July 20th, 2019: Los Angeles at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Solid bench play fueled the New York Liberty's 83-78 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. Marine Johannès had 17 points to lead New York, while Kia Nurse added 14. Nneka Ogwumike had game-highs of 20 points and 12 rebounds for the short-handed Sparks in the loss.

For a truly international game, distressing superstars, Chiney Ogwumike's earnest belief that she did not commit that foul, and role reversals, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
Happy belated birthday, Maddie! Happy anniversary, moon landing! (Happy birthday, dad!)

It's game day at That Dump in White Plains, known to less cynical fans as the Westchester County Center, as the Los Angeles Sparks (or at least whatever's left of them) come visit the New York Liberty.

After the smooth sailing of last game, it's back to the usual tangle of confusing and crossing lines, waits at security, and not having the ticket ready to properly. (Yes, I'm not sitting in my ticketed seat. No, I do not believe situating my mouth directly above the visiting bench is a good idea.

I don't know what happened, but I saw a trio of Sparks in hot pursuit of a teammate. No idea what was going on. Mostly guards, I think.

New DJ today. I like their taste better than the usual woman's.

On the other hand, substitute announcer is not as good as Mike.

Anthem singer thinks he's Whitney Houston or something. Narrator: He was not Whitney Houston.

It's 44-37 Liberty at halftime, and it's been reserve play doing the job for the Liberty. Marine Johannès is putting in work, with 13 points and some spectacular passes (unfortunately, Kalani Brown blocked the finish on the best one). Nneka Ogwumike has 12 points and seven rebounds for the Sparks, while Chelsea Gray has come on strong in the second quarter with 11 points, but most of the rest of the Sparks have been... not good.

There's a French family in the rows behind us cheering enthusiastically for Marine, and I love it.

I don't know if someone sprung for a spa visit for Katie or something, but she looks amazing. Refreshed, relaxed, well-coiffed, sharply dressed.

Asia Durr's street clothes brought to you by the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network.

Beating the Sparks is always fun. After all, this is the league's oldest rivalry. How we did it honestly amazes me as well. I'm not used to our bench play being so solid.

There is a whole lot of Kalani Brown, but she seems somehow less balanced about it than her draft classmate Teaira McCowan. Her thighs/upper legs seem out of proportion to the rest of her. She brought a lot of physicality to the floor. Her foul trouble did not help with the Sparks' lack of available depth. I see her potential- she did a couple of numbers on Reshanda Gray with a quick turnaround for her buckets- but if she can't stay on the floor, she's not going to be any help to Los Angeles. Marina Mabrey drove hard and missed just as hard. I'm not surprised Fisher didn't go back to her in the second half. She was out of control. Karlie Samuelson took threes and hit a pretty big one late in the fourth to help keep the Sparks close.

Such a loss of depth for LA in the backcourt. Losing Parker is a big blow, but losing three guards forced Fisher to do a lot of juggling, and I think he was less prepared to juggle than he was to play without Parker. At least up front you have the Ogwumikes.

Yes, I know she has the assist numbers today, but Sydney Wiese is not a point guard. I don't know what she is other than a shooter, and a very quick one at that. She's certainly not a starter, and she's not the person I want initiating my offense if I have Chelsea Gray available to do that. (Which, to be fair, LA did not have for stretches in the second half when Gray got into foul trouble.) To borrow and abuse a turn of phrase from Shea Serrano, Chelsea Gray was out there ruining my life with big threes and ridiculous steals. She's so good. I was relieved and shocked when that last three was so off line. (And the petty part of me wants to say, "C'mon, you committed a push-off to get that open and that's the best shot you could get off?") Her hands are so quick, and she's so relentless. Physicality isn't necessarily the right word for her game, but she's not afraid to use that big build of hers to create space on offense or make her assignment uncomfortable on defense.

Speaking of making people uncomfortable as a defender, shoutout to Tierra Ruffin-Pratt for doing ridiculously hard work on players much taller than she is and often knocking those shots off line. There were a lot of switches by LA, and she's part of the reason they could get away with it. While I don't necessarily like how quickly Nneka Ogwumike moved into Tina Charles's head today, or how physical she was with Tina at both ends of the floor, I can respect it, more or less. I didn't realize how much of a perimeter game she'd developed until she was hitting threes early on in this one. For most of the first half, it was her, Chelsea Gray, and a bunch of not particularly helpful people. She's so good. I have to respect that. I do not have to respect Chiney Ogwumike's inability to shut up, stop whining, and sit down at appropriate moments. Yes, shockingly, Chiney, if you hit someone it's a foul. You went to Stanford, I know you're smart. Now that she's not on one of my teams, she annoys me too much to write about her.

Someday, Katie Smith will run a five-nation line-up out there, and I will rejoice. You don't even need to trust Han Xu to do it! You need Amanda, Marine, and Bec, plus either Nayo or Kia, plus one of the Americans! Presto, instant United Nations!

(In case you weren't sure I was a giant nerd. Spoilers: I am.)

For the honor and dignity of all Rebeccas out there, Imma need Rebecca Allen to please stop committing stupid unnecessary fouls on defense. She committed two of them pretty much back to back, and it was extremely frustrating. Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe played the first half like her hair was on fire (her hair was not actually on fire)- going up strong inside and stepping outside for the trey. She cooled down in the second half. Reshanda Gray pretty much won the game for us. She had a couple of huge rebounds right at the end, and got the steal when LA had it within two. She was relentless. I do still need her to get the foul trouble under control, although in this game much of it had to do with these terrible officials and I place no blame on her getting called for a foul when she was the player getting hit.

