts of this victory, or if we're too wiped to put up a fight. But y'know what? I'm not going to the gym tomorrow. Because I'm going to the game.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
September 18th, 2015: Washington at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Washington forced overtime twice to claim a 86-83 win over the New York Liberty in game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal. Ivory Latta led Washington with 15; three other Mystics each notched 13. Epiphanny Prince led all scorers with 26 points, with Tina Charles adding 22 points.
For substitution confusion, communication breakdown, Smurfs, trolls, wandering fans, orange sequins, small children, a contested three, and mindgames, join your intrepid and disappointed blogger after the jump.
It's a new season- the postseason. The Liberty host game one of the Eastern Conference semis against Washington, and so far it's been a tough one. The Liberty got out to a hot start early, but Washington tightened up the defense in the second quarter, so we're all tied up at 36 at halftime.
Love Brittany Boyd's shoes tonight. The all black everything is classic, and totally New York.
Fantastic anthem from a pair of operatic singers.
I kind of wish the ushers actually felt like, y'know, ushering people tonight. Lost fans should not be reduced to asking the cotton candy vendors where their seats are. With a big crowd, you need more attention to people, not less.
Body-checking Swin Cash out of bounds is a good idea, Natasha Cloud. Not only should it be a foul, but you have angered one of the Bad Girls. Swin knows pretty much every trick in the book.
I love that Bill Laimbeer had the entire staff up for the Coach of the Year presentation. Laura Ramus is one of the hardest working people in the business and needs some love.
Someday, we'll look back on this game as one of the W's great games- if not necessarily spectacular, I think it's one of the games that best encapsulates the strengths of the WNBA. It was tough, it was competitive, it was intense, it had enough flashy plays and slick moves to not look like a defensive slogfest. The crowd responded to all of that. You don't necessarily have to put on the SportsCenter play to fire up fans.
The fans around us as we left were ragging on the refs, and certainly that jump ball that Tanisha Wright and Bill Laimbeer thought they had timeout on was an issue, as was the resulting violation on Swin Cash that gave Washington the ball for the game-tying possession. But if you get 26 free throws, and you miss ten of them, that's a problem. If you commit 14 turnovers, most of them unforced, that's a problem. If your coach decides players don't need rest even when they're having trouble getting up and down the court, that's a problem.
(I'm sorry. I'm having a lot of trouble making myself write these. Disappointment is not great writing fuel.)
Mike Thibault put a lot of faith in Tayler Hill. She was the one playing in crunch time overtime instead of Natasha Cloud. She hit some big shots, especially in the second overtime. She's got some pretty moves on offense- nice crossover, a good first step. Still don't like her. Probably never will. (Yes, I'm still bitter that she had a roster spot held for her the year she was pregnant and therefore Thibault had to cut a guard. And no, I don't like Ohio State.) Kara Lawson's shot is so damn quick. You give her a moment of space and it's off. She also came up with a nice steal in the third quarter, and poked away some balls on deflections. Armintie Herrington is a solid defender, but a liability on offense. She had more space than she knew what to do with. Well, that's not completely true- she ran through it a lot.
(Surprised to see no minutes for Bria Hartley. Injury flare-up?)
LaToya Sanders continues to impress me with her positioning on the boards and her ability to sneak into tight spaces. She also sets surprisingly solid screens for a post with a slender build. She and Ivory Latta, perhaps unsurprisingly, have excellent chemistry on the floor. Kia Vaughn spend so much time making sure she's in the right position to make an offensive play that she forgets about her footwork. I don't think Thibault wanted to play her in the OTs, but he had no choice after Sanders fouled out.
Natasha Cloud had a passionate rooting section sitting across from the road bench- we're pretty sure they were in fact St. Joseph's Hawks. She was solid, if unremarkable, more effective with her size than with her shot. Ivory Latta really impressed the guys in front of us with her stepback threes, especially with their timing and utter cold-bloodedness. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt brought the defense, but not as much of the jumper as she did in the regular season.
