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.
Monday, July 9, 2018
July 8th, 2018: Dallas at New York
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
May 8th, 2018: Dallas at Connecticut
TJust the Facts, Ma'am: Led by their veteran guards, the Connecticut Sun beat the Dallas Wings 79-58 in their second game of the preseason. Courtney Williams had 18 points to lead four Sun players in double figures. Kaela Davis and Ruth Hamblin each had 14 points off the bench to pace the Wings.
For big posts, injuries, quick guards, a war of attrition, and running out of things to say, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
The second game is upon us, with the Dallas Wings facing off against the Connecticut Sun. I have to say, the Dallas blue is gorgeous. it's a shame they combine it with that eye-searing green and that inexplicable red. The Nike rendition is darker than the Adidas version; this almost reminds me of the once-unspeakable blue era for the Liberty.
Alex Bentley is back, so Tyra Buss is gone. Either that, or she's undercover as a ballgirl. The people in front of me are very sad about this. I think I just rolled boxcars with my eyes.
23-13 Sun at the end of the first. Jasmine Thomas and Courtney Williams have gone nuts. Cambage already has two fouls for Dallas.
Oh, good, the crew remembered how to play tic-tac-toe this time.
43-30 Sun at the half. Footwork needs work; I think the Sun got called for three travels in the second quarter alone. But the interior defense has been stalwart, bending but not breaking under the pressure of the Wings' skyscrapers. Brionna Jones has been especially solid.
Chiney Ogwumike is here but not dressed for the Sun.
Wings are getting points from the South Carolina alumnae.
Someone needs to explain to the Sun gameday crew that the Jeopardy! theme does not go with Wheel of anything.
Injury update: Allisha Gray took a charge in the third quarter, went down hard, and came up hopping on one foot. She went straight to the bench but hasn't come back into the game. Looks like her left ankle.
58-46 Sunday at the end of the third.
Injury update: Nikki Greene took an elbow to the forehead that left her woozy and opened up quite a cut near her eyebrow. Blood spattered a large part of the lane, and it took four people with a union rep supervising to make the area safe to play in again. Obviously she left the game.
So we saw what happened when Dallas's height was countered by greater girth and energy underneath. Of course, the Wings might have had a better chance of winning if their tall players could hit shots at the rim, but that was a problem that I saw with them last night. I think that Natalie Butler was the one who got Greene in the forehead. That would explain why the official spoke to her the longest after Greene was taken out of the game. She really needs to improve her accuracy at the rim. There were a lot of sequences when she and Ruth Hamblin were exchanging misses over the basket. I never really thought of Hamblin as a three-point shooter, but she hit one and took a couple tonight. Maybe Cambage taking a three pointer last night was part of the game plan. With Señor Fred, we may never know. She shot a wedgie tonight. At least she knew how to get it down. Last night, Wiese couldn't get it down by herself. Breanna Lewis got into it with Laney in the 4th quarter, shortly after the injury to Greene. Unfortunately, I was looking away at the time, and the next thing I knew people were exchanging words, and they did not appear to be polite words. She was very physical, especially in the fourth quarter. That's when she picked up most of her fouls. Evelyn Akhator had a big block on Morgan Tuck, and picked up a bucket that I think was on the fast break, but was otherwise under marble. She was the last post off the bench for the wings, which is not a good time for her, is there are so many post players on the Dallas roster. Kayla Thornton got sent to the bench with the arrival of Glory Johnson. She rebounded well, with one particularly good offensive board in the early going. I love when players like her get chances after going overseas.
Azurá Stevens did not have nearly a spectacular a game as she had against the Liberty. She was bothered, she was hassled, and she was pursued. She wasn't getting the easy looks that she got against New York, and pretty much every shot she threw up was contested or was an extremely bad shot, or both. I still think she has the potential to be a game changing player, but I realize that she has to improve her physical play in order to deal with the more physical nature of the professional game. (I almost kept the last TTS typo, because metaphysical for more physical almost worked.) Saniya Chong brought good defense, but was quiet offensively. She looked to be trying to set up her teammates more than she was looking for her own offense. That's not necessarily a bad thing, if that's the role she's supposed to play. Kaela Davis was a sparkplug early for the Dallas offense. If the officials ever start calling her for travels on those pell-mell drives, though, she's going to be in a lot of trouble. I could also do without some of her dramatics, though she toned those down tonight. Loryn Goodwin definitely played, and I remember a drive that had a lot of steps, but I also remember having a one liner that I didn't get to use, so that's a thing. She's had a remarkable journey, but I think it's going to end before the end of training camp.
I don't know if there's any additional context to the matter, but Karima Christmas-Kelly and Shekinna Stricklen were going at it hammer and tongs whenever they were both in the game at the same time. It was a very physical battle. For the most part, it looked like Stricklen was getting the better of her on the inside, though Christmas-Kelly was able to shake her loose for a three in the early stages of the game. She didn't play a lot, but she was tough when she was in. Glory Johnson already looks like she's either having problems with her right shoulder or she's getting her elbows warmed up for the regular season. She looked wild in the lane- the shots she was throwing up were reckless, to say the least. It's absolutely astonishing how much of a presence Liz Cambage can be in the lane. She's so tall, and she's thickly built, and she has no qualms about using any and all of that size to the fullest advantage possible. She was especially good at using her lower body for leverage and to get people out of the way on screens (she got called for an offensive foul on one of those, which went over well with the Mohegan crowd). It's easy to get under her skin, and Connecticut's physical defense was definitely doing that. For most of the game, she was getting away with the pushing and shoving. She's quite the talent, and she's quite the handful. She obliterated Alyssa Thomas on a block.
Skylar Diggins-Smith didn't play a lot, and really wasn't impressive when she did. She had a lot of trouble with the Connecticut defense- they were all up in her business. She had one nice move that garnered the attention of the woman in front of me (who was quite the fan of hers despite being a Sun season ticket holder, but I suppose I shouldn't judge). Allisha Gray was hot in the early going, but wasn't getting as much time, or as many looks, later in the game. Most of her points were in the first quarter, though she did have a very nice steal in the third.