So, this was my first look at Marine Johannès in a Liberty uniform, and I like what I saw. She needs to either tone down the fancy passing or she'll get more used to her teammates and more of those too-much-mustard-on-the-hot-dog passes will find their way to their intended recipients and things will get fun again. She gave us a long-range option with style, which is very nice to have, since most of our long-range threats are people I would like to not be volume three-point shooters (hi, Amanda). Maybe this was her best game, and we know no one is ever as good as their best game, but I think I'd be happy with even half of what she produced today, at least early in her tenure here in New York. Brittany Boyd needed a good thwack with the clue-by-four in this game. On one hand, I do sympathize with her getting clocked in the chin by a Chelsea Gray elbow and not having it either called or reviewed. On the other hand, that is no excuse to pull back from the shooter and basically stop playing. That was bush league, and she got pulled out of the game shortly thereafter. She got her head back in the game eventually, after a good long sit on the bench. She had her moments, but there was something missing.

I'm going to need Tina Charles to stop doing her Cappie Pondexter impression now. She's not very good at it and I don't want to see her descend into Cappie's fashion "sense". She took terrible shots early in the shot clock. She shot directly into unnecessary double-teams. She generally forgot about the existence of her teammates in order to take terrible shots. She was not good on defense. She let the Ogwumikes, especially Nneka, have their way with her. I know she's better than this, or at least she has a history of being better than this, but lately I'm starting to wonder if she's approaching the McCray cliff. Amanda Zahui B got off to a hot start offensively, but cooled off quickly and never seemed to recover. She got passed over in the second half by both Nayo and Reshanda, and I think Katie made the right call on both accounts. She's capable of banging, but she doesn't do enough of it to match up well with LA.

On the petty, shallow tip, I don’t like Bria Hartley's new hairdo at all. The gilding doesn't suit her. According to the box score, she lined up at three, but that's a little disingenuous; inasmuch as any of the guards in our three-guard set could be considered a small forward, Kia Nurse is probably the best candidate for the role, and none of them are particularly suited to it. Bria did not look ready to be back in the W after Eurobasket. I think she'll shake it off, but for now she looks bad. Kia looked out of sorts and under a lot of pressure. LA's switches defensively did her no favors. Ladies and gentlemen, your All-Star starter. (For the record, I didn't vote for her. Then again, I didn't vote for anyone.) I'll say this about having Tanisha Wright on the floor: there seemed to be a lot more vocal communication on the floor when she was out there. Even if it highlighted the team's issues with knowing the playbook and people knowing where they needed to be, it showed that at least people were willing to step up and address those issues. She's not a long-term solution at point, but if she can mentor Boyd and Marine, passing the torch without too much of a hiccup, I'll be okay with her sticking around for this year and maybe even next. (But next is a stretch, and honestly at this point I'm hoping that one of the people she'll be mentoring if she is here in 2020 is Sabrina Ionescu.)

Hoo boy, these refs. Love to see two terrible out-of-bounds calls in the first five minutes of the game. There was a lot of physical play, and a lot of the worst of it wasn't called. Credit them for some consistency, though: the sequence where the defensive player gets sandwiched between two offensive players and is called for a foul because... I don't even know... was called on both teams (Bec for us, TRP for them). I think the Sparks have a lot of nerve being upset about the foul differential, with the elbows they were throwing, but some things don't change.

Shockingly, if you give Liberty fans a beat to get the "Let's Go Liberty!" chant going to, we'll get it going. It was announced as a sellout, but there were a lot of empty seats. Something tells me there will always be a lot of empty seats, even if they claim to have sold every ticket. When we had reason to make noise, we made noise.

Look, kid, you already have one t-shirt, stop screaming for another one.

The guy who lost "Don't Get Torched" got screwed. The last shot was clearly after the buzzer.

I'm not expecting our reserves to play like this every game (but on the other hand, I'm not expecting our starters to play like this every game, either). It's great to see them do so, and I love how Marine is settling in with this team.

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July 7th, 2019

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Las Vegas started strong and only got stronger as the game went on, taking out New York 90-58 on the road. Kayla McBride had a team-high 24 points for Las Vegas, with Liz Cambage adding 21 points and 11 rebounds. Tina Charles had 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Liberty.

For the boiling point, misplaced fans, terrible shot selection, and what is this I don't even, join your intrepid and very tired blogger after the jump.

On to the next one! This time it's off to That Dump in White Plains, as the Liberty take on the Las Vegas Aces. I'm getting a weird feeling of déjà vu for some reason.

The Mexican place, El Poblano? Best damn mole I've ever had in my life, and I've had some good mole.

Security was a breeze today. I know we're well over half an hour from tip time, but I'm not liking the emptiness of the seats right now. The crowd filled in well enough later.

Anthem singer: "Microphones? Where we're going, we don't need no stinkin' microphones."

If I find the ticket rep who sold Aces fans seats behind the Liberty bench, we are going to have words, and most of them are going to be unsuitable for children. Most of the section across from the road bench is empty. GO OVER THERE. GO AWAY. GOOOOOOOO.

It's 44-32 Las Vegas at halftime, and it feels like it could have been a lot worse. Our energy is high but unfocused. We appear to have forgotten what defense is, and the existence of our teammates on offense. Too many possessions have involved guards (usually Brittany Boyd, but not always) dribbling for way too long, panicking, and expecting Tina Charles to bail them out with a shot at the end of the shot clock. There are occasional variations in which a post player not named Tina has the ball, but these interludes usually involve someone freaking out.