Emma Meesseman had a strong offensive game in the middle, but the little reverse she likes to throw as she flies past the basket wasn't going down. She mixed it up inside and got the boards, though, and she took a lot of contact on both sides of the floor. Stefanie Dolson was frustrated inside by the Liberty's defense, but found more success outside the paint. I hope she's okay after coming up lame late in regulation. I know I call her a Troll doll because of the hair and because this will never stop being funny, but unlike some of my neighbors, I try not to wish harm on players.
Washington tightened up on defense as the game went on, and they hit some unbelievable guarded shots. We've got to be better on the perimeter, but even that doesn't help with Ivory Latta.
Candice Wiggins did little except commit intentional fouls at the end of the game. I think this was a game where we missed Brittany Boyd: as another body, as a sparkplug, as a penetrator. Despite the earnest entreaties of the stan, Sugar Rodgers did very little as well. She didn't even look to shoot, which is surprising and a bit disappointing.
Kiah Stokes was the lone bright spot among the reserves. She looked a bit more like the player who was garnering hype for Rookie of the Year. If we'd won the game, she might well have made herself the hero with big defensive plays and rebounds. But you've got to hit your shots. Essence Carson looked done. I don't mean that she looked awful. I mean that she looked like she had found the Nikki McCray cliff and flown off it with shrieks of glee. She looked like a player whose body is not-so-gently hinting that it is no longer suitable for professional basketball, and wouldn't she enjoy herself more in the recording studio? She lost most of her shot. She's lost most of her closing speed. She's lost the handle that made her a point guard alternative at Rutgers and early in her Liberty career. Her vision's gone. A defensive specialist shouldn't be wasted on Armintie Herrington.
I know I'm being hard on Essence, and it hurts. She was one of my favorites at Rutgers. I bought her jersey the year the Liberty switched to black. I paid retail money for her jersey, a thing I do not do lightly. (That I have, in fact, done only one other time before- my Davenport tee- and one time after- a Cruz jersey. Everything else I snag off eBay or use gift cards for.) I don't like eviscerating her as a basketball player. But it hurts to watch her rapid decline. I'd rather see her happy in her post-basketball life, where she's using her phenomenal skills in that field, than see the shell of her on the floor.
Tanisha Wright stepped her game up in the second half. She was more aggressive and made smarter plays. Defensively, she's one of the smartest PGs we've ever had. Offensively... she can be hit or miss. She as mostly hit tonight, but her passing is not as sharp as it could be. Epiphanny Prince was on fire, playing hard at both ends of the floor. She definitely let her Scarlet show in the fourth quarter, with tough on-ball defense.
Swin Cash was tough. She brings defensive tenacity and veteran savvy to the floor- she caught Meesseman encroaching on the inbounds late in the game. She's an example of why your starting five isn't always your most talented five- you need someone to hold the team together and save some punch for the reserves. Carolyn Swords had a great game in the middle, turning it up in the second and third quarters, grabbing loose balls and making plays. I would have given her minutes in overtime. There were multiple opportunities where there was a chance for her to be an offense-defense sub for Tina Charles. Those minutes might have made a difference, because by the end of the night, Tina was gassed. She had run out of reserves early in the first overtime and was gritting through because it's what you do. But she spent too much of the night relying too heavily on the long two, and too much of the night with rebounds or passes going off her hands. I don't want to dump on her head, because unless she told Bill she was good to go, it's not her fault he didn't sub when there were opportunities.
We should have had it. It was there and we should have had it.
I'm not going to blame the refs, though it's tempting. But Swin did encroach on the jump ball, and Tina's shot was late. Those are facts. I object to players taking players out with falls and there being no call. And I think Tanisha had the timeout call before the jump ball, and without that, this game ends in overtime with a Liberty win.
The crowd was super into it. But that's what I've seen happen over and over again- even people who aren't expecting to be into it are sucked into the energy. The place was packed. The disconnect between the expectations of the Liberty people and the expectations of the Garden people is spectacular. (Though MSG might have been shorthanded because of the concert that night at the Theatre.)
