October 25th, 2013: St. John's Tip off

Is it November yet?


Good evening! College basketball is more or less underway with Midnight Madness or reasonable fascimiles thereof. I'm in the upper deck at Carnesecca Arena, shaking my head every so often at the brilliant planning of the athletic department. I hate having to argue and pray for tickets.

There is currently an alumni game going on, which mostly consists of guys trying to recapture their old athleticism. I don't recognize most of the guys, though they managed to get Felipe Lopez back. The ladies are represented by Sky Lindsay (whose extensions are probably bigger than our freshman point guard) and Mercedes Dukes (who appears to have gotten married at some point- she was announced as Mercedes Lewis). Alumni games are much more fun when you pretend to care, y'all. Also, Mercedes has four points, which I think is her single-game career high. (Dukes, I love you, but we loved you for being a firestarting defensive spark off the bench, who kept everyone fired up.)

"An influential contributor"- yes, the sure sign that you could find sweet Fanny Adams to say about Dukes statistically. But it's true. She was, if not the heart of the 2006 team, at least one of the ventricles of it.

The dancing girls (and boy) are out. I don't know if I like the black tops, but the team looks good so far. Band could use a little practice, but I don't know if they're at full strength.

Son, did you just steal the ball from your own teammate? SMH.

There is a dude who is wearing a Phoenix Coyotes jersey and I don't know why.

Sky Lindsay on Rob Thomas is not a good plan, IDGAF if it's an exhibition game.

Oh, hey, Lopez. Nice move, I think Nadirah did it against LaSalle that one time.

Dumbass pass, son, but nice job by Sky to snag the steal.

Yes, I write game notes of mild dismay even for exhibition games where no one on the court cares about defense. Just me tonight- our dashing reporter is being held for ransom by Pirates.

Oh, don't tell me we got stuck with an eating contest too... fortunately, this is speed, not quantity. Seton Hall brought in Kobayashi. Does having part of it fall out factor into who finishes first? Ahahah, the band started chanting Q-DO-BA! I love these guys. They are my crew.

Oooof, off the rim for the halfcourt shot. Nice range, dude!

Gina and Selina poked their heads out before, but they went back in. I don't like the new number font, but the jerseys are all right.

Oh, hey, something's happening. The lights went out. We have active basketball players soon! Of course Johnny's theme song is "Johnny B. Goode". Aaaaand there goes the fog machine.

Key, switch to decaf. Amber's left foot is in a boot, and that makes me sad. Jade's a big girl- for the first time in a long time, I'm not worried about having bulk down low, with Jade, Sandie, and Selina. Amber and Selina bring the height. And then Aliyyah and Danaejah in the backcourt... ohhhh, yes. Mallory looks like she's going for the Le'Coe Willingham role.

We have names on our jerseys for the first time in, like, ever. It's so weird. And the one year where it would have been easy to tell the freshmen apart, of course. (Yeah, it took me a while to keep Key and Bri straight their first year.)

We won't talk about the dance-off. It was kind of awkward. Guys. Stahp.

The basketballs finally showed up around 8:20. Three-point shootout! Nae, Ashley, and Bri, versus Gina, Key, and Mallory. Team 1 won.

Come on, why doesn't the dude's jersey get bling? Everyone deserves bling.

Gina spotted someone in the stands- maybe Tesia or Day, from the looks of her- and squeed so loud I heard her in the upper deck. It was weirdly adorable. I never pegged Gina as the squee type.

Constantly reminding myself that it's SJU now, not STJ. Even though the logo is still STJ.

Rysheed Jordan, I gotta love your cojones, what with being a guy named Jordan who wears #23. No expectations here, not at all.

Okay, dude in the front row, you have a patch on your jersey. You are legit and I approve.

Note to self: butt pads. All the seat cushions. I think it's time to flash the New Orleans ones.

The light-up spirit sticks have settings on them, which is kind of cool.

During intros, I'm pretty sure Bri was wearing the "oh god is he really doing that in public" face when Sir'Dominic Pointer came out. I wear that one a lot. :D

Max Hooper is, like, the perfect basketball name. But JaKarr Sampson, Orlando Sánchez, and Phil Greene IV are stealing the show in the scrimmage.

Senior ladies are judging the slam dunk contest again, from the looks of it. Sir'Dominic is participating, which is unfair to the other participants, since Briana will give him him a great score no matter what (his first dunk was weak and everything else he's tried has been a failure, and she still gave him a 10). Christian Jones took an early lead after straight 10s on his second attempt. JaKarr Sampson and Sir'Dominic Pointer both tried a maneuver with a pass from the crowd, and it failed. Rysheed Jordan took over with a leap over one of his teammates, then upped the stakes with two. Further attempts were spoiled because the coaches did not approve of potentially landing on his teammates. He finished third because of lousy scoring by the ladies. C'mon, guys. Really? The passes have been good, but the finishes have been bad. Christian Jones won with a bit of spin, but Jordan's first was still the best.

Lupe Fiasco put on a good show. Aliyyah got up and danced with him a couple of times. Something tells me a Chicago kid like Lupe is secretly rooting for DePaul, though.

Is it November yet? Is it is it is it is it?

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September 15th, 2013: New York at Washington

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Tayler Hill had 16 points off the bench to lead the Washington Mystics to a 70-52 win over the New York Liberty in their regular season finale. Kia Vaughn added 10 points and 12 rebounds for Washington. Kelsey Bone led New York with 11 points; Toni Young had 10.

For farewells, beginnings, causing trouble, courting trouble, photobombing, free stuff, and well wishes, join your intrepid and conclusive blogger after the jump.

Here we are! It's the end of the season, for good or for ill, and if this is how we're going to end it, then we're ending the season in style.

You see, Albert hooked us up again, this time with his season seats... which are in the first row behind the road bench. You know you're close when Plenette Pierson is asking WTF you are doing when you're posing your moose on the chair behind the bench. There will be pictures.

Washington was far more courteous than Connecticut- the fan bus is low down and directly behind the road bench. The team has noticed, and appreciated. We've been getting a little grief from some of the locals, but that's understandable. It's like there's a cultural divide between DC and NY or something.

Lot of Katie appreciation going in the stands, though I don't know if the Mystics have anything planned. I've seen jerseys and signs. Katie seems to have made herself popular in the one year she spent in DC.

Very breathy anthem. Stop gasping for air and sing. She had a pleasant voice otherwise.

That was worth it. I don't care that we lost, except that's not how Katie's career should have ended, but that was worth it. The fan bus behind us was loud and into the game, which I think spurred some of the Mystics fans in the area to actually get more into the game. (Well, except for the peculiar gentleman in the fourth row who appeared to be under the influence of illicit substances. Sir, the women three seats away from you do not care about your HIV tests. Security escorted him out before the second quarter started.)

Mini-posters of Ivory Latta and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt were the giveaway today, handed out as people left the game. Sensible approach to giveaways. Less chance of them being scattered and lost.

The peril of being super close to the bench is that you can't get a really good overview of the game. You get some amazing moments, but you don't get the whole game.

Kamiko Williams brought energy off the bench, but a lot of it was misdirected energy. She had a very makeable shot that she blew. Her defense was better than the average rookie, but not as good as it could have been. Being up close allows you to really get a good look at DeLisha Milton-Jones and her amazing extendable arms as she pulls rebounds away over people's heads. She spent a lot of time in the middle clogging up space and getting called for nonsense fouls, but we'll get to the nonsense fouls in a little while. Kelsey Bone was not as strong on the boards as she should have been- she's a very big and very strong woman, she should be going hard after the boards. I think the refs might have gotten into her head a little bit. She picked up steam in the fourth quarter. Alex Montgomery was off her game- busy on defense, but not necessarily effective, and her shot was somewhat questionable. I mean, more than usual.

Cappie didn't look bad at all. I'm going to pretend the over-the-top lipstick was part of a Tina Thompson tribute.

Toni Young started the game off hot on offense, but Bill was yelling at her a lot for lapsing on defense and fumbling passes. I don't know if he was being extra hard on her today because she wasn't playing great or if she's his usual target, but I can't imagine it was fun for the kid. Plenette Pierson cleaned up the boards like a vacuum cleaner- if balls were being tapped out, she made sure that she was the one who got them. She was having all kinds of issues with her shot, though. The shooting overall was pretty awful. Leilani Mitchell looked spent. Even the shot that went in look like it was taking all her energy to get up and over. She had moments on defense, but mostly looked ineffective, even against guards her own size. Kara Braxton showed flashes of fight and skill, but mostly moments of standing there and watching other players get rebounds. She brought the ball down low a lot more than a post player of her size should. Katie Smith was trying to have the kind of send-off that Tina Thompson did in Seattle. It didn't go well. My camera was not in position for the moments that she and Tayler Hill were guarding each other, and those stretches did not go well for Katie.

Lots of opportunities at the basket, so little finishing. They better be working on that during the off-season, if they don't all want to face the wrath of Bill Laimbeer by the time they get back to training camp. (Okay, all of them except Katie, and she might be dishing out the wrath as an assistant.)

Emma Meesseman showed off her midrange game more in this one- most of the shots she hit were open jumpers. Not that she didn't mix it up a little bit, but she seemed to be working more of the high post than the low post. Michelle Snow doesn't seem to mesh with the kids- she'll do well enough for herself, but she doesn't seem to be looking to get the kids involved in the play, which is not good for the long-term good of the team. The box score claims that she had two assists, but I don't remember her passing the ball all that much. Nadirah McKenith ran a solid offense and hit a couple of shots (of course, the first photo I took {after realizing my mother would disown me if I came back from Washington without any pictures of Nadirah} was of the perfect fast break lay-up that she blew). The people around us were confused that we weren't thrilled for her. Well, part of me was and always will be, but it's summer, and therefore I root for the Liberty. I don't root for opposing players against the Liberty; if I were going to do that, I wouldn't have taken a day off work to come down to Washington on Friday and root for the Mystics. (Not that I'm not glad she's happy, and not that I don't love that Mystics fans like her. But I'm a Liberty fan. {And she knows that too.}) Tierra Ruffin-Pratt is tough, especially on the boards, but her shot wasn't falling today. She reminds me of a miniature Monique Currie, which probably means she's in the right place. Tayler Hill was feeling it beyond the arc. She stepped up when her team needed her because of Ajavon's foul trouble. If she keeps shooting like this while I'm around, I'm afraid Albert's going to forcibly relocate me to Washington. She was also pretty good defensively on Katie Smith- stripped her a couple of times. Quanitra Hollingsworth is tall. Uh. That's about it?