T-Spoon is on the bench in a "someone is going to die today" suit. It may be a contract hit, it may be an impressionable femme swooning over her, but she looks sharp.

It's probably a bad sign when the team is so disorganized, the chemistry is so AWOL, and the star is so frustrated that I'm pretty sure Tina Charles yelled something to the effect of "DON'T MAKE ME TURN THIS CAR AROUND!" at her teammates, and that was only in the second quarter. People did not know where they needed to be on the floor- there were way too many occasions where someone was screaming at someone else to set a screen or use a screen. I choose vodka.

The Aces were relentless on defense. When you've got two big erasers on the inside like A'ja Wilson and Liz Cambage, you can afford to take more risks on the perimeter, and Las Vegas did so very effectively. They swarmed us, and we were not ready for the pressure. Offensively, both halves of the inside-out equation were working, which meant we were screwed either way we tried to defend. Ultimately it meant that we didn't, period.

I'm assuming Carolyn Swords's knee or something is acting up, which is why she came in so late into garbage time. She had good pursuit on the ball in her limited minutes. I love JiSu Park's energy on defense. Her shot needs work, but her nose for the ball is good and she works hard on the floor. She's got so much potential, and as a WNBA fan I look forward to seeing her develop. (So don't screw this up, Bill.) Dearica Hamby also brings a lot of energy, although hers was a little less effectively focused. She did have a nifty defensive stop on Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe that I think ended up as a Liberty turnover. She's chippy. She's got one of the best to learn from in that regard on the bench.

Sugar Rodgers got a decent hand when she came into the game, and showed her sweet stroke (though mostly from the midrange instead of beyond the arc). I'm still not sure how we managed to leave her open at any point. I mean, most of y'all have met Sugar, right? You know who she is and what she does? Y U NO GUARD JUMP SHOOTER? *insert meme here* I keep forgetting about Sydney Colson's vertical until she does something ridiculous like drop the hammer on a post player's shot. She did that to Avery Warley-Talbert, and I was embarrassed for Avery's sake. She's not necessarily flexible positionally, but she allows other players to flow into other roles when she comes into the game. Tamera Young is good at annoying people, including me. It's been 11 years and I'm still not used to her having a jump shot that remotely approaches reliable. She had one pretty one that she kissed off the glass, which I remember mostly because I was yelling at the rim for letting Aces shots through. (I recognize this is irrational, but when the game is happening, I am always irrational.)

I have taken a profound dislike to Kayla McBride. It's mostly the respectful kind that comes from a player ruining my life, but there are also moments when it's because she's not afraid to give a little shove or engage in some holding. She gets open, and the shot goes up, and it goes in, and the world keeps turning because that's one of the universal constants. Kelsey Plum's shot wasn't falling, but she was tenacious on defense, often to a fault (yes, Kelsey, I saw where your hand was on that Boyd drive; I hate to break the news to you, but I don't think you're her type). Neither she nor Jackie Young really seems to fit as the point guard for this squad. It's like hammering a square peg into a round hole- it doesn't fit, and if you do manage to get it in, it'll lose its edge. It's a good thing Las Vegas has players who can create their own offense, because no one's really going to initiate it.

Speaking of which, dear Lord is Liz Cambage unstoppable when she wants to be. She goes in the paint, and she puts her hand up, and she gets the ball, and she hits the shot. It's just that simple. She creates space, or she finishes through contact, and she hits the shot. She's big, and she's strong, and sometimes I think she would not object to ripping someone's heart out and raising it above her head in triumph (except that it might ruin her nail polish). A'ja Wilson had a monster block on Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe that I felt the pain of in my soul. She had more trouble finishing at the rim than Cambage did, but she had plenty of looks and hit her fair share of them. She's so long and so smooth with it.

Vegas has a lot of good pieces- but I'm not sure how they all fit together. When McBride and Cambage are both on fire, it sort of papers over the questions in the backcourt and the lack of guard depth.

Our bench is going to look so different after everyone finally meanders back from Eurobasket. I have to remember this. We have four players either returning or debuting. That's going to shuffle things around. I have to remember this.

Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe looked scared out there. She was careless with the ball, she didn't go hard, and she generally looked like she was pressing too hard and not getting any results from it. I think she knows she's on the chopping block, and I think she might just be okay with it. Avery Warley-Talbert worked hard, but she was a hair slow, a step short. She should have hit the shots she had at the basket- they were close in, and she was often unguarded. She showed both the reasons why she'll always be in camp and the reasons why she'll usually be the last cut or a regular temp. Han Xu got extended time in the fourth quarter, much to the joy of the crowd- she got a ridiculous hand when she came in. I don't know if it's because she's now a folk hero, or if people just want to see her do well because she's so adorably naïve, but the roar when she scored her first basket, and when she hit the three the place went nuts. She looked a little more awkward out there than she did in the preseason, but she was far from the only Liberty player to not know where she was supposed to be on the court.

Tanisha Wright started the second half and I don't know why. (The postgame tweet congratulating her on moving up the all-time assists list provides a possible reason, but a terrible one.) She's doing better running the offense than Brittany Boyd, but both of them are offensive liabilities. Tanisha repeatedly passed up open looks I know she would have taken a couple of years ago. She's a safe pick for now, or at least a safer one than Boyd, but we should not be thinking so heavily in the short-term. Tiffany Bias is adorable, but it's abundantly clear that she was just a temp. And I have no idea why she and Boyd would ever be out on the floor together; inasmuch as Tiffany has a position, it's point guard, and Boyd at off guard is a terrible, terrible idea. (Generally, shooting guards should both be willing and able to shoot.)