Lots of Knicks were there. Current guys, plus Starks and Larry Johnson.
We have the best road record in the league. I believe. I choose to keep the faith and keep the torch burning bright until all is said and done.
Friday, September 11, 2015
September 11th, 2015: Washington at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Washington dominated in their 82-55 win at New York. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt led all scorers with 15 points. Emma Meesseman added 14 points and eight rebounds. For New York, Avery Warley-Talbert had a team-high 12 points and six rebounds.
For disappointment, souvenirs, pictures, hat difficulty level, giant flags, missed cues, long gray shirts, practicality, and Essence Carson's hair flowing free in the wind, join your intrepid and sore all over blogger after the jump.
So here we are, gentle readers. The last regular season home game of the Liberty season. We know for certain it is not the last of anything- the season finale is at Indiana, and the playoffs assure us at least one more home game. But there is, nevertheless, a sense of completion, if not finality, about the day.
I don't know who was thinking what when they decided that the Liberty's final home game of the regular season should be on the 11th of September, against Washington of all teams, of all cities. It's insensitive to the people whose grief is an open wound and to whom any joy on 9/11 is salt; it's insensitive to the people who want to enjoy a basketball game without reminders of cruel reality creeping in at the edges.
(Inevitable "where were you?" story short: High school English. Mom worked in the financial district, almost went shopping at the WTC mall that day, but forgot her coupon. We lost no one within two degrees of separation, thank the sweet hypothetical baby Jesus.)
Today will be a day of shopping! $75 in Garden gift certificates + 20% coupon = Kiah Stokes or Brittany Boyd jersey and possibly a shirt. We'll see what's in 2XL.
Today will also be a day of pictures- the perfect attendance award photo is after the game. Round up the Usual Suspects and prepare for much breeze-shooting. You may not know this, readers, but I used these notes one season as proof of my perfect attendance when there was an issue with my tickets. There are advantages to being prepared. Girl Scouts for life, yo.
Today is also the day to attempt to add Erica Wheeler to the Cap, Volume 3. (Volume 1 started in 2000, ran out of space in 2006. Volume 2 started in 2010, reached back to 2007, ran out of room this year. The goal is simple: everyone. My mother's version of Volume 1 went to Australia for Jessica Bibby. Everyone is serious business.)
Wonderful. At halftime we're down 13, no one's guarding the 3 (seven treys for DC), no one's guarding Emma Meesseman (10 points), Tierra Ruffin-Pratt is hitting jumpers (12), our stars do not give a good goddamn, and the entertainment is the annoying Simon Sez guy who won't go away no matter how hard I wish.
Shopping completed before the game. No Kiah Stokes jerseys to be had, but I bought a Boyd jersey, a t-shirt, and some other trinkets. Shoutout to Frances and her cohort whose nametag I could not see, for letting me use the 20% off coupon though it technically was only good downstairs (where there was diddly-squat in my size). Super helpful and super patient with our penny-pinching and careful counting.
Passes are too hard, shots are too short. And that was in the first half when we still pretended to care.
Look, I understand that this game meant precious little to the Liberty. All the things that can be clinched are clinched. But at least pretend to care. Pretend the game means something. Pretend to play. Most of the Liberty didn't even bother to do that.
This may be breaking news to some of you who were in isolated caves or on desert islands, but Armintie Herrington does not have a jump shot. She does, however, rebound beautifully and jump-start fast breaks with her speed and length. She's not a point guard, except when leading the break. Bria Hartley's shot is working a little, but I thought the best play from her was an early punchout of a rebound that the Liberty had all but buttoned up. Tayler Hill has a pretty shot and plays the ball very aggressively. I still like neither her nor her alma mater. (Sorry, Katie. I have deep-seated issues with the Ohio State University. Go Blue.)
(Spoon is currently playing HORSE with a fan. It is somewhat less successful than you might think. Spoon, after all, despite being legendary for a shot, is not a shooter.)