Dallas is, or at least has the potential to be, very high-octane. Their guards are aggressive going the basket, and their sheer size up front makes them formidable down low. But they've got to work on their accuracy, and Stevens will have to be more consistent. I mean, she's a rookie, so that's bound to happen, and I expect her to iron out her problems sooner rather than later.
I really feel bad for Nikki Greene taking that hit to the head, because unless league rules forbid it, it's probably going to be the last thing she did for the Sun. She was physical with Cambage, which I think was the role she was called upon for, and hit her putbacks, but I don't see her as a multi-dimensional enough player to stick on a WNBA roster. Cayla George was on the floor against Thornton and Davis much of the time, and that is entirely too many people with phonetically identical first names on the court at the same time. Someone in the arena was a fan; I heard the "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!" cheer when she was on the court. She had some good minutes in the second quarter. Betnijah Laney really turned up the intensity on defense, going after loose balls along the sideline. She got into it with Lewis, and I still don't know why, but they got double technicals out of the deal. I can only imagine that someone said something about someone's mother. Better game for Morgan Tuck this time around than against Los Angeles. Her shot was working a little more (she hit a pretty one underneath on a nice feed from Stricklen). I'm still not entirely sure what kind of player she is, but her potential is starting to show.
Alex Bentley came into the game and immediately hit a three, so I guess she's doing all right upon her return. She had a nice steal in the fourth quarter, as the Sun were jumping all over the passing lanes. I think the fans might have missed her a little bit. (That first shot being granted, though, she did miss everything else she took, which isn't good. She looked to be forcing a lot of her stuff, though I wonder how much of that was from lack of familiarity with the personnel.) Rachel Banham didn't wait until the end of the game to get her three-pointer working this time, but the play she had that impressed me most was actually the steal and the runout for the lay-up. If she can bring that kind of shooting every night, and add the defense to it, she'll stick on this roster. But that's always been a problem for her. Leticia Romero continues to be underwhelming, and I'm disappointed. I really thought she had the game for the W, but somehow it's not translating. Lexie Brown had a quieter game than she had against Los Angeles, but still showed potential on both ends of the floor. I'd probably want to see her build a little more muscle if I'm Connecticut, as long as it doesn't impact her quickness.
If I'm Connecticut, I'm deeply worried about Alyssa Thomas's free throw shooting right now. As bad as it was against Los Angeles, somehow she managed to be even worse against Dallas. I know most of the best parts of her game are in transition, but you still can't legitimately be a slashing kind of player and not be able to hit free throws. That invites a lot of fouls. Brionna Jones got the start for Chiney Ogwumike, who sat out the game for rest. She was on the bench, though (she was the aforementioned union rep who supervised the clean-up of the blood, so much blood) and keeping her teammates loose. Jones was a force on defense, with a ruthless block on Allisha Gray and a lot of bodying up on Cambage. She got called for a lot of fouls, and got frustrated by being called for a lot of fouls when she was getting as much as she gave. I was getting flashes of DeTrina White or Tamika Whitmore in her good years from her, and I love it.
This was the first time I really felt that Shekinna Stricklen was embracing her height instead of steadfastly trying to ignore it. She spends a lot of time on the perimeter on offense, and that's not the worst thing in the world, but this seemed to be the first time I saw her using her height and her build on the inside for rebounding and defense. It's refreshing, and I hope to see a lot more of that from her this year (except when the Sun are playing the Liberty, of course). Maybe this will be the year she blossoms into the player Seattle thought she was going to be when they drafted her. I still love what Jasmine Thomas brings on both ends of the floor. She was on fire in the first quarter- for a very long stretch, she and Courtney Williams were the only players scoring for Connecticut, which might have been a disturbing note for the future if other players hadn't gotten involved in the second half. I love Courtney Williams's speed. She's going to have days when she's a hot mess and she can't throw it in the ocean, and she's going to have to be able to be able to help her team on those days as well. But when that first step gets her to the basket and she explodes, there isn't much you can do if you're the opponent except either get out of the way or foul her.
Connecticut has got to stop fouling, though. That was their problem on defense last year, and it's still their problem on defense. The posts couldn't defend without fouling, and the guards have a regrettable tendency to reach in when they don't have to.
Definitely still preseason for the officials. Reaction times are a little slow, and they couldn't call travels for beans.
I really think it's going to come down to Banham or Laney for one roster spot for Connecticut, unless there are positional issues that I'm not considering properly.
I hope that for the regular season, the fans get involved in the game earlier. It took a run of uncalled fouls against Dallas and the injury to Greene to get their blood up. Basketball is not the opera, but neither is it the Roman Colosseum. There were a couple of guys in the lower deck whose jibs I liked the cut of, though- they were trying to get the chants going, even if no one else was really jumping in on them. It's not my job to be the loudest person in the room for a team that's not truly mine.
I'm looking forward to the season opener, and I think this team's going to be pretty interesting when they have all the pieces together.
May 7th, 2018: Dallas at New York (at Connecticut)
Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Liberty started out strong, but faded late in their preseason game against the Dallas Wings at Mohegan Sun Arena. Azurá Stevens stole the show for Dallas with 19 points and nine points off the bench. Marissa Coleman led New York with 14 points off the bench, while Kia Nurse was solid in her debut with 10 points and four boards.
For fashion commentary, red salt, translation services, exhaustion with retreads, and game day issues, join your intrepid and anachronic blogger after the jump.
I'm doing it. I'm joining the 21st century. I have a tablet. I have a word processor. All I needed was a headset. Guess what? I found one. So now I don't have to bring my laptop, which means I don't have to carry as much. That also means I don't have to bring my backpack and go through bag check.
This is a test of the emergency GNoD system. If this were an actual gameday... oh, wait, it is. In fact, it's a double header day, and the first of back-to-back double headers. My heart is light and singing. It's good to be back in the groove.
So far, I've been called upon to serve as translator between the Chinese tour guide and a Spanish-speaking passenger. That's kind of fun when you don't really understand either of the people involved, and you really, really have to hope you understood the accent correctly.