Ivory Latta had moments of blinding stupidity (that attempted teardrop... Ivory, you're adorable but you're not Mark Jackson) but quashed any thoughts of Liberty comebacks with big shots. She's much more annoying when you're not rooting for her. Apparently she's also quite amusing in video features, but I didn't see any of those. Kia Vaughn was a woman on a mission, and that mission was to get every rebound she possibly could. Her shooting was only so-so, but she made up for it by attacking the boards. Matee Ajavon committed a lot of stupid fouls, and between that and the hot hand of Tayler Hill, Ajavon spent most of the game on the bench. Strangely enough, I'm okay with this. Crystal Langhorne was the focus of a lot of the Liberty's defensive effort, and I think the one thing we were successful at was getting her out of her comfort zone on offense. She hit the boards hard, though. I don't actually remember most of what Monique Currie did, other than the so-called jump ball during which she never really had possession.

Things what I noticed behind the Liberty bench that I had not noticed before: Taj has a really pretty clipboard, though I can't tell if the design is painted on, stickered on, or custom. The color contrast on Toni Young's tattoos is spectacular. Plenette is very involved in things, whether it's double-checking the defensive schemes, advising her teammates, or letting them know who's doing what out there. Some players have their own smoothies (when we observed them, Laura Ramus offered to whip one up). Bill is really, really tall, and you can't exactly yell "down in front" at Bill Laimbeer.

Both sets of fans chanted Katie's name at the end of the game. We started it, then it died down, then the Mystics fans picked it up, and we couldn't very well let them do it by themselves, could we? Katie kept looking at us like, "uh, hey, y'all, the game's still going on even though I got taken out, you know that, right?" Meanwhile, Kara and DeLisha were pumping their fists in time with us.

Love the way the Mystics give away the jerseys at the end of the season. The random draw is a nice twist.

These officials can step on ALL the Legos. There was a lot of Washington contact not called that was magically a foul when a Liberty player did it. I really didn't appreciate Currie poking Katie in the throat without a call being made. You can look at the foul differential for yourselves.

The Greene Turtle stand in the arena is on point. Almost makes me wish we'd decided to go there for lunch, but if you're in Chinatown (or at least what used to be Chinatown) you should go for Chinese.

So here's to the last of the originals, the last of the first to say yes to the ABL, the woman who put 7,883 points on the scoreboard in the United States of America, the woman with four championships and three gold medals. Here's to you, Katie Smith, for all the awesome things you have done and the feats you have accomplished. Whatever you set your mind to, you'll do, as you've done everything else.

To the rest of you: see you at the Garden next year.

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September 13th, 2013: Connecticut at Washington

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Ivory Latta had 19 points, including five threes out of a team-record 12, as the Washington Mystics romped over the Connecticut Sun 82-56. Kia Vaughn added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Washington. Mistie Bass led Connecticut with 13 points.

For injury added to injury, train rides, nosy questions, dressing in weird costumes, misplaced pride, and misplaced fans, join your intrepid and stuck blogger after the jump... and then get her out of this chair, she's stuck.

You thought you were done with me when the Liberty finished their home schedule, didn't you? You thought those long huge blocks of text full of perceived wit and self-proclaimed wisdom were going into mothballs until November, didn't you? Well, think again. Your intrepid blogger came into a bit of money some months ago, and the one big splurge we planned was a trip down to Washington to cheer for Nadirah McKenith.

This is the kind of logic my brain uses: I really like Nadirah. I want to cheer for her. I can't cheer for her when she plays in New York or Newark, because she's a Mystic and therefore I'd be rooting against the Liberty, and I don't root against my team. (I may wish for short-term failure for long-term gain, but even then I want to see some fight out of them.) Therefore, if I want to cheer for Nadirah, I have to do it somewhere other than New York. None of the Mystics' games in Connecticut fit into my busy schedule. Therefore, if I want to cheer for Nadirah, I have to go to Washington, and so here I am in the District of Columbia, with holes in my shoes and an Internet connection of questionable reliability.

Albert, one of the finest bloggers Swish Appeal has to offer, hooked us up with our tickets, for which I am eternally and infinitely grateful. Mystics fans in general, every time I've been to DC, have been amazing, from my first trip (tickets to All-Star practice) to the last Board Junkie get-together (poster) to this. (Especially when I saw the ticket prices, yowza.)

But you get bang for your buck, I'll say that. The inside of the arena is nice. The boards are bright and sharp, and there are stat boards in all corners to go with the giant jumbotron over center corut. The set-up for the team store is pretty sweet (and 40% off is one of the holy phrases of my people, so I bought a couple of things, and if there's a clearance sale on Sunday I might just buy a Jasmine Thomas shirt and vandalize it). I love the season ticket holder shirts- "if lost, please return me to Verizon Center" on the front, "because I never miss a game" and the schedule on the back. The staff is really nice- bonus points to the security guy who checked my bag before the gates opened, which is a practical time-saving step that neither New York nor Connecticut will take.

Well played, cameraman: during one of the "na na na-na na-na" segments of "Can't Hold Us", he stuck the camera on Nadirah.

Friendly but extremely nosy child, why are you asking me what I paid for my hotel room?

Missed the biddy game at halftime, on a wild goose chase for I know not who carrying I know not what, hence the lack of halftime notes. Your intrepid blogger will attempt to not make the same mistake on Sunday.

Cute anthem kid, less cute anthem, but when an armed forces specialist tells you to stand for the anthem, boy howdy do you stand for the anthem. A very DC touch.

Connecticut was down to seven players- I don't know what happened to Tan White (yes, I know in the box score it had something to do with her left hand). All I knew at the time was that she was in the starting lineup when we got into the building, and then suddenly Iziane Castro Marques was in the starting lineup and Tan still had her pants on. Which sounds wrong... I meant her tearaway pants.

So the entire Sun bench was Kayla Pedersen and Sydney Carter. Obviously, both of them got a lot of minutes. Pedersen got on the boards well, though there did seem to be a lot of flailing by her. Sydney Carter had a really nice game- I think she's trying to prove that she belongs in the league, and in the games that I've seen her, she's definitely proven that. She ran the offense very well, and her shot was sweet. She had a very pretty steal to start the fourth quarter while Ivory Latta's mind was perhaps not on the game. Maybe she needs to work on her defense a little, but she's got game.

You would think Mike Thibault and the Washington Mystics would know that Iziane Castro Marques likes to shoot a little bit. But they were letting her have that right corner all night, and that's where she hit both of her threes. She even tried passing the ball a couple of times, but after what Kelsey Griffin did with it near the end of the game, I'm not sure she's ever going to do that again. Come on, Sun. Y'all need to hit shots if you want Izi to even consider passing the ball again. Renee Montgomery got on the ball a lot on defense, and she seemed much less involved in the offense than usual. Her shot selection left a lot to be desired, as it usually does. Mistie Bass did work down low. I think her teammates accidentally fought with her for rebounds a couple of times. I know Pedersen was getting tangled with her own teammates. Kelsey Griffin had occasional lapses of sanity wherein she was under the impression that she was in fact a mythological griffin and could fly. Kelsey, I regret to inform you that you can't fly. Sorry. You rebound pretty well, though. And people do like to leave her open for that long two. I'm sort of grateful the Liberty aren't the only ones who do it. I don't remember what Kalana Greene did, except for one successful drive and the occasional attempt at a rebound, attempts that were not as successful as I'm sure Anne Donovan would have liked.

I suspect that because the Sun don't have a single go-to player, they have to work as a team unit a lot more. They played a lot of help defense, with a lot of switching and doubling. I also was impressed with their on-ball defense and some of their ball movement.

Quanitra Hollingsworth looked surprisingly ineffective for a player I'd seen be somewhat useful in New York. Q, stop trying to solve Fermat's Last Theorem in your head and work on calculating the angle of your shot. Nadirah McKenith ran a solid offense; I think she'd have had more assists if Kia Vaughn could hold on to the ball, but I recognize my biases. She had a shoulder sleeve on and was applying heat. If that's an ongoing situation, that might explain why she's been shooting less. Tayler Hill decided to show off her stroke from long range- she and Ivory Latta were taking turns at one point, and it was kind of awesome. She still does stupid things on the court, but that's to be expected from a rookie, and I'm glad she's making strides. Emma Meesseman hit the boards well and looked good. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt followed her shot with impressive ferocity- I think she got all her offensive rebounds on two possessions. That is not a woman I neither want to anger nor mess with in a dark alley. Michelle Snow spent a lot of time arguing with the refs and doing stupid things.

Kia Vaughn came with a lot of energy in this one, on both ends of the floor. I'd have liked if she had better hands, but we can't be perfect, and she was fierce. Ivory Latta was balling. She took a couple of those threes from Tina Thompson land, and they were nothing but net. I was taken aback by her utter lack of lateral quickness. Like any. At all. It's such a stark contrast to her usual caffeine bullet time that it becomes noteworthy. I don't remember Matee Ajavon doing much except committing fouls and taking shots that seemed designed to look good and not be effective. Crystal Langhorne hit the boards and boxed out well. I love when she gets her blue collar on. Monique Currie was hitting from deep; even the two-pointer she hit was with a foot on the three-point line (a call she does love to argue).

The shooting was amazing. Every time Connecticut tried to get a run together, Washington hit a three. And then it snowballed and suddenly they were up 20. I love seeing the kids play together- that's a very promising young core, and a very collegiate style of building a team.

I don't know if manipulating a double bungee cord is a life skill that she'll have any use for, but the woman in the Dunkin Donuts contest used momentum to her advantage.

How does one go about acquiring a Chick-Fil-A sandwich? Izi Castro Marques gave the whole arena one by missing two free throws in the fourth quarter. I don't like who they give their money to, but if I can sate my curiosity for free, I'll do it.

I thought the tech on Latta was weak, though we don't know what she said.

LOL of the game: Ivory Latta getting her groove on at the start of the fourth quarter.

I couldn't bring myself to say "Let's Go Mystics", but I can chant "DE-FENSE" real good. And if they keep using the opening clap from "Car Wash", they're going to get it from Liberty fans on Sunday.

This was fun. It's going to be more interesting next time.

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September 10th, 2013: Phoenix at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: DeWanna Bonner and Candice Dupree each had 18 points to lead the Phoenix Mercury over the New York Liberty in New York's last home game of the season. Diana Taurasi added 17 points, nine assists, and six rebounds. Katie Smith led New York with 17 points; Plenette Pierson had five points, six assists, and 15 rebounds.

For the end of the road, shirts, overcoming adversity, squeaky children, and appropriation, join your intrepid and unburdened blogger after the jump.

Barring a perverse application of the word "miracle", this is it. This is the last time I will have to shake my fist to the heavens at the Q59 being fifteen minutes late so that I miss the intricate network of connections and fall into disaster like a misplayed line of dominoes. This is the last time I will rub the head of the little sculpture that stands at the top of the stairs leading to and from the L train platform. This is the last time I will have to cram myself into the Newark train, the last time I will have to fight with the SmartLink reader. If there is mercy in this world, this is the last home game for the Liberty. I'm tired. I'm done with this trip. Eighteen, and eighteen, and eighteen, and I'm done.