(Tina wandered out to talk to a couple of fans, but I think they had to re-do the ice on her knees.)
Kia Vaughn knows all the post moves, and performs them well, but takes a long time to do them. It's not so much that she's stuck in slow motion as if she's doing them at practice speed, posing to demonstrate that she knows them technically. You always feel there could be something more, another gear. Ally Malott has a lovely jumper, but we all knew that. (Flyers in red hitting threes give me flashbacks to the NCAA tournament and Nadirah huddled in misery on the bench.) LaToya Sanders has a remarkable knack for slithering into small spaces in the paint and filling them admirably. Coming off a game where Camille Little did the same thing, I'm starting to wonder if this is a UNC thing. She kept balls alive for Washington.
Ivory Latta hit a deep three in perfect rhythm, but really didn't need to do much else. Natasha Cloud was aggressive, and a bit physical, and faster than I thought.
When did Tierra Ruffin-Pratt acquire a jumper? Is it not enough for Washington that she's one of the best defenders in the league? Now she gets to have a jumper and call glass? That is not fair. She's turning into one of the great success stories of the WNBA, and if we hadn't been playing Washington I would be a lot happier about it. Stefanie Dolson's hair is in Troll doll territory, in shade, texture, and shape. She took a lot of her shots from the outside, with mixed results, and did a lot of grunt work defensively. Emma Meesseman has such a pretty shot, and such good hands. I like watching her play when she's not playing against us. She did most of her damage in the first half, but then, that's when she was most needed.
Washington exploited our weakness against the three very well, and they beat us soundly on the boards. The rebounding, at least, I can chalk up to the Liberty's overall lack of energy, but we've got to do something about the perimeter defense, oh my God.
Avery Warley-Talbert is not a high rotation player for a team that wants to win a WNBA championship. Late in the game, however, when no damns were being given by either team, she started pouring in baskets. Pretty sure we were practicing plays that would go to Tina Charles in a real game. But it was good for her, and I'm sure it made her feel good. Kiah Stokes was highly disappointing. She was consistently late on her defensive rotations, and you can't leave shooters like Malott or Meesseman open. She still rebounds well, but if she's going to be a defensive stopper, she needs to move better and read her scouting reports. Essence Carson hit some shots in the third quarter, but was otherwise unremarkable. (Which I guess is an improvement over "ESSENCE WHAT EVEN ARE YOU DOING I CANNOT WORD WHARGARBL".)
Erica Wheeler looked like she got her feet under her a little bit. The shots were definitely falling for her, and she was pesky on defense. I'm still not thrilled with her eternal dribbling and her insistence that she can totally take any defender thrown at her, but she did more of what we needed of her tonight. Sugar Rodgers did not play with the energy I would have expected of a reserve fighting for minutes and trying to show she can step up in a teammate's absence. She was as laid back and as many steps slow as most of the starters. Fortunately for the remaining shreds of my sanity, Candice Wiggins does not have a neutral gear. Candice's gears are all set to go. Candice came in with energy and intensity, and with a desire to win. I would have liked to see her take more of the shots she passed up, but for all I know, that might have been part of the greater design, and I might have thought differently if anyone on the Liberty other than Avery were capable of hitting a shot.
Tina Charles spent most of the game nowhere near the paint, or if she was in the paint, taking runners in it. She hardly posted up. She didn't play much, and I think she played more than Bill wanted her to because of the foul trouble for Avery and for Carolyn Swords. Carolyn committed some remarkably stupid fouls, and seemed a little off her game on the boards. Swin Cash was the unfortunate starter to play near the end of the game, when it was beyond a blowout, and I think she was there to infuse them with some energy- she looked like she had come to play, or at least to rebound and defend.
Tanisha Wright took ill-advised shots and made bad passes. This was not her finest night as an offensive point guard. It wasn't her best defensive night either, but she was stronger there than on offense. Epiphanny Prince hit jumpers, but seemed to be taking some that she shouldn't be. She had a couple of great defensive plays on Emma Meesseman in a row, one of which should have been counted as a block.