I apologize in advance for any unusual typos; text-to-speech is still working out the kinks. (or “at the cakes”, as that last sentence originally read) I imagine it's going to have a field day with some of player names. Good thing there aren't too many hard to pronounce ones, although it might have some trouble with a blue McKay (better known as Ogwumike. Oh, dear.) Capitalization also seems to be a problem, which offends my soul, as I am definitely a grammar cop if not the other kind of grammar enforcement.
Got off to a rough start with autographs, since the Liberty were on the other side from my usual perch, so I missed Kia Nurse. But I got over quickly enough to get the free agent class. Also, I got to see Spoon air guitar and turn into a big kid when Swin came out with the kid.
Wow, Blaze has slimmed down. he/she/it (do we know Blaze's pronouns?) basically looks like a fuzzy orange person. The effect is more unnerving than the old suit was.
There's a fire sale going on, so if I have no money tomorrow, that's why. Okay, and I also lost some money on the slots, but that's what you do in Connecticut.
Shout out to the nice folks from California, proudly wearing their signed Sparks jerseys. They were really nice, even if I had to relive that crushing loss to UCLA. (if you guys are reading this, I think I misremembered who hit the gamewinner. I think it was Jasmine Dixon.)
The seafoam green shooting shirts with the black jerseys are fire emoji. That's a deliberate use of the word emoji, not an attempt to insert an emoji into the text.
Good solid baritone anthem.
I think the game day staff hit up Margaritaville before the game. The PA guy couldn't get the starting lineups straight, the scoreboard was reversed for the first four minutes, and the clock operator was asleep at the wheel, leading to a very long stoppage of play. It took three restarts to get the clock properly oriented, and there were multiple issues throughout the game.
21-17 Dallas after the first quarter, and Azurá Stevens is on fire. That dryness you just felt in your mouth is my saltiness coming through the page with all the force my irrational frustration can bear.
38-32 Dallas at half. I'm more concerned about Tina Charles having gone to the locker room and not coming back. It looked like she got hit in the face near the end of the first quarter, but she's not even on the bench.
Not to say that the Westchester move discommoded more than the city residents, but I saw three people in Liberty gear with Sun season ticket cards.
55-54 Dallas at the end of the third. Have gotten the attention of Marissa Coleman and Lindsay Allen for informing Kaela Davis that the line does not lie. I... should probably mention I'm in the second row. Of the upper deck.
76-69 Dallas, final. Dallas is really, exceptionally, absurdly tall. I am jealous.
I think Ruth Hamblin tries to calculate angles off the glass with her bank shot. It's like she doesn't think that she can get it in without help. I know you're a rocket scientist, Ruth, but you don't have to show off like that. She looked good against players who were shorter than her or less mobile than her. We'll see how that goes against Connecticut. Evelyn Akhator had a block on Kia Nurse so vicious it could have been considered an international incident, especially when Kia's response was to foul her on the other end. Breanna Lewis wasn't terrible, but based on the other players I saw in this game, she would probably get the short end of the stick. Natalie Butler got a decent amount of applause from the crowd, and then proceeded to obliterate a defender with an offensive foul. She's got size, and you can see her instincts at the basket, but she's not ready for primetime, and I don't know that she'll ever be.
Azurá Stevens is really good at basketball. I don't know if she's a generational player, if only because I think she has to work on her interior game more to be that kind of star, but her size and touch on the outside were a deadly combination. She ripped us up in the second quarter, and kept up the pace in the second half; the runs we made were mostly curtailed when she returned to the game. Loryn Goodwin is smaller than I remembered- I thought she was stockier. She had one nice hustle play, but that was it. Saniya Chong brought excellent defense off the bench. (Really, Shoni? You think you're going to be able to lull a Husky alumna to sleep with some half-baked crossover moves?) I am already done with Kaela Davis's acting. So done. She hit the deck at the slightest provocation. I will stipulate that most of her hitting the floor was on the opposite end of the court from where I was sitting, so it was possible that there was legitimate contact I didn't see, but I doubt it. (This is part of what led to "LINE DON'T LIE, KAELA!" and Marissa and Lindsay looking for where that noise came from.)
I don't think I was ready for Liz Cambage to come back. That's a whole lot of woman there. She made her presence felt early on, whether it was from beyond the arc (which I get the feeling was not the play that Fred Williams drew up) or inside where her height was superior to every defender New York could throw at her. Kayla Thornton had a good defensive game, disrupting passes all over the place. She had a fantastic offensive rebound in the early going.
Skylar Diggins-Smith is not a player that we should ever be leaving open. I don't know why that's a thing that happened, but it was a thing that happened entirely too often for my liking. Allisha Gray had a monster block on Sugar Rodgers and got her scoring done in the first quarter. I get the sense that Williams wasn't really evaluating her as much as he was evaluating some of the more borderline players. Karima Christmas-Kelly did work getting to the line inside, admittedly helped by the players we had attempting to play defense in that quarter.
Leslie Robinson has not caught up to the speed of the professional game yet, and I don't know if she ever will, but I like her instincts. Her reaction time is just markedly slow. She might not make it in the W, but she should have a good career overseas eventually. Mercedes Russell is not very mobile, and her height advantage was negated by the fact that apparently everything is bigger in Texas. She had a couple of shining moments, especially off a feed from Shavonte Zellous. Marissa Coleman was streaky on offense- her points looked to becoming more from the jumper than from the inside. On the one hand, I'm happy about this because we need a three until and unless Rebecca Allen turns into who we thought she was going to turn into; on the other hand, if we need her to swing to the four for spot minutes, I don't think it's going to work. Apropos of absolutely nothing, she was wearing gorgeous fuchsia nail polish for this game. (Yes. I'm a girl. I notice these things.)