We didn't even get a perfect attendance award this year. The on-court photo was open to all season subscribers. I don't do cameras, and it's postgame, so... no. I want to get out of Newark as quickly as possible and leave the years of exile behind.

Don't get me wrong, the Prudential Center has grown on me as an arena. For an autograph hunter, it's well laid out. The lounges are nice. The seats are comfortable. But I miss my Diet Coke, and I'm tired of people not reading signs, and I'm ready to go home.

Today's commute, which has so far taken me an hour and just barely gotten me to World Trade Center, is certainly not doing New Jersey any favors. I missed the anthem (though apparently I didn't miss much; Kym's really lost her voice) and I missed the start of the ceremony to honor Katie. I saw the framed jerseys from the Lynx and the national team, and I saw the check that Cappie gave to the scholarship fund in Logan, but I don't know what else there was. They were down to the medium shirts by the time I arrived, but I think I know how to offload one of those.

There are distressingly sparkly preteens performing at the half. I try not to watch that kind of thing. It tends to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a miracle that we're only down two, given that Cappie's not playing. (She could look worse. She doesn't look bad. The lipstick is a bit much, but that's looking for trouble.)

We're currently seeing a slideshow of Katie Smith being awesome, which has a bejeezus lot of Team USA pictures. Haven't spotted any Quest pictures in there, though they went all the way back to Ohio State and her very unfortunate collegiate hair. Gee, I wonder why.

Katie did manage to sneak in one good shot during the ceremony- "thank you for coming, those of you who made it". Or words to that effect. But it came off as "LOL empty seats".

We're having a bit of an issue getting a hand in DeWanna Bonner's face. I know it's usually good strategy to let her bomb away from quarter-court, but if she's hit two of them, perhaps you might want to consider guarding her. Of course, Diana is being Diana and hitting jumpers in stride.

Nothing says front-runner louder than a Griner jersey and a color-coordinated Heat cap. GTFO, kid.

I don't care that we lost. It didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. But we fought to the last possessions. We took a full-strength Phoenix team down to the wire. I'm okay with losing so long as we fight, and we fought, even without Cappie- maybe especially without Cappie.

What happened to Chardé Houston? I missed the story behind the facemask, but I blinked and she was wearing it, and I assume that she didn't magically generate it by twitching her nose. Despite the extremely memorable facemask, I don't remember what she actually did. Jasmine James saw a fair number of minutes in the backcourt, and it looked like Taurasi was taking the kid under her wing a little bit. There were a couple of teaching moments. She definitely looked like a rookie and like a midseason replacement, but she looked like she might find a way to belong if she goes overseas and works on her overall game. Lynetta Kizer was extremely physical, especially with Plenette- there were a couple of points near the end of the game where I thought Plenette was going to make some very pointed suggestions on where Kizer could go at her earliest convenience, in addition to perhaps derogatory remarks directed at Kizer's ancestry and preferences. She kept trying to extend her shooting range, and I'm not sure she has that range. Alexis Hornbuckle threw a wicked tackle on Leilani on the fast break- right move and everyone knew it, but it was still a hard hit. She was there for her defense- nothing more and nothing less. Krystal Thomas gave good minutes in relief of Brittney Griner. Obviously, she's not nearly the inside presence that Griner is- she doesn't have the reach and she doesn't have the height, even with the hair, but she gets the job done. She has a bit of the Mercury tendency to whine, but she's the only one of the bench players for whom that is a major problem. I had forgotten how much I enjoy watching Penny Taylor play. She's workmanlike yet graceful. She accepts her fouls, moves on, and hits the big shot. She doesn't give up on what she sees as an opportunity- if she sees a ballhandler who looks uncomfortable bringing the ball up, she'll take a couple of extra swipes before heading back up court. It's good to see her back in the game.

Again, if DeWanna Bonner is hitting the long threes, you might want to change up your defensive scheme and prevent her from getting them. I mean, I don't get paid for this, but it only seems logical. To be fair, the first time Bonner tried to go for one of those deep ones in the second half, she got swatted. She nailed one in the fourth quarter that sealed the game, for all intents and purposes. I do wish she'd use that frame of hers a bit more than just setting up as a spot-up shooter. Oh, and she needs to stop complaining every time a foul is called on her. Brittney Griner mostly wasn't looking for her shot, as near as I could tell, especially in the middle of the game. The Liberty defenders were playing her pretty tough. But she gave it back just as hard on the other end. And when the attention came to her, she did well finding her teammates- she had an awfully pretty drop pass to Briana Gilbreath. Gilbreath was often used in offense-defense substitutions, and to make lineups difficult for the Liberty to defend. Candice Dupree was smooth, especially in the fourth quarter, when she lit up the Liberty with paint jumpers. She's awfully pretty to watch. If I liked Phoenix more, I could watch her and Penny Taylor in the frontcourt all day. Diana Taurasi was Diana Taurasi. She fired away with no hesitation and no need to set her feet. She drove the lane hard. She set up her teammates. She ran her mouth at Plenette Pierson, which is generally not considered among the world's greatest ideas. She got Alex Montgomery good in the face, hard enough to spin her into a ref; she also got Alex with a shoulder to the chin very late in the game, one that was not called anything. She kvetched a lot to the refs. I can't bring myself to feel bad for her potentially missing an irrelevant game.

Kamiko Williams came off the bench briefly to spell players on defense. She failed pretty spectacularly on offense. That should have been a fast break lay-up, and it turned into a botched rebound and a turnover. We finally got to hear Mike W. give the proper cadence for DeLisha Milton-Jones's name, though she did seem to be trying to deny him that pleasure. I don't know if I would have gone to her for the last shot, not at this time in her career. She should have been a more effective matchup than she was. Kelsey Bone needs to follow her damn shot. She looked scared of Griner (which doesn't make sense, didn't they play against each other at some point?) and didn't find her mojo until late in the game. Alex Montgomery fought for every loose ball and stuck tight on defense. She was great. She's grown a lot on me this year. She saw an opportunity to make her mark, and she took it. I hope

Toni Young started the game off looking fearless. She went right at Brittney Griner on the boards, using her incredible leap to steal away rebounds from the taller center. (Reminded me a bit of how Amber Thompson from St. John's played against Griner at the Maggie Dixon a couple of years ago.) She was also trying to extend her shooting range, which wasn't a bad experimental idea if Bill really wants to transition her to the three. She tipped out a lot of rebounds. Plenette Pierson picked up most of them. The rims were not kind to her. But she was fighting hard on both sides of the floor and absorbing a lot of contact. I can't be mad at her. Leilani Mitchell was not practical in this game. I don't mean that as anything about her, but Taurasi was regularly the shortest Mercury player on the floor. You can't put Leilani on the floor against that lineup. She's just too adorably tiny. Kara Braxton had flashes of decency, punctuated by using her... er... assets as a very successful distraction against Bonner, before returning to steady states of apathy and indolence. In other words, she's Kara. Katie Smith's shot was on tonight, but in a twisted way, that might have set up the end of the game- pretty much everyone knew the pass was going to her, which resulted in a turnover. But it was a great way for her to leave New York behind.

You know it's been an injury-plagued season when even the team surgeon has been down for a while. Okay, so she was fighting cancer and kicked its butt, so she's awesome, but still. She got a round of applause and a personalized jersey from the team.

Refs can take a long walk off a short pier as far as I'm concerned. Lots of contact going uncalled, and a lot of issues with getting the out-of-bounds calls right- there were three or four hotly contested questions of possession. I thought Bill was going to blow a fuse. And then you wonder why people are getting hit in the head.

It's over and I'm relieved. The season's not technically over, and you won't be rid of me for another week yet. But there's nothing left but pride and development. There's a freedom in that, a weight lifted.from my heart, perhaps a beat skipped at the thought of having a lottery pick in reasonably capable hands. The merciful blow has come.

So goodbye, Newark. Goodbye, ridiculous hike from Penn Station. Goodbye, creepy street people who cluster around the benches and eye us as we enter the station. Goodbye, extra train ride. Goodbye, Pepsi. Goodbye, stupid people standing in our line of sight. Goodbye, lousy signage. Goodbye, three years of failure and churning. Goodbye, Prudential Center.

The years of exile are over. Next year, at the Garden!

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September 6th, 2013: Atlanta at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Atlanta Dream put four players in double figures and took over the game in the second quarter to beat the New York Liberty 70-57. Angel McCoughtry led the Dream with 16 points, adding seven rebounds; Érika de Souza had 12 points and 14 rebounds. Kara Braxton led New York with 17 points before fouling out.

For flailing at fail, missing wheelchairs, late nights on the E train, runaway centers, and a lingering agony, join your intrepid and crumby blogger after the jump.

It's almost over now, almost over now...

I have to learn to be more specific in my wishes. We have the Shock front office, and we have a calendar, but it's a boring calendar with boring photos that we've seen before. Okay, guys, fine. Raise the bar next year. Y'all did cars in Detroit and found a way to make Elaine Powell look kind of pretty, y'all can find a New York theme and style up the team.

This New Jersey mix they're doing for "Thank You Newark" night is pretty awesome. Somewhere, though, someone in the stands is angry that Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi weren't included if it was going to be a New Jersey mix instead of just Newark-and-its-environs.

Barb. I love ya. You were solid for us as a player and you appreciate the value of your vote. But you have to stop with the horizontal stripes. You are not in playing shape anymore. You do not have the figure for horizontal stripes. I know this from personal experience. Mama Taj's dress, however, is on point.

It's probably not a good sign that Kamiko fumbled and Kelsey dropped her pants during warm-ups. But that's okay. I'm almost hoping we hit the tragic number tonight to end it.

"Single Ladies" does not go there, music. Someone get Kia Vaughn out of the DJ booth and back to the Mystics game.

Plenette, it might not have been tactful to crow about going back to the Garden during the thank you to Newark, but I'm down with that.

Normally I detest the addition of "God Bless America" to the pregame festivities, but the singer was awesome. So was the anthem singer.

I am not happy with Ruth Riley right now. Her and her stupidly spaced jersey... I don't like Cappie and the Miami Sol were the team of my heart, but you do not kick my players. EVER. I'm not thrilled with running Cappie back out there on the injuries, but I'm not Bill Laimbeer (I'm way too short).

Seriously, this season cannot be over soon enough. I don't usually say this as a WNBA fan, but between the utterly ridiculous number of injuries across the league and the epic fail that has been my team at home, this season has been too long for me. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way, either. I suspect there are Sun fans, Silver Stars fans, even Fever fans, who would like the parade of injuries and incidents to stop.