I guess this flows into the general sense of "WTF, Brittany" that has hovered around Brittany Boyd this season. I feel like she's hit a wall, and I don't know if it's one she can't climb or one she's decided she doesn't have to climb even though it's clearly in her way. Her passing was careless and often right to a Vegas player, and she wasn't finishing at the rim. Unless she gets her shot together and relearns some passing discernment, she's hit her ceiling so hard that she bounced off on the way back down. I want to see her do well, and when she's on she's amazing to watch. It's just that she's been off more and more often as time has gone on. Kia Nurse's shot was off, although it was often contested (it's like she's good and defenses are learning to key on her or something). What bothered me more, to be honest, was that her defense was flat-out terrible. I'm not used to her being a bad defender, but she was getting blown by and left behind by pretty much everyone she tried to defend. Asia Durr had a couple of big blocks, which surprised me. I'd have liked to see her looking for her shot a little more.

Reshanda Gray got into early foul trouble, which not only limited her effectiveness, it forced us to go to our bench, which...um... was even less of a good thing than it tends to be. When she can't be physical against taller opponents, she's up a creek without a paddle, and this goes double when it's the dual threat of Wilson and Cambage. Tina Charles took bad shots, but she was getting pounded inside, so I don't know if I blame her for retreating to the perimeter. And a lot of those shots were at the end of the shot clock, when she was the human equivalent of the panic button. But Tina's ones of the best post players in the world, or at least she used to be. I'd like to see a little more of that. I know I sound like a broken record in that regard, and that it's never going to change, and that it's going to get worse as she gets older. Let me gripe about getting these kids off my lawn, okay?

If we don't have a point guard worth her salt, we have a problem, because this offense needs directing. We don't really have anyone who can consistently create her own offense (Asia's the closest, but consistency is the key word in her case; she's a rookie and I'm not going to throw full responsibility for the offense on a rookie.) Maybe Bria's return from Eurobasket will be the answer. Maybe Marine Johannès will slot so smoothly into that role that we'll forget we never had a point guard. Maybe Boyd will have a revelation. I don't know.

The game got very physical, and there were plays I was amazed weren't called fouls. (I mean, really, Plum had a whole handful of Boyd's posterior. Rude.) But we knew this crew was working back-to-back, because we'd seen the game at Connecticut the day before. So I can't say I'm surprised.

Liberty fans are trying to get behind this team, we really are. But the squad's not making it easy. (On the other hand, being in the lottery wouldn't be a terrible thing.)

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June 9th, 2019: Las Vegas at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Defense and a balanced attack powered the New York Liberty to their first win of 2019 as they defeated the Las Vegas Aces 88-78. Tina Charles had 21 points to lead the Liberty, with Bria Hartley chipping in 17 points and six assists and Kia Nurse adding 15 points. Kayla McBride led all scorers with 25 points, and Liz Cambage had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

For physical play, endangered point guards, a rousing return, and getting off the schneid, join your intrepid and hectic blogger after the jump.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends; it's game day at That Dump in Westchester, as the New York Liberty take on the Las Vegas Aces. Your intrepid blogger is going the long way around today, because I don't feel like dealing with Metro-North, Metro-North fares, and things potentially being on fire. Things being on fire is not fun unless they are shooters.

Just for the record, if Liz Cambage wants to express her opinion of That Dump in a public setting, I volunteer to hand her a mic.

Since the entire Aces coaching staff was at the game on Friday, I assume we have been fully scouted and will therefore be obliterated in a logical and well-executed fashion. And then we lose players to Eurobasket. I'm not even there yet and I'm already too tired for this.

I hate This Dump. I hate the ever more asinine security procedures we go through. Now they have to look at your keys just in case you're carrying a weapon on them. First of all, WTF, this is new. Second of all, the odds are that any weapon on a set of keys is being carried by a woman in self-defense, which, if you are trying to take that from someone at a Liberty game, that's not going to end well. Third of all, any Girl Scout worth her salt- which there should be plenty of on Scout Day- knows that the keys themselves are a weapon three different ways, so either you have to confiscate the keys or abandon this whole security theater nonsense.

(Also, do not touch my wallet. It is in my bag for a reason. Do not touch my wallet.)

(Also, do not gaslight me into thinking I touched the sides of the metal detector when I know damn well my fat ass didn't.)

Honestly, I'm already ready to fight someone and Vegas hasn't even taken the floor.

We're not losing. I am extremely confused by this. It's 45-37 Liberty at the half. Tina Charles has 12 points to lead New York, but it's been a really balanced effort. Bria Hartley got the start in place of Asia Durr, who looks like she'd really rather be at home in bed with a fuzzy blanket and a mug of chicken soup. Vegas has 10 points each from Liz Cambage and Kayla McBride, but Cambage looks really frustrated about it.

Our halftime entertainment is a martial arts presentation that has not been terribly spectacular except for occasional flying pieces of wood.

We're still having a lot of moments where the offense is more improvisational than structured, but it's mostly working. I anticipate the Aces adjusting, because we're not a second half team right now.

My heart goes out to Sydney Colson and getting her head busted open when Bria sat on her. Get better soon, Syd!

Between the sneakers and the short-sleeved top, Spoon looks ready to suit up in case of emergency lack of point guard. Don't tempt Bill, Teresa.

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting to get the win against Las Vegas's size and skill. But while they have an imposing front line, possibly the most imposing front line in the league (except maybe Los Angeles), their backcourt can be streaky and their bench does not seem consistent. And if Colson is out for any length of time, they're in for some interesting juggling of their rotation.