We didn't see a lot of the starters in this one. Once Washington got the momentum in the second quarter, there was really no reason to play them. It was cler that no one with any authority with the Liberty cared about winning this game. I think they had reason to, to try and choose their first-round opponent. Clearly my opinion was not shared.
Saw surprisingly few Washington fans. I know it's a weeknight, but they usually travel well.
Shoutout to the girl in the Warley-Talbert jersey. I know the odds are pretty good she or one of her kinfolk is either a Warley or a Talbert, but that's still adorable and she should feel good for wearing it.
Beautiful anthem tonight.
This is not how I want to go into the playoffs, but part of me is relieved that everyone's safe and sound, and part of me thinks Bill wanted them to show their flaws so he could patch them up.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
June 14th, 2015: Washington at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Washington surged in the second quarter and steadily pulled away in a 74-59 win over the New York Liberty. Ivory Latta had 20 points to lead the Mystics. Essence Carson and Carolyn Swords each had 12 points to lead the Liberty.
For frustration, rude children, indigestion, unlocking achievements, a family resemblance, missed shots, and hope amidst the ruins, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
Welcome to yet another edition of the seemingly endless Game Notes of Doom! This time around, the Liberty take on the Washington Mystics on Dads and Daughters Day at the Garden. Someday you guys will get the full essay about my relationship through sports with my dad, but today is not that day.
There appears to be some kind of animal theme to the child exploitation via dance today. Please make it stop. No. It's not stopping. There's another group, none seeming older than nine, in bright pink dresses above the knee. Seriously. This is gross.
Swin Cash brought a group of kids from her foundation today and took pictures with them. Very sweet. (As a bonus, that meant she came out, and that meant she had to go back, and that means that Swin signed my cap, which has been difficulty level expert for about a year.) Swin's mom was also with the group- or if not her mom, then a woman who has the exact same facial structure as Swin and a similar, if not as athletic, build.
Stefanie Dolson's hair is even more vibrantly purple in person. It's spectacular.
The enemy is among us: Washington has organized a road trip. There are also occasional individual Mystics fans.
Substitute announcer today. Games without Mike W. make me sad.
So do games in which we play with no energy and Tina Charles couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if you put her in the barn. It's 35-29 at the half. Ivory Latta has been a sparkplug for the Mystics, and Stefanie Dolson has the outside jumper working.
I don't think Bria Hartley's playing any time soon. She has a little scooter. I don't know if she has a horn for the little scooter like Wendy Palmer-Daniel had.
Apparently Rebecca Allen is out for the year, so this space will end up being the fashion report. Today she's showing off her tan and her guns. Nothing too embarrassingly tight.
Washington's ballgirl is wearing a Dolson shirt. Not sure if Washington brought the gear or the whole kid.
That was ugly, but not quite as ugly as the scoreboard indicates. You'll just have to believe me on this. Neither team shot well, but Washington took better advantage of their looks. It helps when you have perimeter shooting, too, as Washington did.
Natasha Cloud committed a really pointless hard foul up 20 in the fourth quarter that we thought should have been a flagrant. She brought a different look to the Washington backcourt, with height and speed and solid passing. The play that impressed me most was actually a missed rebound- she read it very well but got deked by a bad hop. Ally Malott was an offensive spark, giving me frustrating flashbacks of a certain tournament game in 2013. She's not WNBA-ready in any other regard, at least from this game, but she's a jolt of offensive life from the perimeter. Kayla Thornton brought height and size. I have unresolved issues regarding Tayler Hill (g'wan and ask me in the comments), so I can't guarantee that my view of her is unbiased, but she doesn't seem shy to shoot. She needs to bring more than that if she's going to not be redundant- Cloud's a better passer and Malott's a better offensive option. Even with a 12-player roster, everyone has to have something that they bring that someone else doesn't.