Ruth Riley played like she was trying to make Bill Laimbeer proud of her. Her fouls were tough and physical, especially that kick on Cappie (yes, still irked, no, not letting go, yes, I retain the urge to yell "SWEEP THE LEG!" at her). She did try to get her outside jumper going, but the rim was not amused and spun her shots out pretty much the entire time. Yes, even her free throws. I cackled maniacally at that. Alex Bentley demonstrated her superb knack for hitting shots late in the shot clock, even from awkward angles. I think three of her baskets came late in the clock- I know she had a deuce as the shot clock expired. That's an impressive knack, and against every other team in the league I hope it lasts her entire career. Aneika Henry brought physicality in surprisingly few minutes- I don't know if Fred Williams was trying to rest her for the playoffs or if she's nursing some kind of injury (she had on a shoulder brace that could have passed for armor at a Renaissance Faire) or if Señor Fred thought Riley was playing better for some bizarre reason. Tiffany Hayes annoyed me. I hate seeing bench players take four steps and not get called for traveling. I hate seeing bench players throw shoulders and not get called for the offensive foul. It's one thing if you're going to grant Jordan Rules to a superstar, but there is no known universe where Tiffany Hayes is a superstar. Okay, she did kill us from the corner in the second quarter, because we have no pattern recognition and refuse to cover someone who keeps hitting shots from the same spot, because why would we want to do that? She still annoys me.

Armintie Herrington jumps like she's got coiled springs in her legs. She skied for boards and saved a lot more than the two offensive boards that she was credited with. Her hands were spectacular on defense today- there was one sequence where she got the ball stolen from her and stole it right back without any hesitation. Her shots in the lane were going off strong, but her teammates seemed to be expecting them. Érika de Souza was a beast in the paint. No one was stopping her. Granted, no one seemed to be trying, but even when some form of effort was detected, she powered her way to the basket. Jasmine Thomas took advantage of her teammates' quick hands, as well as her own, to pry away steals and get the break going. She had a couple of unfortunate moments with Katie Smith- ran her over on a charge, got her in the face on a hit. The rim would appear to like Le'Coe Willingham. She got very lucky on one of her shots in the fourth quarter, but we'll get to that in a moment. I kept getting distracted by her hair, to be honest- it looked like either the braiding came undone or the ponytail was trying to escape. I seem to recall that hair being attached to a couple of pretty tough picks.

Interesting moment in the second half- Liberty shot missed, rebound went out of bounds as Willingham and Henry converged on it. After it was determined that the ball went off Atlanta, Willingham and Henry had a very... animated... conversation. Obviously, from nineteen rows up on the other side of the court, I couldn't tell what they were saying, but whatever was going on there, it unsettled Fred Williams enough that he called timeout shortly afterwards.

I don't know why Toni Young was so thoroughly buried on the bench in this one. It's not like we ever had a puncher's chance. She got in and hit her first jumper, and that made us happy. Leilani Mitchell continues to get a ridiculous amount of pop from the crowd, to the point where it's starting to genuinely freak me out, and I don't think she's responding well to it. She's become more tentative as a shooter (which is not a good sign when that's about the only thing you're being allowed to do) and didn't get much else done on the floor. You should have heard the place when she hit the free throw on the defensive three-seconds call. You'd think she hit a buzzer-beater. I expect better from Liberty fans. Kelsey Bone showed flashes, but not much else, and her defense against de Souza was weak. You have to go hard on her. She's one tough motha- okay, I'm shutting my mouth, which I wish the drunk guy across from me would do, because he can't sing, and definitely not in falsetto. DeLisha Milton-Jones had nothing today. Couldn't get a shot to fall and seriously got blocked by Le'Coe Willingham. Lots of blocks were occurring, but someone with DeLisha's legendary wingspan should not be getting blocked by a shorter player with less vertical. Alex Montgomery was tough, and her shot showed up. Huh, she took fewer shots than I thought. She was one of the few players who actually took it to the hole. Leilani had a pretty find for her.

Sir, please do not attempt to moonwalk on a moving train while under the influence of something stronger than alcohol. Sir. Sir, you are not Nicki Minaj. Your sh*t does not, in fact, bang bang.

I've been beating this drum like Dave Grohl on a solo, but Cappie Pondexter is hurt. The left heel is bothering her. She had to go to the locker room with a lower leg issue. She can't take a fadeaway if she can't land on her back foot. She can't move with the kind of quickness needed to defend a ballhandler if her knee is refusing to bend properly. And we saw it happen when Jasmine Thomas blew past her and left her in a heap on the floor. I've been railing at Tina Charles for shutting down, but it's time for the team to shut Cappie down. It's for everyone's good. Kara Braxton got off good shots and couldn't get a lot of them down. She started hot, then got shut down until the fourth quarter. We spent a lot of time shrieking "KARA!" at her stupid moves. Katie Smith is strong. Running into her is not the most brilliant plan in the world, Tiffany Hayes. People who run into Katie Smith tend to bounce. Her defense was better than the last couple of games, but that is damning with faint praise. We thought she might have gotten away with one on the three-pointer that was reviewed and confirmed. Plenette Pierson was solid. She's been fighting through a lot this season. I'm not going to argue with her.

Funniest moment of the night: Kara Braxton attempted to chase a loose ball and ended up leaping over the bench, as so many players do. Instead of climbing over the Dream bench to get back on the court, she ran down the aisle behind the scorer's table, parallel to the action on the court, and ran back onto the court through the gap by the Liberty bench. Smart, in a bizarre kind of way, but bizarre at the same time, and ineffably Kara.

Pregame martial arts display was pretty awesome. Halftime dancers, not so much. Didn't stay for the wheelchair game, because to be honest, I wanted to get out of Newark as soon as possible. Have I mentioned that I'll be glad when this expedition is over? Because I will.

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August 30th, 2013: Indiana at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Indiana Fever jumped out to a 14-0 start, but the New York Liberty fought back before succumbing 73-67. Tamika Catchings had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Fever, while Shavonte Zellous added 21 points. Kelsey Bone led New York with 13 off the bench, 11 in the third quarter.

For role reversals, parents who just don't understand, the perils of travel, wanting to be The Man, lots of dancing, and the inability to write, join your intrepid and wordless blogger after the jump.

Hello again, loyal readers and interested passers-by! We're coming to you in staggered, or possibly staggering, spurts from the Prudential Center on a Friday night that could not be any more welcome if it tried. (Trust me, you don't want to know.) It's the New York Liberty and the Indiana Fever, one more time, one team looking to stave off a tie-breaker, the other to clinch it, both teams looking to their playoff hopes.

Solid national anthem. I could do with less gasping.

Miss Dance of the United States 2013 is wearing a ridiculously huge crown. That thing is about a foot tall. Seriously.

I'm pleasantly surprised that we're only down five at the half. Given that we opened up the game giving Indiana a 12-0 hole shot and generally looking more like everyone was focused on Plenette's birthday celebration, getting it down to manageable levels is a definite improvement. People are coming in too, which is also an improvement.

Play of the game is not in fact Leilani Mitchell's banked-in, shot clock buzzer-beating three. Here's the sequence: Cappie Pondexter is trapped in the corner, hounded by an Indiana double-team. She hurls the ball in desperation to the opposite corner, where Leilani Mitchell leaps up and quickly touches it over to Alex Montgomery, who swings it to DeLisha Milton-Jones for a right-angle three. The crowd WENT WILD, no lie. Which is good, given that you could almost taste the sarcasm coming off the crowd in the first quarter.

That could have been worse. No, seriously, that could have been worse. Other than wanting to smack Kara Braxton upside the head with Cappie Pondexter, I'm okay with this. (No, don't ask me how I was planning to accomplish that feat. Let me wallow in my hyperbole. It's the only thing keeping me from freaking out at these uncouth gentlemen on the PATH train. Only two more games in exile. I can make it.)

Jasmine Hassell... um... there's no polite way to put this. At all. And it's horribly hypocritical, but I'm not paid to play basketball. But Jasmine Hassell appeared to have dealt with the expiration of her seven-day contracts by drowning her sorrows at McDonald's, or possibly Krispy Kreme. She appeared to be close to the girth of Erlana Larkins, though a good bit shorter. I suppose she was able to throw the extra weight around and thus be a peskier defender, but no. Not a good look. Jessica Breland rebounded well, but stupid fouls kept her off the floor more than I think Lin Dunn would have liked. I still think she and Erlana Larkins need to play more together. The last time I saw the Fever, it looked like they had a good chemistry together. Erin Phillips was uncharacteristically off her game. She always plays low, but it seemed like she was much closer to the floor than anything else. And I do not approve of her kicking Leilani Mitchell in the Achilles. I wanted Layshia Clarendon to do well tonight, if only because there was a Bears fan in the next section over and happy Bears fans make me happy (and yes, also because she seems like a fairly awesome human being, and I like it when fairly awesome human beings succeed at things), but her shot was off (even the one she hit got a little help from the backboard) and she had a fumble in front of the Fever bench that could have been very costly.

We kept leaving Briann January open. This was not as bad a plan as I feared. We kept passing her the ball. This was less of a good plan. No, seriously, she played the interior passing lanes well, a fact that the Liberty remained distressingly oblivious to throughout the bulk of the game. She did appear to attempt to use her mad l33t martial arts skillz at one point, which is not a good plan in the game of basketball. Shavonte Zellous had the lane pretty much whenever she wanted it, and she was popping shots from all over the floor. Her help defense in the post was also crucial to shutting down the Liberty attack. Karima Christmas came up with all the things. She's one of those players who can do things, and you don't remember them, but without her the team probably doesn't win. She's growing on me, despite her unfortunate name. (I worked with a Karima who was a raving lunatic. Evil, evil woman. As you can tell, she even spelled it the same way.) Erlana Larkins got in and mixed it up on the glass, and early on she was taking it to the rack with some success. She had fun matching up with Kelsey Bone. And by fun, I mean pain, just to make it clear. Of course, Tamika Catchings was Tamika Catchings- deadly when we decided that guarding her from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter was a waste of time, powerful slicing through the rack, surprisingly effective in boxing out bulkier players, like a bolt of lightning when it came to intercepting passes, and occasionally reckless with the body. That's Catch. That's how she rolls.

Leilani Mitchell is getting a lot of positive fan support. Almost too much. If she were blonde, it would worry me more. But there's a roar and a cheer from the crowd whenever she gets in the game. She played all right- the two big threes make her look better than she was overall. It does worry me that she's getting shoehorned into that three-point shooting role; yes, it's one of her skills, but I don't know if it's one of her strengths, and I'm not sure if it's because she's looking for a way to contribute so that Bill doesn't forget that she exists, or if it's the only thing that her teammates think she can do anymore. Alex Montgomery kept taking long twos, which is frustrating, but it's a habit that the entire team has gotten into, which annoys me. She defended, she rebounded, she hustled. If her shot were more consistent, she'd probably be starting; as it is, she's been playing the lion's share of the minutes at the three. Kelsey Bone had a fantastic game off the bench, especially the third quarter. She was aggressive on the boards and went hard in the paint. We had been worried that she was picking up Kara Braxton's bad habits, which are legion, but apparently that's not the issue. That's a relief. DeLisha Milton-Jones was solid- good deflections, okay shooting, nothing remarkably stupid that I can remember off the top of my head.