Kolby Morgan had her moments to impress. She failed to do so. I kind of got the sense that bringing her in was a favor, so I'm not terribly surprised. I assume she's getting cut the moment Bria Hartley is back and ready to play. Shoni Schimmel seemed to be looking for her own shot more than I would like out of a backup point guard. I know she can be a combo guard, and has been a combo guard, but we need distributors too much for her to be taking shots away from Sugar or Piph, and that's just among backcourt players. We definitely don't need her taking shots away from Tina. (Granted, by that point, Tina was out of the game, and we'll see if she plays against half of Los Angeles.) She does at least seem to be back in playing shape, which is a plus. I like Kelly Faris's defensive grit, but she's got to bring more to the floor if she wants to stick on this roster. She's always been offensively limited, but the problem seems to have gotten worse. I almost forgot Kia Nurse, which would have been embarrassing , since I was very impressed with her defense for a rookie. I know UConn haas a very intense defensive system, but she seems to have adapted quickly to the speed of the pro game.
Unsurprisingly , Sugar Rodgers ended up as one of our primary offensive otions after Tina left the game. Her shot is as quick as ever. Lindsay Allen looks like she's starting to develop into the kind of point guard we thought she could become- mostly a distributor, but someone who can score a little bit when she has to. I really look forward to seeing her development.
I like Cal as much as the next New Yorker, and I wish her all the best, but I'm done with trying to make Reshanda Gray happen in the WNBA. If she can't rebound against taller players, and she can't effectively shoot around taller players, and she can't stop fouling taller players, she's going to have problems, because pretty much every post in the WNBA is taller than she is. Either she needs to get taller, she needs to get faster, or she needs to get smarter on the court, because otherwise she has no future as a WNBA player. Shavonte Zellous brought the hustle, as she always does. We're going to need her leadership this year. (Cool. Once I got the right headset, and got the mic in the right position, there were a lot fewer typos.) It's really hard to gauge Tina Charles on half a quarter of play. I don't know if she's going to play against Los Angeles because, after all, this is the preseason, and we really don't need to know what she can do.
I'm looking at these notes, and I'm actually a little embarrassed, because I really don't have a lot to say about the Liberty starters. On the other hand, it's not like we don't already know what they can do. Preseason is more about trying to figure out the new players that you have, and where they might fit in on your roster.
Part of me wants to say that the refs got whistle happy in the second quarter, but on the other hand, so did our personnel.
I'm not impressed with our black jerseys. I mean, they're not terrible, but they're not exciting either. I certainly don't want to buy one. I like the pop of color on the trim, but the cookie cutter design somehow seems even less inspired than the last cookie cutter designs.
I'm very much not happy with how we folded in the second half. Granted, at that point we were mostly just testing players out; I think after Tina got hurt, Katie pulled the chutes on taking the game seriously. But it still annoys me.
On to the next one, which you may end up reading in rapid succession, given that I'm working on most of this pile at once after finally sleeping for the first time in what seems like forever.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
June 2nd, 2017: Dallas at New York
Just the Facts, Ma’am: The New York Liberty roared back in the third quarter and hung on late to beat the Dallas Wings 93-89. Tina Charles had a game- and career-high 36 points to go with 10 rebounds; Shavonte Zellous added 27 points, and Kiah Stokes had 13 points and 15 rebounds. Skylar Diggins-Smith had 19 points to lead four Wings in double figures.
For fashion disasters, the judgment of Mama Taj, worrisome guards, trials by fire, and getting off my lawn, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
Why do the four-day weeks always seem longer? You’d think they wouldn’t be, right? And yet here we are. At least it's Friday. We can make it. I believe in you. I don’t know if I believe in me, but I believe in you.
Let’s take a moment to offer up prayers for the recovery and/or soul of my beloved Jocelyn, who may be dead or dying. She wouldn’t start up this morning, but I’m hoping I can fix that with a system restore. She’s been a good computer, sleek and beautiful and fast. As useful and lightweight as Kim (my Samsung tablet) and Manuel (the Lenovo laptop I’m typing these notes on) have been, things just won’t be the same without Jocelyn.
The difference between a 7:00 start and a 7:30 start is so stark it's not even funny. Even if Dallas did pretty much blow everyone off. That includes the two girls in Dallas green. Y’all. People are willingly wearing that putrid color you claim as your primary, and you ignore them? You deserve your bad karma. (Except for Chong, Christmas-Kelly, and Davis.)
It’s going to be a torch night. I didn’t think that this was that big a matchup, but you do you.
Hello to the Irish fans down in the front row of our section. I hope you and the rest of our visitors enjoy their visit!
No Timeless Torches, but we get Lil’ Torches instead. This is an acceptable exchange.
At halftime, it’s 50-45 Dallas, and I feel like it could have been worse.
Cierra Burdick is utterly adorable, between her dance moves with Amanda Zahui B and her patting the back of her hair as if to make sure it was still there when the torch flared off.
Shavonte. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. I know you’re frustrated. But stop talking. Just. Stop talking. Certainly stop talking to the Dallas bench.
I feel like the picture-perfect crossover followed by the airball 3 is as succinct a synopsis of Bria Hartley’s season as we’ll find this year.
Stupid Dallas fan frat boys.
Stupid jerks doing the Bleacher Creature roll call for the Wings.
Stupid ugly Dallas uniforms.
Not for nothing, but seats in our area are $46 per game. I have issues with people who pay $46 to go to a Liberty game and watch a Yankee statcast during a one-possession game.
(Peripherally related, I think I have my new sig line over at Reb’s.)
This was entirely too close for comfort, and I can’t shake the feeling that we got out of it as much by the Wings’ issues as we did by Tina Charles Being Awesome And Doing Everything So Well She Deserves All The Capital Letters. There were recoveries. But there’s a problem. There’s a big problem. But we’ll get to that.
Seriously, Dallas, is that red accent supposed to represent the bleeding your eyes do if they have to stare at those green uniforms for any length of time? I’m normally all about getting away from blue uniforms, but Dallas has a really nice and somewhat unique blue I’d like to see them use more.
Saniya Chong still has a lot of work to do, but I like her instincts on the floor. She got outplayed by her Liberty rookie counterpart, or at least outhustled. She got a surprisingly big hand from the crowd; either there are more UConn fans among the Liberty crowd than I thought or the population of Ossining was temporarily transported to Manhattan. I see why they kept her, though. She’s technically sound. Kayla Thornton sort of came off as the poor man’s Glory Johnson; there were a couple of sequences where I had to double-check the number to see who made the play. She’s not quite as a lot of things as Johnson is: not quite as tall, not quite as athletic, not quite as quick. She got into foul trouble in a hurry in the third quarter. Kaela Davis is a very nice shooter, and there’s no reason we should be leaving her open.