In the heat of the game I was calling Stefanie Dolson "that freakin' Troll doll" (though I really think Washington needs to talk to the maker of said dolls about doing a giveaway based on Kalana Greene's joke photo, because I need that in my life). I'm surprised the ball ended up in her hands at the end of the clock as often as it did, and that led to two of Washington's three shot clock violations. She's got nice outside touch for a big. Kara Lawson lay low until the fourth quarter, whereupon she broke our backs with consecutive threes and great despairing was heard across the land (though not as much as there should have been). We came down hard on Emma Meesseman, who didn't get any good looks inside and really didn't retreat outside. On the other hand, Ivory Latta got plenty of open space that she took advantage of, whether it was going to the rack or hitting threes and proceeding to let everyone in the universe know just how happy she was to hit that three. Armintie Herrington intercepted passes like she was playing in the NFL, and found her free throw stroke later in the game after missing her first two. She's not an offensive option, but she's so solid on defense.
Washington made the game ugly, and we fell into that trap. They crowded the passing lanes and ensured that the crisp passing that characterized our wins wasn't nearly as easy as we thought it was going to be.
Candice Wiggins came in early in both halves because Brittany Boyd was having trouble adjusting. I think I would pay money for a transcript of her chattering at Ivory Latta during the game. That's all she was good for in the game, though. (I'm trying to be gentle, because she's super-friendly to fans.) Avery Warley-Talbert played briefly in both halves when someone needed a sub but Bill didn't want to throw the rotation out of whack. Stop bringing the ball to the floor, Avery; you're starting to give other people bad ideas. Sugar Rodgers was all over the map- good shots, bad shots, courageous plays, stupid plays. I love her ferocity, but she's never going to be consistent, and that's going to drive me nuts. Swin Cash was good defensively. Carolyn Swords got itno foul trouble, though partially because of inconsistent officiating, but got a lot of work done on the inside. To borrow a cliché, she brought her lunch bucket today, and she worked hard.
I wish I could say the same of the starter. Tina Charles was keyed on all game, I'll give her that. But she had open looks and missed them. She had chances and she blew them. I expect a lot out of Tina, and all we got today was a lot of nothing. Tanisha Wright picked off passes like she was auditioning to play corner for the Giants. I question some of her offensive decisions vis-à-vis driving into larger players, but T doesn’t back down from anything, so I can't say I'm surprised. Essence Carson was intense today- love to see that from her. I wish she'd stop stepping on the three-point line, though. I like to see her working on offensive rebounds. Kiah Stokes has to hit bunnies when Tina hits her with perfect passes, that's simply all there is to it. She came up with big blocks and seemed to get stronger as the game went on. Brittany Boyd spent a lot of time attempting to draw fouls, setting aside the fact that, for the most part, we were not getting those calls in this game. Sometimes she tries too hard. You can't fault her for that. I do fault her for not figuring out that if you throw a pass and it gets intercepted, you probably shouldn't throw the same pass in the same way.
The shooting was horrific. There were a lot of contested looks, but even when we got open looks we couldn't knock them down.
The moment I knew we were doomed: Armintie Herrington fumbled a dribble badly and sprawled on the floor. Somehow, she got enough control of the ball to keep it in Washington's hands, and the play ends with Lawson hitting a three to make it a 13-point game.
The moments in which I saw hope for the future: first, after Tina blew a lay-up short, Boyd immediately took her in hand to settle her down. Second, the offensive rebounding that led to Carolyn hitting a lay-up on the fifth chance.
The officiating was a hot mess. Very inconsistent. Call contact to the head, people! Sugar's got a Georgetown education, there's a valuable asset to protect in that skull!
It was a perfect storm of disasters for the Liberty. You can't win if your best player is 3-17 from the field. You can't win if you shoot 30%. You can't win if you give up 10 threes. You can't win if the free throw differential is 2-to-1 for most of the game. We'll get through this... but Indiana is closer to full strength than they were on Friday.