Plenette Pierson relied entirely too much on her jumper for my liking. Granted, she was being doubled in the post (like pretty much everyone), but I'd have liked to see her take it to the hole with a little more force. Kamiko Williams got the start as a formality, but she only played the first couple of minutes before returning to her seat on the bench. If she could shoot, she might have a shot at sticking on a roster, but she's not a good shooter, and unless there's roster expansion next year, there's no room in the league for a player with only one skill. Katie Smith wasn't great, though she had one big shot that should have been a lot bigger. We'll get to that in a bit. Cappie Pondexter was clearly bothered all night. She can't get lift on her shot, which means that she can't get her shot off, which means that she goes for the foul instead of attempting to make the shot. The next to last possession for the Liberty was a complete debacle. She got the ball and never relinquished it, which ended in disaster. I mean never relinquished it. I mean, the ball did not leave her hands until the shot went up, despite the fact that her teammates were open. It was bad. It was embarrassing. That possession, and Plenette allowing Zellous to go to the rack on the Indiana possession, sealed the game. Kara Braxton, except for one brief and utterly unexpected stretch in the fourth quarter, was a hot mess who deserved nothing more than to be sworn at repeatedly. Throwing shots at the rim without caring whether they were actually shots, fumbling, not catching passes... and then there was a spurt in the fourth quarter where she was hitting shots, rebounding with authority, and even being sneaky by knocking a ball out of bounds off Briann January's back. Then she remembered that she was Kara Braxton and went back to doing stupid things, but it was nice while it lasted.

I don't know why the officials didn't review Katie's shot from the corner. I thought it might have been a three. Taj, Barb, and DeLisha all thought it should have been reviewed. Nothing. And then they decide to review Christmas's basket at the end of the game. Because that totally affects the outcome, y'all. There were a lot of shaky calls in this one- missed on both teams, to be fair, but overall, the three gentlemen calling this game seemed to be anticipating fouls instead of calling the action as it happened.

Crowd got into it as the game went on. Defense was strong for most of the game. Offense just went AWOL. We'll be okay. I keep telling my neighbors to take deep breaths and think of Chiney Ogwumike.

No, seriously, I'm down for shutting down everything with five games left. The tragic number approacheth. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with regrouping next year and not having to go to Newark more than twice this year.

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August 27th, 2013: Minnesota at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Lindsay Whalen had 18 points for Minnesota, and New York shot a paltry 25% from the field, as the Lynx romped over the Liberty 73-46. Maya Moore added 11 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota; New York was led by the 13 points of Cappie Pondexter.

For fail, swollen feet, missed shots, fear of Rebekkahs, too much pink, and ounting the days, join your intrepid and exhausted blogger after the jump.


We're almost to the end of our years in exile. That's what I have to hold on to as I weather train delays and missed connections because the Q59 is an evil, evil bus and there are too many trains involved in getting to Newark. I consider it a miracle that we're only down 18 to the Lynx at the half, because we've been shooting badly and the place is mostly empty.

No, put it this way: there were still caps being given out to people arriving midway through the second quarter, and they were only supposed to go to the first 4,000 people. There are way too many Lynx fans here. (We dealt with two of them through a spare pair of floor tickets handed to us by a friend. She doesn't like being up that close, and neither do we. And since they were on the Lynx side of the floor, they were happy. And since we didn't have fans cheering for everything the Lynx did two rows behind us, we were happy. Everyone wins! :))

Halftime featured breast cancer survivors being given custom jerseys at center court, and an adorable hug between Essence Carson and her mom. (Dang, her mom's young, or at least young-looking.)

So far, play of the game is Lindsay Whalen's no-look pass to Rebekkah Brunson. The alley-oop to Devereaux Peters to finish the first quarter was right up there too. And I'll eat my pink-and-white breast cancer awareness cap if Cappie Pondexter's heel isn't bothering her, because there's no way that Lindsay Whalen with the ball is visibly faster than Cappie Pondexter without the ball.

Somehow, despite the uniforms being standardized, the Liberty managed to have the ugliest BHA uniforms in the league. The shade was repugnant, and black and seafoam green do not go as accenting colors. Yet another reason to detest pinkwashing.

I can't with this team. We get Seimone Augustus and Maya Moore to go 8-24 from the floor, and we still manage to lose by an amount that makes me have to do complex arithmetic in my head. We get to the line more often than they do and force them into 15 turnovers, and we still lose by 26. I can't. I am no longer capable.

Rachel Jarry had the unfortunate task of being assigned to Plenette Pierson. I don't think this was the matchup that she was looking for, and she kept getting tangled up in Plenette's arms. That sounds much more interesting than it is, but you know the way Plenette gets her arm hooked with her defender's and suddenly she looks like the victim. The one shot she took, she missed badly- but she crashed the boards something fierce as soon as it left her hand, and almost came up with the o-board. Lindsey Moore got some time near the end of the game and burned Leilani Mitchell on a play that she apparently didn't get credit for. I thought she'd managed to get a basket and a steal, not necessarily in that order. Amber Harris even got into the action late in the game. We gave up a basket to Amber Harris, you are all fired, OMG. Sugar Rodgers hit a three, because apparently the only people in the building who remembered that Sugar Rodgers can shoot a little were the Georgetown alumnae, Cheryl Reeve, and every fan of any faction of the Big East. The steal she had to get a fast break going was pretty nice, too. Again, it's like she did that a bit at Georgetown. Devereaux Peters kept thinking she had a jump shot, which helped us a good bit. Those long arms got all up in the rebounding, and especially on defense. I was pretty sure she had more than one blocked shot. No, seriously, the arms were everywhere. Monica Wright spent more time than I expected thinking she was a point guard, even with Whalen on the floor. The pull-up at the free throw line was working for her. So was occasionally having Cappie Pondexter defend her, but we'll get to that later, this paragraph is long enough as it is.

Rebekkah Brunson scares me. I like her and everything, no matter how strangely she spells our name, but when she's in game mode, that's a woman I would not want to meet in a well-lit alley, let alone a dark alley. I'm pretty sure at least two of her rebounds came simply from glaring at people around her. She's fierce and tough, and you knew all this coming in. Janel McCarville kept going outside to shoot, and it looked like that might be a bad sign when she hit the three-pointer early on, but she cooled off from the field after that. She did a nice job setting screens and moving the ball around. It should come as a surprise to no one that she and Lindsay Whalen have a very good two-man game- there was a nice play early on where they went back and forth for a while before Whalen bounced off a McCarville pick and took it to the hoop. Seimone Augustus's shot was pretty, but the rim was not her friend this evening. I got the feeling she might not have been playing at full speed, but they didn't need her to play at full speed. Maya Moore is a lot more solid than I remembered her being, which I think I always remember about her- I keep thinking she's more of a three than a combo forward. She picked up her double-double in the most efficient fashion possible, getting both her tenth rebound and her tenth point on a sweet little putback. I think she might have taken Bill's stupid threat a lot more personally than she was willing to let on. Lindsay Whalen played like the ultimate maestro of the offense. Okay, maestra, whatever, I don't speak Italian. But she was brilliant. Even when she wasn't making the first pass, she was making the pass that led to the pass. And this was the night she decided to break down whichever defender happened to be in her general vicinity (which was usually Cappie Pondexter) and go right to the basket. She was awesome.

Toni Young demonstrated her vertical with a sick block near the end of the game, but that was pretty much when she got the bulk of her minutes. She and Leilani Mitchell had a bad miscommunication on a play that shouldn't have taken as many attempts to get right as it did. She also blew a defensive assignment badly. Leilani Mitchell made the offense run more smoothly, but I'm not sure that engine lubricant is a good comparison for a professional basketball player. Alex Montgomery brought the hustle, but not much else. Even her defense was off tonight. And I really wish that if she were going to shoot the long jumper, she'd make sure that her feet were behind the line, especially since she overshoots a lot of the time, which means that she's passing up potential three-point chances for big fat zeroes and bad rebounds. DeLisha Milton-Jones was hot early, but cooled off later, and I don't see the wisdom in trying to play her alongside Plenette. Neither of them is really a three at this point in their careers, and the age and lack of mobility that they share really doesn't go well against Rebekkah Brunson and Devereaux Peters. That was not great matching up by Bill. Kelsey Bone had the best game of the bench players, though I wish she would be more assertive. She at least got after rebounds, for the most part, but she has got to hit her bunnies. Her defense was... not terrible.

Which is more than I can say for Kara Braxton. Her offense was horrible. Her defense was terrible. Her passing was atrocious. Her rebounding was appalling. Arguably, the best play she made all night involved using her... er... um... the things were supposed to be aware of the health of all night... as springs to bounce off her defender for an and-1. That is not what we mean by being physical. Kamiko Williams rebounded well, but if she's going to take the midrange to long jumpers, she's got to practice shooting them so that she can actually hit them instead of creating long rebounds for the other team. Either that, or she's got to actually be a defensive presence instead of just a rebounding presence. I don't know what was the matter with Katie Smith, either. Her defense went from so-so to completely awful ("swinging gate" should never be a description of your defense, Katie May). She had one really horrible fumble on the sideline that made me shake my head. (And is also making me think of the really awful one that Kara had when Gulbeyan clearly signaled deflection. My head hurts again, thanks, Kara.) Plenette Pierson tried to carry the team, but she's not a reliable jump shooter, and she was getting pretty tightly defended. Cappie Pondexter still isn't herself. She couldn't keep up with Lindsay Whalen on defense, and her shots were falling funny on offense. Whatever's wrong with her, I hope it heals soon, even if that means not playing on it.

Yes, I'm saying that it might be time to SHUT.DOWN.EVERYTHING. There's nothing to be gained by making the playoffs, and the kids need more reps together. That means Kelsey, Toni, and Kamiko, Bill. Alex, too. Not Kamiko with the vets, not Kelsey with the vets, not DeLisha. That means either resting or benching Cappie until her heel, uh, heals. That means looking to the future and the Garden instead of a first-round exit against Chicago or Atlanta.

Officiating was all right. Denise Brooks had a good catch on a strange out of bounds call where Janel McCarville got hit by the ball a couple of times and Roy Gulbeyan still wanted to give the Lynx back the ball. Brooks corrected him. I don't know if she used a spritz bottle.

I skipped the auction on the concourse, so I don't know what kind of cool things were offered to raise money. I generally don't get involved in that sort of thing. I'd always rather go red than think pink.

There were hecklers in the endcourt who decided to act like it was a Lynx home game, up to and including disconcerting the free throw shooter. They weren't in Lynx gear, so I'm assuming they were generic rabble. Whatever the case, they can go step on a field full of Legos.

It's kind of adorable that my husband's Sophia Witherspoon jersey is getting as much attention as it is. People remember. Random people on the train ask us about the team and tell us stories about knowing the early Maddie. Someone who said she was Sophia Witherspoon's godmother went squee. Huh.