I don’t have an Internet connection right now, so I can’t go back in time and look at my notes from the times I’ve seen LSU play. But I’m pretty sure at some point I saw Theresa Plaisance in college, and I’m pretty sure I commented on her soft touch and long range ability back then. If an untrained fan sitting in the stands can spot it, I would think trained professionals would have it on the scouting report. And yet we kept leaving her open for threes (and we’re lucky one of them wasn’t a four-point play; the ref must have decided that Tina was giving her a high five for the basket). Glory Johnson brought a lot of speed and athleticism to the floor; there were several sequences where she was the one bringing the ball up with long, loping strides, and she wasn’t half bad at it. She kept moving, especially on defense, tipping away passes. Karima Christmas-Kelly appears to have misplaced her jumper, and attempted to make up for the loss with reaching and grabbing. As much talking as was coming from the Liberty end (and there was plenty) she was doing more than her fair share to the refs. She took a couple of hits, though I only saw the aftermath of them and thus cannot pass judgment on who did what and why would they do such a thing. She was very physical. She’s a Bad Girl, but without the Detroit part of the pedigree.
I don’t like Skylar Diggins-Smith, but she does have moves. (I actually dislike the cult of personality around her more than her personally, but I also dislike players who cultivate said cults. Anyway.) As pretty as she is on offense- the long jumper, the floater in the lane, the drop passes- I think I like watching her more on defense. There’s something about the quick movement of her feet and the way she holds her hands out that just works. But also, I am a sucker for defense and have been since jump. Allisha Gray wasn’t afraid to shoot, which is a good sign for Dallas’s future. No, really! You know she’s going to be a big part of it, and given the trouble the Liberty have had with getting players to shoot, it’s sort of refreshing to see a rookie who isn’t.
I might have had the successful three-point shooter out on the floor in the final minute or two instead of the hothead with five fouls, but I’m not chill enough to be Fred Williams.
Rebecca Allen got some brief run in the first half, hardly worth mentioning, and Bill didn’t go back to her. She’s playing like someone who’s lost confidence in herself, and while I can’t say I’m surprised, I hope she finds her footing. Cierra Burdick does exist! She played briefly in the second half, and they were unmemorable minutes. But I’m glad she’s okay. Amanda Zahui B got first half run, but in the second half she was sort of balancing on a board on the sideline between dance numbers, so I think she might be dealing with some kind of nagging foot injury. Foot injuries are not to be messed with, especially for posts.
Welcome back, Lindsay Allen, and we’re just going to throw you straight into the fire, no pressure whatsoever. She was first off the bench (though that was partially out of necessity, not out of rotation) and she acquitted herself about as well as could be expected with a rookie in her first game back. She’s got to be more careful with her hands, and we could use a little more offensive aggression from her, but she’s shown me more in one game than she did in three preseason games. Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe got the bulk of the minutes at all the forward positions, and I love the activity she brings to the floor. She tips balls and she makes plays happen.
Tina Charles, my goodness. She knows she has to be the center of attention, and she knows she’s going to be getting doubled and tripled pretty much every time she even thinks too hard about the ball, and she still put up a reasonably efficient career-high with a double-double to boot. We’re so lucky to have her. The only quibble I have is that she needs to be more careful with her fouls- we need her too much for her to have to be off the floor or backing off on defense. Kiah Stokes brought strong interior defense and rebounding. It was the kind of game we needed out of her; it was the kind of game we’re going to keep needing out of her. Shavonte Zellous had a fantastic offensive game, both shooting and driving. She had some defensive lapses that I found disturbing- you can’t have your hands down on Diggins-Smith. Also, Z, it is bad form to yell swear words so loudly that people ten rows up can hear them... especially if you did, in fact, commit a blatant reach-in foul on Christmas-Kelly.
Bria Hartley did better as a shooting guard than as a point guard, which is reassuring in one sense (that she’s not a complete walking disaster) and distressing in another (well, we did kind of bring her in with the expectation that she was going to be able to run point for at least a few minutes). Playing her as the shooting guard makes her more effective, but someone still has to do the ballhandling. And her shot has been inconsistent. And then there’s the other issue in the backcourt, the elephant in the room we’ve all been too distracted to discuss because there are too many other issues to count. I love what Sugar Rodgers has done for the Libs, but this year, she’s been too inconsistent, taking steps back to the volume shooter she was at Georgetown instead of the more measured player she’s been for the last year or so. I’ll give her credit for her defense and passing, but we’re not going to survive many games where Sugar’s first points are the game’s last points. She has to make better decisions on the floor.
Refs somehow managed to call a boatload of fouls and still let a ridiculous amount of contact by both teams go uncalled. It got physical frequently and often. I’m surprised no one got hurt.
Survive and advance. Three rotation players down, that’s all you can ask. It’s unrealistic to expect Shavonte to shoot like that again, or for Kiah to drop another double-double with such emphasis.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
June 14th, 2016: Dallas at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Up by as much as 10 and down as much as eight, the New York Liberty finished with strong defense to win 91-88 over the Dallas Wings. Tina Charles had 28 points to lead the Liberty, with Sugar Rodgers adding 18. Karima Christmas led Dallas with 21 points, while Courtney Paris notched a 13-point/10-rebound double-double.
For hammer time in the stands, the t-shirt feeding frenzy, gutless wastes of flesh, schadenfreude, Stooookes, good neighbors, taunting, and bad decisions, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
It's game day at the Garden, as the Dallas Wings return to New York to take on the Liberty. Undoubtedly, there will be tears, and a moment of silence, and probably more rainbow flags in the crowd than usual even for New York after what happened in Orlando. Our fan base is very gay and very proud- and also very black and Hispanic, with plenty of intersection amongst all those descriptors. These were our people. These are our people.
(And then there's the Zellous family's close call. Shavonte says it way better than I do: http://www.theplayerstribune.com/6-14-16-shavonte-zellous-pulse-i-am-orlando/ )
In other news, the Q59 is evil and children need to be taught not to scream on public transit. On the other hand, holy crap in a peach basket, when did they start adding the L train to the wi-fi stations? This is awesome!