I was honestly surprised that Carolyn Swords and JiSu Park got so few minutes. Swords is pretty solid, and Park showed a lot of potential last year. I guess Dearica Hamby's emergence in the early part of the season has put the kibosh on that, and Park certainly looks less confident than she did last year. Hamby was in foul trouble for much of the game, which somewhat limited her effectiveness; she was like a pinball out there for stretches, and I was surprised that Laimbeer kept her on the floor with five fouls late in the game.

Sugar Rodgers got an enormous cheer from the crowd the first time she checked into the game, and then she reminded us why some of us were perfectly okay with letting her go by throwing the ball out of bounds. She does have a pretty shot, but she's streaky. We know this. Tamera Young hit a three-pointer, and for a moment I wondered what timeline I had managed to wander into. I guess she came in for her defense? Ugh, I feel so embarrassingly naked without a scorecard, even an improvised one (my printer decided it didn't like my ink cartridge). Sydney Colson has nice speed, and heaven knows Vegas needs a ballhandler off the bench, so I hope she and her face are all right.

Jackie Young has an incredible first step. Once she gets the hang of how to finish with it, she's going to be amazing. But it seems like she's trying to make shots that she could get against college defenses, not having yet adjusted to the fact that professional defenses are usually bigger, faster, and more physical. That's part of the rookie learning curve, and I get that. She's going to be fine (though I think she could have used another year in college) and she's going to be the kind of player who sticks around because she can do a little bit of everything well- she was picking up a lot of our long rebounds that bounced strangely off ill-advised jumpers. Kelsey Plum seems to need a lot more time to wind up on her jumper than I remember her needing once upon a time. Maybe it was our defense, or maybe she was having a bad day, but she just didn't seem to fit in whatever Las Vegas was trying to run. I don't know if she can co-exist with two ball-dominant inside presences like Wilson and Cambage; I don't know if she really knows how to.

Kayla McBride gets buckets, whether they're inside on strength or outside on jumpers. I have to admire her toughness, I guess. She killed us on our endless switches, because no one on the team seemed to know how to defend her. I don't know if we could have done it even if we did, but that's a whole other story. She kept the Aces in the game most of the day. A'ja Wilson got a lot of hard looks and took a lot of contested shots. I don't know if she really needed to take some of them. She and Tina Charles were going at it hammer and tongs most of the day, throwing shoulders and hips into each other on every possession on both sides of the floor. I don't know if Tina was in her head, or if the general physicality of the game was just getting to her, but she took a lot of bad shots. It's not like we gave her good shots to take, but she didn't show the discernment not to take the bad ones that stretched her out like she thought she was Reed Richards or Helen Parr. She didn't have the angles. Liz Cambage did well when she got away from the basket, which seems counterintuitive given her height advantage over everyone who played for the Liberty, but when she got the midrange shot going, she was able to elevate over her defenders, while smaller but stockier defenders were able to leverage their size to move her. I don't know if she's slimmed down, or if her Achilles issue is making it harder for her to plant, but she was getting moved around a lot by our defense in ways that I was not expecting.

I don't know if Las Vegas has the personnel to do the things that they want to do right now. It's like they have two different teams, the backcourt-oriented one and the frontcourt-oriented one, and Bill hasn't figured out how to mesh them all together yet. McBride seems to be the only one who knows how to shift between the two systems.

Poor Asia. She did not look okay. I would like to see some more minutes for our deep bench, especially when the game is decided, but on the other hand, it's become clear that Nayo and Tiffany are nothing but placeholders for Kiah and Marine, there to be extra bodies and provide some enthusiasm (at least in Tiffany's case; Nayo mostly seems like she'd like to return to Canada already).

Great rebounding work and physical defense from Reshanda Gray in this one. She got low on Cambage and made her work. I would have liked to have seen more consistent finishing at the rim from her, but I will most definitely take the screens, the rebounding, and the defense (there was one screen she had on a drive by... I think Tanisha?... that was glorious and perfect). She's really made the most of this chance with New York, and I think it's affected our roster choices. I'd a million times rather have her energy than the lack of it Nayo's shown so far this year, and I don't think that was the original plan. Rebecca Allen continues to exist in a liminal space between the frontcourt and the backcourt- her offense has been almost all perimeter-oriented, but she does a lot of her work on the other side of the floor crashing the glass. It gives us flexibility, but it also leads to mismatches. Fortunately, the dark necromantic ritual that powers Tanisha Wright here at the end of her career was at its peak, and she had her best game of the season. The offense was clicking with her in the game, her defensive instincts were on point, and she looked (mostly) like the heady veteran presence she was supposed to be for us. I like this version of Tanisha. Okay, I maybe don't like the version that throws passes into the crowd, but other than that I was thrilled with her play.

And that was our bench. I can't really say I'm surprised, except for Katie's utter lack of trust in Han Xu.

On one hand, Brittany Boyd actually showcased a perimeter game in the second half. On the other hand, the mechanics of her jumper still need a lot of work, which is not a good thing for a player in her fifth professional season, and she committed some incredibly stupid mistakes on the floor. (I mean, really. Inbounding violation? I expect better.) It was clear that she was the third best point guard for the Liberty in this game, because Tanisha was playing well and Bria Hartley was playing really well. So that's a thing I don't know how to feel about. According to the starting lineup and the box score, Bria started at small forward, but she spent most of her time running point, even when Boyd was in the game, which left Boyd hung out to dry. Bria played really well- she hit her shots at the right time, and the offense just seemed to click when she was in the game. I thought there were stretches where she was trying to do too much and the offense became one-dimensional, but that's not a problem unique to her, so I'm going to throw that on Katie. Kia Nurse also seemed to be forcing shots. She's presenting herself as a solid second scoring option, but I don't know if she's doing it in the flow of the offense. Then again, I don't know if our offense has a flow to be in, so that's a problem. I honestly don't know what to think of her sometimes.