The defense was solid. That's all I can say. I mean, overall the Lynx shot well, but that was buoyed by Whalen. But the offense... my college team shoots better than that. And I'm not talking about St. John's, I'm talking about my low-level D-III alma mater.

If we don't beat Indiana, seriously, SHUT.DOWN.EVERYTHING.

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August 25th, 2013: New York at Connecticut

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The New York Liberty took a critical win on the road, knocking off Connecticut 74-66. Plenette Pierson led New York with 18 points, with Cappie Pondexter adding 14 and Katie Smith 13. Kelsey Griffin notched a double-double for the Sun, with game highs of 22 points and 10 rebounds. Tina Charles added 18 points and nine rebounds for the short-handed Sun.

For fashion commentary, injuries to more than pride, numerological symmetry, the treadmill dance, and the relaxation of restrictions, join your intrepid and liberated blogger after the jump.


Good afternoon, everyone! We're coming to you on joyous tape delay from Mohegan Sun Arena, where the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Sun face off yet again.

In case you're wondering about the difference in salutation, Mohegan has apparently loosened up their security restrictions. I plopped my backpack down on the table and declared my awareness of the contraband that would force me to check my bag. Normally, the security people appreciate it, but in this case, the woman said that they'd recently changed the rules on laptops at basketball games, so I could bring my lovely Jocelyn in. I then mentioned that I had water and cookies for the bus, and she said, "Fine, but don't get me in trouble." So rest assured, Donna, the bottles and cookies will remain untouched for the duration of the game. I swear it on my honor as a former Girl Scout. (Three years, Troop 4839 of the Greater New York Council.)

For the first time in as long as I can remember, Kara Lawson shot around with the rest of the team, then signed autographs. She's normally a very difficult get, so the ink junkies around me were pleased. She still looked pretty emotionally wrecked, though. She looked like she needed a hug.

There was no organized fan bus for this game, but a fair number of Liberty fans always make their way to Mohegan, and I already see a few scattered pockets in the somewhat more expensive seats. We got ours for free, so I'm okay with not being among my people.

It feels weird to be wearing a Kym Hampton jersey instead of my usual Lobo jersey, but given my... issues... with UConn fans purporting to be Sun fans, I decided not to give them any potential ammo.

Connecticut uses the same entrance song that the Liberty have been attempting to use, except they play through the whole thing. It's a bit of a culture clash.

Hello, random and loyal reader! I'm still not used to people coming up to me and complimenting me on things. It's a pleasant and validating feeling.

Anthem was okay. Nothing to write home about. Halftime consists of a dance clinic. I don't know if I approve, but I'm not big on dance teams, and the Liberty's teams beat the pants off Connecticut's anyway.

42-35 Liberty at the half. Could be more, but we have no idea where the three-point arc actually is (four shots with a foot or a toe on the line). Could be less, but Renee Montgomery shook Leilani Mitchell off for a three to beat the buzzer at the end of the first quarter. Tina Charles is hitting those midrange fadeaways, which is usually not a good sign for the opponent, but we're getting more possessions off rebounds. Plenette Pierson's overshooting is quite weird. Stop shooting over the basket, Plenette. Kara, if you could actually play something that looks like defense, that would be super, thanks.

Leilani's most important rebound tonight might have been during the shooting contest, since the guys were so wild that the ball went into the huddle. It started so well, then turned into a hot mess.

I sort of really want Barbara Farris's jacket. What a beautiful shade of blue! (It's almost Pirate blue. Barb, did you raid Big Jackets' closet?) Taj's dress is also on point, though the more I think about it the more I realize it looks like an Arizona green tea can.

I have to admit, I love when Bill plays to the crowd's boos and tries to fire them up. And I do love that the Sun play the Imperial March for him. We really need to do that. Own your villainy, Bad Girls! It's okay to be bad!

I appear to have misplaced my husband. Have you seen a black-haired guy in a Sophia Witherspoon jersey and a tall striped hat? Oh, there he is.

So are the Sun keeping the t-shirts back as long as possible to make sure people stay in their seats until the end of the game? Because there was a pretty substantial exodus as soon as the last of the t-shirts went out, and I can't say that I blame them. The ship is continuing to sink.

Sydney Carter didn't make any egregious mistakes that I can recall. All things considered, that's an upgrade for Connecticut. Kayla Pedersen played briefly to give Kelsey Griffin a break, but I don't recall her doing anything other than getting my hackles up (nothing she did, just the general sense of unease I get when Sun fans cheer her). For reasons beyond my understanding, Mistie Bass decided she didn't feel like mixing it up in the paint today and started taking outside jumpers. Mistie, you are not Tina Charles. Get in there and hit someone. You've handled Plenette Pierson and Kara Braxton before, so why are you backing out? I mean, I don't mind, I'm a Liberty fan, but as a basketball fan I do not approve of players doing things badly that they have no business doing and not doing things that they tend to do well. Iziane Castro Marques was all over the place with her shot. It arced high, it went long- she even took her free throws at an angle. Whatever floats your boat, Izi. Whatever gets you through the losses.

Kelsey Griffin actually played really well. Stop staring at me like that, just because I don't understand why she starts doesn't mean I can't give her credit when credit is in fact due. She was deadly from the far corner and hustled hard on the boards. She was solid on defense, too. Just a really good all around game. Kalana Greene needs to not be afraid to shoot. She had the ball near the end of the shot clock on at least two possessions and just kept passing off. I know Kalana's jumper is questionable at best, but you have to not be afraid of the ball when your team's trying to keep possession. If the ball's in your hands and it shouldn't be, that's something you need to talk to your teammates about, not run away from. Her defense was good, though. Tan White did a lot of stupid things. She committed unnecessary fouls (I think hers was the fifth foul in the fourth quarter, which evened out the bonus situation). She took bad shots. She made bad passes. Tina Charles had the jumper working in the first half, but in the second half, we shut her down. She only had one basket (plus four free throws) in the second half, and those were all in the fourth quarter. Granted, Donovan sat her for a fair spell, but I think we were into her head. Renee Montgomery hit big threes, but she also tok some questionable shots. I mostly remember the threes, to be honest.

Good rebounding out of Toni Young. She blew a defensive assignment badly, but made up for it on the other end later on. She missed the dunk during shootaround. DeLisha Milton-Jones continues to befuddle me- not because she's not moving well, but because she's having a lot of trouble catching passes. I didn't think she'd had any trouble with her hands or wrists, but she's fumbling a lot of things I expect her to catch. She was satisfied with long jumpers. Alex Montgomery took a brutal sandwich of a hit (and got called for the foul), and did a little bit of everything. I wish she'd watch her footwork on those jumpers, because we really need her to get behind the line if she's going to be on the line, but I'll take offensive efficiency from her any time. She was even bringing the ball up a few times, and while I'm not sure how much I like that, she wasn't completely awful at it. Leilani Mitchell was a defensive liability, but watching her cut through the lane like a hot knife through butter brought back memories of much better times. Kelsey Bone got in Tina Charles's face a bit better than Kara Braxton did, and rebounded solidly, but she committed stupid fouls and turnovers that I would have expected from Kara.

Cappie Pondexter really didn't look like herself. I know the foot's been bothering her, and I've heard rumors that she's nursing a broken finger, but her shot was way off. She still got the job done, and appeared to be the only player on the floor who actually knew where the three-point line was (I know I'm harping on this, but Cappie's three came right after two long twos; it felt like a miracle that someone actually remembered where to shoot from). Kara Braxton started the game with a violation on the opening tip, and it didn't get much better from there. She kept forgetting to put her hands up on defense, which is a pretty basic thing to forget. She did manage to tip rebounds out well on the offensive end, even if she didn't necessarily grab on to them herself. Katie Smith had one embarrassing moment where she turned the ball over because she ran out of bounds- at thirty-mumble, I do expect her to know the dimensions of a basketball court. I think it's interesting that she's asserting herself more on the offensive end as the season goes on, and I wonder if that has to do with moving back into the backcourt and not being relied on as much for her defense. It's nice to know that she's still trying to contribute. Kamiko Williams rebounded well, especially in the first half, and had a nice little defensive sequence where she forced Renee Montgomery into a hurried shot after it looked like Montgomery was going to get a clean look at a three. Someone needs to talk to her about her footwork on her shot, though. I should not see feet crossing on the followthrough. I'm not expecting Kamiko to be a great offensive threat, but I'd at least like her mechanics to be solid. Plenette Pierson lit it up in the fourth quarter. Her lateral movement on defense still isn't great, but she got the job done. Once she stopped overshooting the basket, though, her offense was back on point. She had a smothering block near the end of the game that just slammed the door and put the game past the point of no return.

It's hard to put my finger on why the Liberty kept control of this game for most of the way. There were times, especially in the third quarter of dread, that the Sun seemed to threaten, but overall it felt like the Sun were sort of going through the motions. New York made enough defensive stops to keep the game out of reach, and hit enough shots, especially and-1s, to pace the Sun. The three-point plays were especially reassuring, since we haven't been seeing a lot of them recently.

Officiating didn't seem particularly deplorable, except for when Alex went smush. Katie went down a couple of possessions later, but that was more of a flop than Alex's fall was. We did get to see the application of a fairly obscure rule- ball went off Michael Price while he was out of bounds. Since the official is part of the playing surface, that was a turnover on the Sun, even though the ball bounced back into play.

Our trip in was incredibly speedy- 2:25, when the inbound trip is usually around three hours. I'm expecting our trip back to be longer, because the universe needs to balance its scales somehow.

We needed a good solid win on the road against the pitiful remnants of the Sun, and we got exactly what we needed. I just hope Cappie's feeling better before we have to host the Lynx.

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August 16th, 2013: Washington at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Washington withstood a 14-0 first half run by New York to pull out the road win 66-57. Matee Ajavon had 16 points and seven assists for the Mystics. New York was led by the 14 points of Katie Smith.

For pain, suffering, frustration, lost jerseys, a lack of responsibility, and other things I can't remember, join your intrepid and sore blogger after the jump.

Hello, everyone! Here we are again, the New York Liberty and the Washington Mystics.

Mike, I am disappoint. I bust my butt to get to the game early, when the gates open, and you have the rookies in and out before the gates even open? How is a Johnnie supposed to holla at Nadirah McKenith if she's off the court before the fans can even come in? Hmph.

Washington sent a bus. They made t-shirts. "Every game is a home game." Well, I suppose with the precipitous drop in Washington attendance since Sheila Johnson sent everything to hell, I suppose every game feels like it's being played in a cavernous arena with a disinterested and apathetic crowd.

Of course, today is the one day security actually finds my sandwich. The one day I actually bring one... I haven't eaten since a cinnamon roll at 1:00, and I was hard at work for four hours after that.

Gorgeous anthem.