The pregame entertainment consists of young girls in what appear to be Rosie the Riveter inspired costumes. They need to get that routine on ice...
There are two women here in Canadian Hammer shirts, wielding a Canadian flag. Bless their hearts. (Eh? Can I just say that I love the increase in Canadians in women's basketball? I love cheap, easy, Canadian jokes about verbal tics and Tim Horton's and hockey and unshakeable politeness and beavers and lumberjacks and geese.) (Almost typed geeks there. Ruth Hamblin is a geek, or at least a nerd, but that's not related to her being Canadian.)
Nice choral anthem, though I'm not sure why they followed it with "God Bless America" instead of the other way around.
The moment of silence was profoundly silent, and the rainbow-striped Liberty flag was debuted a week or so early. Maddie waved it for long enough that people weren't sure whether they were supposed to cheer or remain quiet and respectful.
That scoring pace from the first half was fun. Unsustainable by either team, but fun. The pattern that's become more and more apparent in Liberty games is that we'll shut down a star player, but then the role players will step up.
Case in point, the pesky Erin Phillips. She drove Sugar Rodgers nuts on defense, hassling her and pinning her on the sideline. And then she was bombing threes, even when Shavonte Zellous had a hand up in her face (I think it was after that play where Shavonte stood with her arms outstretched, as if to say, "What more could I do?"). I would appreciate if she would avoid undercutting Shavonte, though. This appeared to have been the night Aerial Powers was assigned to shoot threes, because it's a range she needs to add to her game and something that's still a bit lacking in her game. I love her athleticism, though.
I'm not sure if they consider Jordan Hooper a forward or a guard, but I talked more about the guards, so she'll get stuck in with the forwards here. She had a nice little stretch in the late third and early fourth- I think it may have helped her to have Shoni on her. It looked like she might have taken that block a wee tiny bit personally. She's a useful part, but not much more. Theresa Plaisance played very briefly in the first half and was unremarkable- she took her three-point shot during a stretch when everyone on Dallas seemed to be hitting a three, and since she opened up a can of whoop-ass against us the last time out, I was a bit worried that that was going to blow the doors open. But she missed, and that was pretty much the end of it for her. Glory Johnson has funky shot selection, but more than makes up for the impossible contortions of her shot with her active, quick hands on defense. She was all over Tina Charles, making things very difficult for her.
I like when Skylar Diggins misses lots of shots. Petty? Damn right. I spent four years watching her get every call in the book and then some, and watching her whine every time she got called for one. It's nice to see the shoe on the other foot sometimes. She had a couple of nifty moves on defense, including a beautiful steal off Sugar Rodgers that was absolute petty larceny, but her shot definitely isn't back yet. As much as they held her back in the first month, I'm not so sure she was ready yet. Perhaps keeping an eye on this will help the Liberty decide what to do with Epiphanny Prince after the Olympics. Odyssey Sims couldn't seem to miss, whether it was from outside or driving pell-mell down the lane. I admire her toughness, though I could do without her doing the three goggles; on the other hand, she probably wouldn't do them if we guarded the perimeter.
In a weird way, I enjoy watching Plenette Pierson play because she looks so odd on the court. I don't know whether it's the precision of her moves, the extreme kick that jackknifes her body as she takes a jumper, or the conscious effort she puts in to stand up ramrod straight on the floor, but there's something fascinating about the way she handles herself. She started the game, but I don't think she started the second half- the back must have been acting up again. She gave good hustle in the minutes she got, bringing toughness and bodying on the boards. Karima Christmas killed us, inside and out. She's developed herself into a very useful supporting player- she's not a star, but she does what Dallas needs of her. She hit threes early, she went hard to the rack, and she played solid defense. I don't know if she should be starting, but Dallas should keep her just as long as they can. Courtney Paris is a whole lot of woman, and I find it hard to believe any defender can lose track of her, especially when she's wearing electric lime green. That is a lot of bright green to overlook. She has very limited range on her shot- her midrange jumper, at least tonight, was coming up consistently short- but she has nice passing touch and can score when she's at the basket. She's as mobile as rush hour traffic, but sometimes it's better to be the immovable object than the unstoppable force.
What is with Dallas's obsession with rolling the ball on inbounds? They did it three or four times last night, and not in the usual scenarios where a team is desperately trying to scrap for every second they can get to keep their hopes alive. I'm talking about eight minutes left in the third quarter in a one-possession game.
Shoni Schimmel still needs to work on her defensive rotations, but that block on the Hooper three and the resulting fast break combined into one beauty of a play. She's a firestarter, and she'll earn playing time that way, but she's going to miss a lot of crunch time if she can't improve on defense. (Though she played when it was FT time, part of a four-guards-and-Tina set.) I'm worried about the mental part of Brittany Boyd's game. She seems to be missing that extra oomph in her shot and that extra step somewhere along the line (though her lack of fear is showing up in other ways- she had a bump and a staredown with Pierson after Pierson fouled her on a drive). It looked like she might have picked up a couple of tweaks to the knee and the wrist along the way, too. Shavonte Zellous didn't play her smartest defense tonight, and I was surprised at her free throw rate, but all things considered, she was solid. She made the backdoor cut beautifully and came up big late.
Amanda Zahui B needs to be more physical- if you're going to foul someone, make sure they feel it, especially when you're a broad-framed post. But we needed the minutes she gave in relief of Tina. Kiah Stokes threw a block party and everyone in green was invited. She had a huge one on Sims near the end of the game that helped slam the door- not just close it, but slam it with authority. I'd like to see her be more aggressive on offense and be more of an option, but she's such a force on defense that if that's all she's going to be, it's not the worst thing in the world.