Amanda Zahui B is not necessarily great when it comes to rotating on defense, but once she was on her man, she was a star. She made Cambage work and got some good blocks in on the inside. I am not enthralled by her love for the three-pointer, especially when it's not going down, but I love the work she put in defensively. That's been one of the things Liberty fans have been riding her about for quite some time, so if she's making strides in that department, more power to her. (Also, really, Vegas, you should know better. You don't mess with the hair.) Tina Charles continues to be doubled and tripled, and continues to try and shoot through it. Her teammates did a better job of making themselves available on the kick out, but Tina's still trying to do too much offensively, and that's a habit she has to break. She's got talent around her- she and they just need to be aware of it and trust in it. This was probably the most physical game we've seen from her all year, and I don't know if that was Katie's game plan, Bill's game plan, or a natural cause and effect of her going at it with Wilson. But she was going hard on the glass and spending a lot more time in the paint than she has been most of the year.

There was so much motion in this game! And it was a good thing! For the first time this year, the offense was moving, both in terms of pace and in terms of people not just standing around waiting for things to happen. It was a refreshing change. I mean, yes, there were still times when whoever had the ball forgot that she had teammates and tried to go it alone, but there were fewer of them than there were in the last few games. Maybe we're turning a corner. I wouldn't place money on it, but anything can happen.

There was a lot of physical play on both sides. Bria should probably stop sitting on people. Conversely, the crew was like "LOL what even are travels". I think one of the officials had family over in the next section- either that, or someone was heckling her particularly hard and she wanted security to know about them. It wasn't us, I swear.

We've still got deep-seated issues. But this game showed what we can be if we get our act together and play to our potential. We have enough talent to compete; when we put in the extra work, it puts us over the top.

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May 24th, 2019: Indiana at New York

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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August 12th, 2018: Atlanta at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A third-quarter run from Atlanta propelled the Dream to an 86-77 win over the Liberty. Renee Montgomery poured in 30 points, including eight treys, to lead Atlanta. Tina Charles had 26 points to lead New York.

For the same old story, same old song and dance, failed defensive rotations, giving up big runs, and the relief of a mercy kill, join your intrepid and somewhat shiny blogger after the jump.

I don't think I've ever been so relieved to see the end of a regular season. Yes, I know the Liberty end the season on a multi-game West Coast trip, because life is pain and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is selling something. But this is the last time this year we're going ot have to hike up to White Plains, which means I'm done with Westchester County until November, and I can't wait. You know what? Scratch relieved. I'm happy. I'm happy I don't have to keep watching this trainwreck of a season and hike two hours each way for the privilege. And that's with assistance from the team, which I suspect will not be available for the 2019 season.

We play the Dream today, and I'm sure it'll be a good game, with three, maybe four, starters between the two teams injured. Yes. This will be fabulous.

I'm also not thrilled about them rolling Faith and Family Night into Fan Appreciation Day. I'm a godless heathen and I like it that way, and if the God portions are not optional, then I'm leaving. It's the second half of Eevee Community Day and I need more shinies.

The team is bribing us with breakfast before the bus departure. One of my fellow fans is engaged in intense discussion with Kym Hampton. I don't think it's going well for Kym. There are also people intensely watching a Little League regional championship game with the same amount of enthusiasm they would normally give the Mets. Then again, one could argue the Little League team provides the better product.

It's halftime and we're up 48-37. I'm confused. I'm also confused as to how they can call this a sellout with rows and rows of empty seats. Tina Charles has gone off, and Atlanta can't hit. It won't last, I know, but it's fun.

Tina's dad has brought out his most magnificent jacket yet. He gleams. He was crossing the little street between the clock and the arena, and did so without the aid of the cop acting as crossing guard, and honestly if anyone didn't see him there's no excuse. Overheard en route: "Got so many things to do today, and I'm up here." So say we all, sir.

The faith group running the Faith and Family Night event (which was thankfully after the game and only advertised in general phrases delivered with the enthusiasm of a cocker spaniel hopped up on Four Loko) had greeters on the front steps, urging every single person in with "You're amazing!" and "Thank you for being alive!" Since I was waiting for 2PM to come so I could set some lures and catch some Eevee, they were quite annoying. I was not the only one annoyed. I asked the cop if he had to do anything if I "accidentally" projectile vomited on one of them, and he hesitated before saying "No." Managed to dodge them on the way in.

Bad anthem. Never a good sign. Apparently Kym Hampton did her traditional tunesmithing while I was hunting Eevee.

They announced a sellout. The rows of empty seats would beg to differ. And judging from the ushers' approach to general admission being "yeah, you can sit anywhere" as opposed to "you can sit anywhere in the GA sections", something tells me that there was a shifted effect and the people who were like, "naaaaaaah" weren't people with GA tickets. I mean, we got loud in stretches, but after that collapse in the third quarter, it was hard to keep mustering up enthusiasm.

Blake Dietrick got her minutes in early. She's very loud on the floor. I appreciate that out of a point guard. I think the kid in the shirt with Dietrick on the back also approved of this message. The rim did not approve of Alex Bentley's shots- she had a three spin in and out and in and out, and another shot not get the roll. I can't say I'm sorry for her.