Today was the school supplies drive for Garden of Dreams. Apparently there was hand sanitizer. Gosh. How exciting.

Tamika Raymond is in the house for reasons unknown. She came over to reminisce with Mike Thibault, and Katie Smith wandered by to say hello.

Oh, Barb. You need to let that dress out a little bit, or get it in a larger size. I know from extensive personal experience: having the rolls outlined is not a good look.

Hey, at least we held off the collapse until the fourth quarter.

Tierra Ruffin-Pratt looked like she heard the scurrilous rumors that her classmates had passed her in the rookie rankings, and was determined to take back her place as the most surprising success of the class of 2013. She shook Katie Smith off her on defense repeatedly to get open jumpers, and she was fighting for rebounds every chance she got. She was very physical, and paid the price for it.. (Katie got in a pretty good hit on her, too. Katie is a Bad Girl, after all.) Kia Vaughn (who actually started the second half) threw her body around like nobody's business, setting screens and picks and boxing out viciously. We kept throwing her passes. She doesn't even go here anymore! She was strong on the inside. Tayler Hill played briefly, and it was amusing to watch the young Buckeye going up against the old Buckeye when she was matched with Katie Smith, but amusement value was all she provided. Nadirah McKenith looked solid but unremarkable. Emma Meesseman went hard after the ball, but her judgment was not always the best. She'll learn. And she'll be scary when she does.

Michelle Snow still looks like she has a hedgehog on her head. Seriously, Michelle, whoever told you that was a good look for you lied to you, or didn't like you, or something. She was a defensive force on the inside, but was ineffective on offense and spent a lot of time whining. She's awfully good at that. We kept leaving Ivory Latta open for threes, which you'd think we would stop doing at some point, but whatever. She broke Alex Montgomery's ankles on a crossover, to the point where we thought Alex was genuinely hurt. Monique Currie got into the scrum, got a lot of fouls called on her, and couldn't get love from the rim. She's pretty good at complaining to officials too. Matee Ajavon looked awfully good, much to the glee of the Cagers in the next section over from us and to my incessant grumbling. I do not like that woman. But she shot well and her on-ball defense was tighter than a pair of compression shorts. She and Cappie were going at each other like it was personal (which, since they go back a ways, it probably is). Crystal Langhorne did her thing, though she did it more from the perimeter than I was used to. Then again, that's the shot we were giving her, so that's the shot she took. Lang always seems to go with the flow, which is why I think she's a good supporting veteran for a team that wants to go young.

DeLisha Milton-Jones... for one thing, it looks really weird having her in a Liberty uniform, and it does not help that she's taken #1, which is Maddie's number. Given Maddie's species and DeLisha's reputation, certain words inevitably come to mind. She looked like she was still very uncomfortable around strange teammates and a new coach. She had a lot of dropped passes and issues hanging on to the ball, and she got called for the bad fouls that Plenette usually gets called for. She was quite unhappy. Leilani Mitchell was unremarkable, though she did a halfway decent job on Latta, unlike most of the rest of the team. Alex Montgomery hit the deck a lot. I mean, a lot. I mean four or five times. She has to work on her shot, though. If Katie fires off a perfect pass for an open J, the open J needs to be hit. And so do the driving lay-ups. I love her heart and hustle, but I need a little more consistency from Alex on the offensive end. (And to please have a hand up on Ajavon on defense.) Kelsey Bone played a little bit- boxed out well, but couldn't penetrate the Mystics' defense and couldn't get into position on defense, so she went to the bench quickly every time she got into the game. That trend bothers me, by the way, because those minutes went to DeLisha instead of Kelsey or Toni. Clearly we're trying to win for this season, even though we're already up a creek without a paddle, but I'd rather see Kelsey and Toni get the development.

I don't know what was up with Cappie Pondexter. Yes, a fair amount of it was Washington's defense, but she vacillated between going into triple coverage by herself and passing to cold shooters in triple coverage. Folks who saw her at the end of the game said she was getting her ankle taped, which would just be perfect. Kara Braxton was a hot mess tonight. Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and had trouble hanging on to rebounds- I know she got a lot of them, but she did a little more tapping out than I like to see out of a big girl. Kamiko Williams got a lot of touches early for reasons I didn't understand, and she took advantage of that time on offense early, but wasn't able to keep up with the pace of the game on defense. Plenette Pierson seemed determined to show up DeLisha and Vaughn in a battle of physicality. I'd have liked to see her get more touches; I think she would have done more with them than Kara or even Cappie did. Katie Smith found her stroke late, but she was several steps behind both Currie and Ruffin-Pratt on defense the entire night.

No, seriously, I do not like that Bill is going with players who are- in basketball terms- the same age as dirt.

The officiating was decent. The crowd was in an uproar when Alex got called for a blocking foul, but Alex hadn't come anywhere near establishing position in front of the offensive player.

Dee Kantner really knows how to put on a show- I got to the chalk talk late because autographs. She's got a great sense of humor.

The season subscriber coasters are pretty boss. I don't know if they're graphite or slate or something, but they're heavy and have the logo carved into them. Boss.

That third quarter should be dropped down the memory hole, for both teams.

I'm too tired to be anything more than mildly argh at this game.

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August 10th, 2013: Los Angeles at New York

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Los Angeles Sparks continued their successful East Coast road trip with a resounding 85-67 win at the New York Liberty. Jantel Lavender led the Sparks off the bench with 18 points and eight rebounds. Kristi Toliver added 16 points; Lindsey Harding and Candace Parker had 12 each. Cappie Pondexter led New York with 22 points.

For clangs, bounces, rebounds, quick passes, that jerk in the corner, milkshakes in the yard, and rookies, join your intrepid and weary blogger after the jump.


1:00 games sound very good in principle, except when you live two hours from the arena and like to get to the game when the gates open. Then you're leaving at ten in the morning and swearing profusely at all things transit related.

Friends or acquaintances or something of Candace Parker were in the building, so she spent a lot of time chatting with them. Everyone came up to her for autographs and pictures while she was talking. She multi-tasked well. I missed out on getting her autograph, but that's because I didn't want to interrupt her conversation and she was already done with our side by the time she escaped the conversation.

Penny Toler seems to have tamed the thing on her head, so that it looks like hair instead of two dead tribbles tied together. I guess that's an improvement.

The hat is complete! Well, until Chucky's seven-day contract runs out and Bill brings in another temp. Cappie was actually somewhat less than surly about it! And here I thought she was as much of a morning person as I am.

The pregame dance crew wasn't bad. I've definitely seen worse.

Sparse crowd so far, but we do have nineteen minutes to go before tip, and PATH is borked for construction. Judgment will be withheld until further notice. The ones that are drifting in seem to be curiosity seekers, for the most part. Sigh. And entirely too many people cheering for LA, even if you factor in Carol Ross's posse in their purple sparkled boas and tiaras.

Props to the lady in the Toni Young jersey. Money where your mouth is, indeed.

Fantastic anthem. Two trumpets, and I was ready for the game to start as soon as they were done, it was that stirring.

One of these days we're going to get a delay of game for the prolonged pre-tip nonsense. I think we need to lay off one of the routines, and as fun as Leilani Mitchell in a leopard-print pimp hat is, I'll give that up before I give up Maddie on the logo.

The good news: the hustle is back for the Liberty. The bad news: no one on this team can shoot today. The Sparks look very slick and very fancy, and they're shooting much better than we are- but they're also being very sloppy with the ball.

Yes, I know I was on Jeopardy!, but please don't hug me, person I only know through four degrees of separation.

Substitute announcer has consistently had issues with Ogwumike and Alana Beard. Sir, her name is not Amanda or Alanna. Did no one hand you a pronunciation guide?

Whoever this jerkface is trying to get a defense chant going when the Liberty have the ball, I hope no one finds out who he is without security being around.

Say what you will about the "Three to See", this game has attracted more casual fans and curiosity seekers than Chicago or Tulsa did. To be fair, Tulsa was a night game.

I'm pretty sure the Liberty are buying replica jerseys off the website for their temps. Chucky's jersey looks cheap, and we all know the issues about Prahalis's jerseys. I do not think I approve of this message.

The Sparks really are a Hollywood team. When they're on, they look real pretty. When they're off, you can see what's behind the scenery.

Both assistants were working with Farhiya Abdi pretty intensely before this game (and before the Connecticut game) and it was clear why- she's got a basketball body, and she looks like she should have all the moves, but then she'll dribble the ball off her knee and have to fumble to grab it. She missed her first easy opportunity by passing back out, but capitalized the next time. Jenna O'Hea made herself no friends by converting the fast break lay-up with three seconds left in a blowout game. I keep expecting her to go for threes, but the Sparks really seem to be using her more to set picks and move the ball around. I'm surprised. Then again, Marissa Coleman's shot looked like it was falling again, so maybe they didn't need offense from O'Hea so much as they needed someone who wasn't inclined to make dumb mistakes. Coleman held her own with Cappie all up in her business. Jantel Lavender put in work, and they needed her to put in work, with the foul trouble that Nneka Ogwumike got into in the first half. Her teammates did a great job of finding her down low, and she was able to make room both for them and for herself by extending her range to the midrange J. A'dia Mathies played briefly at the end of the game, and drove as fearlessly as she did back at Kentucky. Ebony Hoffman threw her weight around on the inside and showed off her outside shot, though not her outside shot-making so much.

Candace Parker was a force to be reckoned with in the paint on defense. Her hands were up and all over everything. I think there were at least two Liberty possessions where the idea of going into the lane was erased as surely as if Big Syl or Brittney Griner lurked around the rim. She had a lot of trouble getting clean shots, and a lot of the ones she did get rimmed out or went off the glass. She got to the line and didn't seem frazzled. Well, except for the play where she stayed tangled up with Kara Braxton like she was either trying to get a foul or start a fight (and really, starting a fight with someone who goes toe to toe with a lineman on a regular basis is just stupid, Ace). Nneka Ogwumike got in foul trouble very early in the first quarter and again in the second quarter, and never really got an opportunity to establish herself (granted, with Lavender, they didn't need Ogwumike to establish herself). Alana Beard, despite occasional attacks of being called Alanna or Amanda, was solid on both ends of the floor. Kristi Toliver (from "Marlyan", according to today's roster card; well, we always knew Maryland had no D...) showed off the ice water in her veins, hitting shots when the Sparks needed them. For a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, she moves pretty fast. (I think she'd be Raphael. Maybe Michelangelo, but she seems more mouthy and less goofy. Coleman, on the other hand, strikes me more as a Donatello, or even a Venus.) (Yes, I went there. Maryland's band plays the theme as an alternate fight song. It's totally acceptable.) Lindsey Harding's court vision was on point. She did a great job finding her teammates, and an equally good job driving the lane to create opportunities for herself. When she's on, she's really pretty to watch.