Tanisha Wright's shot was way off- her jumper was coming up consistently short. Her passing eye was a bit off as well. She made up for it on defense, especially down the stretch when she laid the final block on Sims to seal the game. That was a thing of beauty. I joked during the game that she really wanted that 1000th rebound to get past the milestone- she had two o-boards off her own misses in the first few minutes of the game. Sugar Rodgers is at her best when she's finding her shots quickly, in the flow of the offense. While I love that pretty much everyone on my team is willing to drive the lane, that's not where her strength lies. I'd rather see her taking jumpers than driving pell-mell down the lane, trying to draw a foul that will never be called. (We really need to learn that the officials are going to give us nothing. It's good to draw contact, but we've got to stop prioritizing contact over the angle to actually make a reasonable shot at the basket.)
Swin Cash did work on the offensive glass- she didn't play a lot, but she did what we needed her to do, and that's why we needed her back. Carolyn Swords was solid on offense, but she was slow rotating defensively, which allowed Paris to go to town. Also, ball security, this is a thing that needs to be emphasized. In general, that's a thing that this team needs to emphasize coming out of this game, but Carolyn was pretty bad. (So was Kiah, but her bad-assery on the other end of the floor more than made up for that.) Tina Charles was her superstar self, hitting from all parts of the floor. I'm not sure how many threes she actually had, as opposed to long twos, since she was flirting with the line a lot and there was a scoring discrepancy. But Tina did all the things. It was starting to wear on her in the fourth quarter- her shot was falling short and she wasn't moving as quickly. Shockingly, being covered in triple-teams tends to wear a player down. But she had enough left to hit the game-winner.
Our perimeter defense continues to be an issue. They got more than half their points from beyond the arc. It may be a feature, not a bug, but it's one that needs to be developed out. And while we shut down Diggins, we got burned by Christmas and Phillips. The league's gotten to the point where role players can do that to you.
Officiating could have used a few more explanations- we never found out which of Tina's shots had the point taken off the board, or even the explanation for why there was a point taken off the board (it's my own theory that it was one of Tina's "threes" that was really a long two). Can't complain too much, as it really didn't make a difference in the game.
The only real blemish on the experience was the jerk in front of us. I'll admit that I didn't see the whole thing, but I came back to my seat to find the man in my husband's face, snapping at him to "tone it down" and making comments about how if he didn't, they'd have to talk about it elsewhere. Do not ever threaten my husband in front of me, and do not ever ignore me when I call you on it. We don't swear at games and we try to keep our language family-friendly, because there are kids (and the... gentleman... in question had a young girl with him). But we get loud and we get rowdy. We cheer for our team, we razz the opponent, we mock the opponent's mistakes and bewail our own. That's how we roll. Our neighbors stood up for us when we went to get security, and security handled it well enough (except for the one woman who asked us if we wanted to move- uh, no, we're not moving out of our season seats because one guy has a problem, he can damn well move if anyone needs to move).
I love my team, and I love my Garden.
I think we needed a game like this before a road trip. We just need to stop leaning quite so heavily on Tina.
Monday, May 16, 2016
May 15th, 2016: Dallas at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: New York went up 11-0 and never trailed in their 79-71 win over the Dallas Wings. Tina Charles and Sugar Rodgers each had 24 to pace the Liberty, with Charles adding 11 rebounds. Dallas got 14 points each from Odyssey Sims and Theresa Plaisance.
For Broadway, bright colors, questioning greens, new neighbors, herding cats, forgetting the damn wheelchair ramp, bad passes, big shots, and a Sugar high, join your intrepid and sleepless blogger after the jump.
Good evening! It's Opening Night at MSG, and the New York Liberty are hosting the Dallas Wings. As I type this, it's halftime, and Montell "This Is How We Do It" Jordan just finished performing a customized version of "This Is How We Do It" for the New York crowd.
I don't actually know what the most hideous part of the Dallas color scheme is, the chartreuse or the red. I like their blue, but it doesn't go with either of the other two colors.
Bridget Pettis is one sharp-dressed woman. Rocking that suit.
Amanda Zahui B was joking around with all the baby posts for Dallas before the game, so they seem to have left on good terms with her. (Though I noticed Plenette Pierson was all business.)
(We're now in the postgame, and we just had a crowning moment of Canadian. Adut Bulgak and Ruth Hamblin just swapped phone info or something. Holy crap, someone has an original '97 jacket signed by the '97 team... including developmental players. She left before the picture could be taken {it took a while to herd the cats} and that's a shame, because otherwise I would have told her, "Holy crap your jacket is awesome TELL ME ALL YOUR 1997 STORIES".)
Dallas really misses Skylar Diggins. They really don't have a consistent second option without her. Without her, Plenette Pierson and Odyssey Sims were both forcing the issue a lot, especially in the first half. Diggins tried to give it a go in warm-ups, but that knee is still braced, and she was walking very gingerly. She would have been at maybe quarter speed if she'd had to play, and I don't think she was very happy about it; when she came out of the tunnel, she was with the trainer and there was a virtual thundercloud over her head. (It also really doesn't help their rotation.)
Ruth Hamblin played very briefly in the first half and was very unremarkable. She seems friendly, though. Well, she's Canadian. Theresa Plaisance shoots very well, and I think we forgot that she likes to do that. She wasn't very smart on defense, though. I got the feeling that mama Coach Plaisance may have thrown something at her League Pass-enabled device when Theresa committed that foul with .6 left in the second quarter. It was a stupid foul. Jordan Hooper was out there, but not very memorable. I think she was getting beat on defense a fair amount.
Brianna Kiesel is taller than I remembered, but also slighter. She brought speed off the bench, but an unwillingness to shoot and a paradoxical missing step on change of direction. She did have one nice play to completely am-scray a Liberty fast break, though. Aerial Powers has phenomenal athleticism and a very high ceiling. Her midrange jumper was on point, less so her three-ball. For some reason I thought I remembered her having more of a slashing game in college, but here she was strictly a jump shooter. I wonder if Fred Williams was encouraging her to take threes even when they weren't falling, just to work on that facet of her game more.