Imani McGee-Stafford is so big in real life, especially in such a small arena. She was several steps slow on defense, though her wingspan and the inherent length of her stride made up for a lot of that. For much of the day she looked like she wanted to be a foot shorter and not have to deal with all this basketball nonsense. I did enjoy the jump ball with Kia Vaughn, though. I somehow imagine that iron grip on the ball being a technique perfected against her brother. Monique Billings crashed the boards in one fashion so spectacular it served to confirm her identity when I couldn't see who Atlanta had brought in.

Has anyone made the Liberty aware that Renee Montgomery can shoot threes a little bit? Because she went off in the third quarter and added a couple in the fourth to boot, and I'm not sure exactly where the disconnect happened. Was it in a lack of film study to recognize that that was her shot, or in the help defense not being able to rotate quickly enough to get in her face? Granted, she hit a couple of dramatic contested threes at the end of the shot clock, so I can't argue with those. But it just kept happening. It was ridiculous. She was cold early and then she got on the hot streak. She had a steal right off Tina, too. Brittney Sykes drove the lane hard and got rewarded with calls. Getting hit in the face is not fun and I hope she's okay from it. She's got a lot of ups, too. She took a rebound away from Kia Vaughn, jumped right over and around her. Tiffany Hayes is absolutely pants at following her own jumper because she'll stand there and admire it, but she's absolutely relentless in pursuit of every shot her teammates put up. I wonder if she's realized the hypocrisy there. Watching her on the floor every time she gets knocked down and crumbles like a sand castle, I think we have at long last found a new queen to take the throne of Mery Andrade and DeMya Walker. All hail the Drama Queen!

Has anyone made the Liberty aware that Jessica Breland can shot the midrange jumper a little bit? Because she went off in the third quarter and added one in the fourth to boot, and you've already heard this part, haven't you? She was mercilessly physical on Tina Charles inside, and probably should have been called for a lot more fouls than she already was. Then when Tina was beat up and exhausted, she took her outside for the jumper. She also had a beautiful feed inside to Elizabeth Williams for one of the few buckets Williams scored. Williams was a shot eraser inside- took one away from Kia Nurse with enough force to potentially cause an international incident, had another big one on Tina. She's an anchor for them, the fulcrum of the defense.

Because their defense swarmed. Seems appropriate for a team that plays, however temporarily, at Georgia Tech. They were able to move quickly on the perimeter to cover all our options, and then bring the pain down low when we inevitably threw it to Tina, because that's what we do. Atlanta is an unbelievably terrible match-up for us on a good day. And my understanding is that the last good day was January 20th, 1992.

Rebecca Allen continues to be a useful offensive weapon, though she would be more effective if she could consistently keep her feet behind the line instead of on it. Her defense doesn't work in this system, though, and it causes me to dread every repetition of the Rebecca Allen Experience, because I know things are going to go terribly wrong at some point. Kiah Stokes finally looks somewhat like her old self, but even that's not saying a lot. She had some nice finishes on the inside, but she's still a step slow and not entirely certain on offense. Bria Hartley hit big contested shots, especially in the second half, but committed stupid fouls on defense. (Yes, Bria, that was a foul on the three-point shot by Montgomery. You can't high-five people's wrists.)

You may have noticed the entire bench is squeezed together in one paragraph, and that's because we had four players sitting out from injury or rest. Amanda Zahui B looked sharp and Marissa Coleman looked very pretty. Epiphanny Prince was in warm-up gear, and I couldn't see too much of Shavonte Zellous. Jacket and jeans, I think.

Sugar Rodgers's shot was off, which usually heralds a bad night for her. This was no exception. She was nowhere near being a factor. Brittany Boyd brought hustle and energy, but also recklessness and error-prone passing. I think she's in her own head right now, and it's messing her up. She's always been intense, and I can't imagine that apprenticing under T-Spoon is going to make her any less emotional or volatile on the floor. She needs tempering. Kia Nurse got off to a good start, but sort of seemed to disappear as the game went on. Bria was picking up a lot of her minutes. I'm worried that Katie's inexplicable rotations might be robbing our youngest Kia of her confidence.

Kia Vaughn, bless her heart. I did like the block she put on Williams, and the one finish (on an o-board, I think) in the paint. But her hands are terrible and guards were consistently outworking her for rebounds. It's no wonder Kiah was taking minutes from her. The only question was why Kiah wasn't giving Tina Charles some rest. Tina, of course, was fabulous, and in the early going looked like she was going to win us this game all by herself. But triple-teams have a way of weighing down a superstar, especially when no one else can hit a shot. She looked so tired. I hope she sits out the road trip. She deserves a break. Tina is, in fact, so tired, that I woke up this morning and the banner she signed had fallen off the wall. That's not an omen or anything, I'm sure.

Katie Smith is in so far over her head she can't see light. Her rotations are a mess, her clock management is a nightmare, she has no sense of when to use her timeouts, and the team seems to have tuned her out in record time. You can only say the same thing so many times before people stop listening. This is an absolutely untenable situation for a first-year coach. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, and Katie is far from that (even if she went to Ohio State). It's bad for both the team and the coach in question. Something's got to give. We lost an 11-point lead in something like four minutes. That's ridiculous. That's unacceptable.

Officiating didn't help anything (why yes, how dare Bec have her chest in a position where Hayes's arm might hit it?) but I don't think we can blame that for all our woes. I'd have liked to get a few more calls, especially on what seemed to be a pretty obvious clear path call on Montgomery. But it is what it is, so they say.