My goodness, Plenette Pierson doesn't think she's ever committed a foul in her life, does she? Her surprised expression after getting caught with an arm bar was priceless. No, Plenette, you can't hook your assignment's arm and then claim she did it first. She didn't. Really, Plenette, you've been in the league longer than is healthy for me to calculate, everyone's kind of on to that patented trick of yours. She was frustrated early on- her points all came in one big spurt in the fourth, when the game was pretty much out of reach. She was physical. Her posing tendencies came out strong- I don't want to say she telegraphs her moves, but she does take a little bit to get into them. She fell a lot, sometimes with help, usually with not as much help as she tried to give the impression of. Courtney Paris is a lot of woman. I'm not saying that as either a good thing or a bad thing, merely a statement of fact. "Glacial" is a fair description for her- she's not very fast, but she's inexorable. She will get to her spot when she wants to get to her spot, and if you happen to be in her spot, you'll be moved. Other players served as decoys for her and draw away the defense, and there she was for the uncontested lay-up. I'd like for her to stop throwing elbows, though- she fired up a couple that seemed to go unnoticed by the officials. Also, driving into her is a terrible, horrible, very bad idea that people should not do.
Karima Christmas is a fantastic piece to have for a team- but she's not a starter, and having to start her in the absence of Diggins is a problem for the Wings. She does all the little things- she hustles for loose balls, she traps well in the corner, she defends like nobody's business- but she's not a scorer. I was surprised to see her hoisting so many threes, but then, that's our weakness. Odyssey Sims hits the floor like the second coming of Ivory Latta in her Tar Heel days. It gets to the point where you can't be sure she's actually hurt until and unless the trainer carries her off. She found her groove in the third with a couple of quick threes that tied the game for Dallas, but it didn't last long. She drove a lot, but her shots weren't falling. She didn't get good angles because of the defense. Erin Phillips ball-hawked like her life depended on securing the basketball. She got a little bit of offense going in the third quarter, but her most important job was defense.
Dallas tried to play to their strengths- interior passes to Paris, driving and dishing- as well as to our weaknesses out on the perimeter. I don't know if they're going to shoot like this all the time.
The woman, the myth, the legend, the Shoni. She played briefly in the first half, had a nifty three, but was otherwise unremarkable. The defense still needs work, but this might be a recording at this point. Shavonte Zellous came off the bench for some good solid minutes, getting buckets when she was open. Lindsey Harding was invisible at point, but in the good way, in the sense that she facilitated the offense for her teammates instead of over-forcing it. She still needs to get used to that weird 14-second reset off offensive rebounds- she was losing track of the clock a couple of times in the fourth. She's fitting in better than I expected.
Kiah Stokes is a defensive specialist, yes? She's good at defensive things, yeah? But she epic failed on Paris today. She kept wheeling to help, and Paris kept hitting lay-ups. That's a lot of woman to overlook, I'm sorry. She did well drawing fouls, but I'd still like to see her be more assertive on the offensive end. 0-0 is not acceptable in 20 minutes. Amanda Zahui B had herself a day. She did work in the paint and drew fouls. She still needs to find where she fits in the schemes, on both offense and defense, but I think she's going to be just fine.
I'm worried about Brittany Boyd. I don't know if it's the wrist, or if she doesn't like the personnel decisions, or if something else is going on in her head, but she's not herself. She's letting mistakes get to her, and that's causing her to make more mistakes. The shots aren't falling, and that's going to happen. She's got to be more careful with the ball. Sugar Rodgers, on the other hand, was phenomenal. She took the right shots at the right time, and the shots she didn't take were almost as important as the ones she did; it means she's learning better self-control within the flow of the offense instead of just chucking it whenever. We usually talk about the big step forward in the third year for posts, but Sugar's making me wonder if it's just as valid for guards. I'll need a statistician to look into that. She played an all-around fantastic game,a nd the only quibble I have with it is the question of whether she can keep it up.
I'm not digging Tanisha Wright at the three. Yes, the three-guard set gives us more options if one of the guards is struggling, and it makes us a little bit faster. But there were too many defensive mismatches for my comfort. I think it affected her shot, too- she got open looks, and her shot didn't look right when she got them. I appreciate her toughness and the defense she brings, but this is not 1997, and you can't start a two-guard at three anymore. (I also understand that this is likely a temporary, makeshift measure until the 24th, thanks to the scoop from Excelle, but it isn't a great makeshift measure.) Carolyn Swords was inconsistent, and I worry about her playing too low to the ground. She brings the ball down way too much, and was having trouble grabbing high passes- the passes that need to be high to go to her and her alone. Her basket came on a very pretty cut to the hoop. Tina Charles started the game like a house on fire. It was glorious. I love to watch the way she moves when she's feeling it. I'm not as sanguine about this long-two thing as the rest of the team seems to be, but I recognize that I have some old-fashioned expectations of frontcourt players. That being said, if you're going to take them, at least follow them instead of admiring them.
I feel like I'm harping a lot on the negative, which is funny in a game where we got out to an 8-0 lead and never trailed. I suppose I'm contrary that way. A lot of people did what was expected of them and not much more. Sugar was phenomenal. Tina did a lot and tried to do too much down the stretch. We need better balance behind our scoring options.
Inconsistent officiating will be the death of me, or at least the cause of my banning from a basketball arena. If you're going to call ticky-tack offensive fouls, then call the trips on both sides. If you want to call a tight game, then call Courtney Paris for throwing elbows. If you want to let 'em play, then don't call touch fouls. Figure out if you care more about the letter or the spirit. And I don't know who peed in Amy Bonner's Cheerios before the game, but she was being very anal about pace of play rules. Dallas got hit with a delay of game warning early on, and almost got another one because it took slightly longer than the requisite time to bandage up a cut on Sims's arm. Amanda got one too, for getting excited about a play and leaping forward onto the Y in the endcourt.
The national anthem, as sung by the Schuyler sisters from Hamilton, was fantastic. I think the waiting list for tickets just got a month longer, and that's under the assumption that people at the game were already on the list. I could have done without the second round of "God Bless America", though; if you have to sing multiple verses, sing the actual verses, not the first verse twice.
I prefer the black jerseys, but the seafoam aren't horrible.
We have new neighbors in the section! Very excited! And they seem to like us being loud. This is a good sign. I like neighbors. Fan community is as important a part of the W experience as the game and the players.
A good showing for opening day, but the Sparks and The Wrath Of Parker will be more of a challenge.