Any arena where stumbling out of bounds by the basket puts you halfway onto some excuse for a concourse and a third of the way towards the exit is not suitable for professional use, and I don't want to hear any arguments about the sideline space at Levien again in that regard.

The bus ride back was... interesting. Kym Hampton was our hostess, and she was taking questions the whole way back down, providing insight on player mentality and defensive rotations. I'm not sure I can believe everything she says from the business end, but there was enough I could corrorborate from other sources that I did some quiet freaking out. Story of the season, I suppose. Kym is very charming, and very sweet, and you have to be a particular idiot if you think she's flatout going to say she doesn't like anyone or there's anyone she would prefer to not have on the team. I hope I'm misreading between the lines, because if I'm not, we're going to make some terrible and short-sighted decisions for the 2019 roster.

I'm glad to be done with Westchester. I don't want to go back to that place, where the lighting is depressing, the sound system is unbalanced, the seats are terrible, the layout is nonsensical, the capacity is unacceptable, the staff is unprofessional (woo boy are there apparently some stories about the county employees), and everything about the experience is less than minor league. This is not how you treat a professional team. This is not how you treat the fans of a professional team.

I'm relieved. It's over for now. I don't want it to be over forever. But there's so much at stake. Heavy words, I know, but it's been a heavy season. It feels like we're desperately pretending everything's going to be fine, putting on a show to paper over a disaster scene. It breaks my heart.

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August 4th, 2018: Indiana at New York

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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July 8th, 2018: Dallas at New York

If they're not going to care, why should I?

I have not had enough vodka for being a Liberty fan these days. It's halftime, so your pregame notes are going to be limited. But this experience is starting to stop being fun. I'm starting to think, "You know what? No, I don't want to go to the game. No, I don't care. I don't want to be here." Well fucking done, Jim Dolan.

Yes, I just dropped an F-bomb in here. I'm tired. I'm tired of playing nice and trying to keep things kid-friendly. Fandom has turned into obligation.

Anyway, we're playing the Wings, and we're down 47-37 at the half, and we started the day off with the bus getting side-swiped and thus losing twenty minutes or so right off the top, and the woman behind me is cheering obnoxiously for the Wings, and I am just so tired. I don't want to be here. This is getting dangerously close to being the end of these notes. Dallas can sit on it and collectively spin. New York can't find their collective ass with both hands and a road map, and I'm tired, and I don't want to be here.

So I'm going to try to write game notes, because it's a 50-minute drive back to the Garden from this dump, and I have nothing better to do. The natives are definitely restless, although people are divided as to whether the problem is our lack of defense, our inability to shoot, our coaching, or a lack of talent around Tina Charles. This is a bus full of unhappy people.

I know I'm supposed to have at least a halfhearted interest in the Wings because of the St. John's connection through Azurá and Da'Shena Stevens, but nope. Nope, nope, nope, that is not happening. I do not like Dallas, I do not like their style, I do not like their players, I do not like their hideous lime green, I do not like them at all. They're nasty, and they're physical, and they have an attitude problem.

This bus appears to have two air conditioning settings, off and "welcome to the Siberian tundra". I would like a little air circulation, thank you very much. It made it so hard to think that I couldn't work on GNoD, which made dragging the computer up to White Plains pretty pointless. I've managed to calm down a little bit from being so angry I can't see straight, and so hungry I was getting a headache. But I'm still tired.

You know what? No. I don't feel like trying to write a detailed write-up of everyone who played, and what they did, or didn't do. I don't. Not happening. So here's the summary instead. Dallas is extremely physical and extremely obnoxious about it. Liz Cambage is an impressive amount of woman, but I think I'd like her better if she didn't flop, if she didn't celebrate random baskets like she'd finally won a gold medal, and if she didn't hit people in the head. Skylar Diggins-Smith is a phenomenal talent and she shouldn't have had to start the second half picking up random bits of trash off the floor. I mean, really. Should we hope the dump disintegrates before the team has to play another game there?

As for the Liberty, pretty much every possession consisted of randomly passing the ball around the perimeter until someone panicked enough to force up a dubious shot that Dallas would then rebound. Too many possessions were forced in to Tina Charles, who ended up being double- and triple-teamed, because why not? The most spark came off the bench, from Amanda Zahui B, Brittany Boyd, and to a lesser extent Kia Nurse. I have no idea why Katie has exiled Kiah Stokes and Kia Nurse. I have been done with Kia Vaughn for most of this second time around, and today did nothing to counteract that impression. Bria Hartley is streaky, and today she was terrible. Shavonte Zellous has got to learn to keep her head, though if she hasn't in nine years, she's not going to now. And it's a bad sign when someone's so heated that Z's the one keeping them from going off.

I just. I can't. I'm out of words. I can't. Tina's trying to do everything, and that's not a good plan. But no one else on the floor seems to be able to contribute consistently, and the players who are contributing don't seem to be getting playing time. I don't get it. I don't get Katie's rotations, I don't get her play-calling, I don't get anything.

I also don't get officiating in this league, but that's neither here nor there, except that it shouldn’t take a review to get a foul called on a shot to the throat. Amanda became quite the folk hero in the crowd after taking that shot from Cambage.

I'm tired. I'm tired of this team. I love them, but I can't do this. And yet I'm getting up at the crack of dawn on Wednesday to go up to Connecticut for them.

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June 10th, 2018: Indiana at New York

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Pretty solid choral anthem.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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