I loved Coleman's baseline find of Lavender rolling to the basket. But the prettiest set of plays was the series of quick touch passes that led to Candace Parker scoring on the inside- granted, it was on the third shot, which is why it won't end up on the highlight reel. Parker's thorough block of Cappie looking for her own highlight reel moment might, though. The word "pwned" was thrown around on that one.

O HAI Chucky Jeffery! You can totally stick around if you want to, with your awfully nice handwriting and your ability to play the passing lanes quickly. If she's serious about playing in the WNBA, she's going to have to bulk up, because while she's not in DeWanna Bonner territory, she's awfully thin. She's going to have to work on her shooting, too. But I love her motor and her nose for the ball. Kelsey Bone looked more interested in playing volleyball than basketball today- lots of batted balls, not enough firm rebounds, and really lousy ballhandling. I do expect her to be able to catch passes, but even that was lacking today. Toni Young showed a little bit of a jump shot and had a really nice rebound, but was no match for the Sparks' interior presence. Leilani Mitchell got the extended minutes we were looking for, but the halfcourt heave didn't go down (and since we usually lose when she hits it, I was okay with that). She did well enough staying on Toliver. Alex Montgomery's shot abandoned the building, and I think she was a little tentative after the first couple didn't go down. Talk about a streak shooter. But she was rebounding and defending and going for loose balls as she always does.

Given the early hour of this game, and the fact that yesterday was Friday night, I'm assuming Kara Braxton showed up to this game either drunk or hung over. There's no excuse for her to be missing the shots she was missing today, not even the usual excuse that she's Kara Braxton and can thus be expected to suffer from frequent and recurring cases of rectocranial inversion. Rebounds fell into her hands, and at least she had the presence of mind to grab them, for the most part. Katie Smith could not stick with Toliver for love nor money, and she managed to blow the lay-up on a two-man breakaway. Her shot reappeared in the second half, but overall, she looked thoroughly done- and more, like she was frustrated at the situation. She committed some very stupid fouls for no good reason, and could easily have been called for one or two more (why are you trying to hip-check Ebony Hoffman, why do you think this is a good idea?) Kamiko Williams was bringing it on defense, but we can't continue to have her in the starting lineup if Katie is also not contributing. Plenette Pierson's jumpers kept rimming out, and her passing was not as sharp as it was against Washington- but then again, the Sparks did a better job of playing the passing lanes than the Mystics did. Cappie Pondexter brought it on offense in the second and third quarters, and she was trying to keep the team in the game as much as she could, but one woman can no longer do it alone in this league. We just could not shoot today.

I know it's hard to believe, but I'm not frothing at the mouth and furious at another blowout loss. Until the fourth quarter, when it was clearly garbage time, the fire and intensity that were sorely missing in the last few games were back. We were fighting for boards, we were driving the lane, we were getting down on defense. The Sparks' passing attack was very good, and we just could not get anything to drop.

Officiating missed a couple of entanglements, but I can't complain overall. Do try not to act so surprised.

Missed the tae kwan do demonstration at halftime, but that's okay. Missed the season subscriber coasters, but the poor unlucky wretch assigned to our account was quick to reassure us that they'd be available for the rest of the season. Relax, Melissa, we don't bite. Much.

Even at 20% off, I'm not buying a jersey. Sorry.

I'm disappointed, but not frustrated. Or maybe it's frustrated, but not disappointed. We played decently enough. If we make the playoffs, we make the playoffs. If we don't make the playoffs, we get a lottery pick. It is what it is.

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August 6th, 2013: Los Angeles at Connecticut

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Another sterling performance from Tina Charles wasn't enough for the Connecticut Sun to pull out a comeback win, losing 74-72 to the Los Angeles Sparks. Charles had 25 points and 13 rebounds in the loss. Allison Hightower added 12 points, seven as part of a fourth-quarter surge. Kristi Toliver led four Sparks in double figures with 19 points, adding nine rebounds; Nneka Ogwumike had nine boards as well, to go with 15 points.

For pounding, the flashing red light, squeaky indignation, signs, lots of traveling, and ADVENTUR!, join your intrepid and bilocational blogger after the jump.

No, this is not a hallucination, and no, I have not cloned myself. That would be a terrifying thought. Some things you have to do while you're still young enough not to regret them too much the next morning, so while I had the day off from work to attend the Liberty's home win against Washington, I decided to make my way across two railroads to Flushing and go up to Connecticut to see the Sparks and the Sun.

Very smart move by Golden Global, to have their sales people wearing Mohegan Sun shirts. There are also buses to Foxwoods, Mount Airy Lodge, and ResortsWorld on the same block, and people were getting confused. This is a bad thing. Also, don't sit in the guide's seat when there are lots of empty seats on the bus. That's just rude.

And of course we're going around. Why should anything try to be normal today? The gods of transit are mocking me.

Made it on time, and got to watch a fantastic game. I think the anthem singer forgot a line- the anthem seemed odd, for reasons I can't put my finger on. Nice deep voice, though.

The Sparks are really hyper. If Ivory Latta ever ends up on that team, they may actually be a viable alternative energy source. And I don't know if they've changed the shade of purple on the Sparks jerseys, but I kind of like it.

Nneka Ogwumike and one of Carol Ross's posse just wandered into Geno's. This is why I like eating after games. I still remember the corruption of Megan Frazee through chocolate chip cookies. (Oh, Nneka. The deli's the most overpriced part of the food court.)

Carol Ross's sister and some other folks showed up in purple (well, closer to lavender) (Lavender?) sparkles and taffeta, with a good half dozen tiaras among them. Bridget Pettis and Sandy Brondello got a good laugh out of them.

Has anyone informed Penny Toler that there's a dead animal on her head? Seriously, that hairpiece is an atrocity unto fashion, as were Sandy Brondello's pants. Oh, Bronds.

(O HAI Kara. Wolters, not Lawson. She's at the pizza window. I wonder if she ordered the Kara Wolters...) (And she brought Kelly Faris with her. O HAI Kelly.)

Ebony Hoffman showed off her range and her physicality, helping body Tina Charles up all night. She did commit some pretty dumb fouls and complained about those far too vociferously for my liking. Jenna O'Hea didn't really get to set up outside as much as I was expecting- if anything, she was mostly used as a defensive substitution for her height and wingspan. She drove Kelly Faris crazy late in the game when the Sun were trying to get the last two inbounds...eses. Marissa Coleman showed off some boogie moves during the entrance video, and I can't remember a darn thing she did on the actual court. I know she went into the game; I know she came out of the game. But that's all I remember.

Jantel Lavender put in work. She had the first... six, I think?.. for the Sparks and pulled them ahead in the second quarter. She put in a lot of work defensively too. Neither she nor Nneka Ogwumike is big enough to take on Tina Charles individually, but together they were entirely too much for her to be comfortable with. There was a point where it seemed like verything she shot was going in, but she cooled down in the second half; perhaps the defensive intensity was taking something out of her. Nneka Ogwumike never stopped fighting on the offensive boards. I mean never. I think she had two o-boards on the same possession twice. She and Lavender were both working the baseline well. So was Lindsey Harding. I don't remember Harding being this fast, but I have the feeling that I say that every time I see her play, if that makes any sense. She spearheaded the attack, whether it was just bringing the ball up in a hurry to initiate the offense or if she was driving to the paint for a midrange J or a lay-up. Alana Beard brought the defense and the hustle. I always knew that she was on the floor, even if she wasn't putting up the stats- she was in the scrum, she was playing defense. Kristi Toliver has icewater in her veins (though given the hyperactivity of her team, maybe it's semi-melted Icee)- twice her team needed her to hit a basket at the end of the shot clock, and twice she did. The third time, the shot was off line, but I think that was one of the ones that the Sparks tracked down. She needs to learn to keep her temper better- she got T'd for giving the ref a large piece of her mind. The folks around me referred to her as a bully for all the calls she was getting; I got them down to brat, because really. Toliver's the size of a kindergartener, how is she supposed to bully anyone?

The Sparks' dedication to rebounding was truly phenomenal. And when they're in their defensive mindset, everyone seems to play the role they were born to- the guards go low to come up with the steals, the forwards tangle on the floor, and the posts come up with big blocks and rebounds up top. All the parts fit together.

I liked Mistie Bass's skirt, but I think pretty much everyone would have liked to see her in uniform, on the floor, putting LA shots into the third row.

Kayla Pedersen has to have the world's worst luck when it comes to getting block/charge calls. Two different times she made the move to get herself in position and neither time a call was made. I think it would have been a block the first time and a charge the second time, but on general principles, the call needed to be made, period. She hustled hard, but couldn't get her shots to go down. Tan White had a brief hot streak- unfortunately, that made her decide that she was the hot hand, when she clearly wasn't. Watching her hoist ill-considered bricks was a sad, sad thing, especially from seats eight rows up from the baseline. She went after ballhandlers well, though. Kelly Faris was intense defensively, and the three she hit was huge, but I think she was in over her head, and I definitely wouldn't have had her inbounding on the last possession- with the way the Sparks were pressing the issue, she looked very flustered.

The folks with the Brazilian flag must have been heartbroken that Iziane Castro Marques didn't play.

Kalana Greene was pretty much useless. Her defense wasn't there, and she brought nothing on offense. At least Faris could shoot a little, but Greene got to thinking that she was Renee Montgomery or something. Montgomery was fast, and quick, and hit the ground an awful lot (maybe there's something about the name and number- Alex Montgomery had the same issue in the matinee). She was more effective going to the basket and trying to draw contact, though she had a huge three that got the crowd going. Kelsey Griffin took advantage of her opportunities early, but spent more time than she should standing there and watching her jumpers clang off the rim. You are a forward, Kelsey. It would behoove you to go after the rebound. That's pretty much what you start for, isn't it? Hustle plays? Allison Hightower's defense was solid through most of the game, but she wasn't able to get her shot going until the fourth quarter, when the Sparks were really putting the pressure on Tina Charles and letting everyone else take whatever came open. Hightower went to work on the left side, her strong side. I like that she doesn't tend to do stupid things. Even if she isn't contributing a lot positively, she's contributing very little negatively. Tina Charles, despite a fondness for the fadeaway that puts Cappie Pondexter to shame, put in work in the paint. She started hot and never really went cold, just settled into a steady warmth, rather like sunlight on a spring afternoon. (Yes, I'm tired and slightly loopy despite the three Diet Cokes, or perhaps because of them.) She was getting bodied up and going for boards. If this were my first Sun game, I'd understand her previously published frustrations with her teammates.

Anne Donovan, whatever gremlin told you that fuschia and orange go together lied to you. It is a bad combination and you should feel bad for wearing it.

The last couple of possessions, with the foul count the way it was, made for an interesting chess match. Ross won, but Renee Montgomery was one bounce off the back of the rim from getting the win for Connecticut.

Connecticut fans are notoriously hard on officials, but this crew was extremely disappointing, especially considering Denise Brooks. (To her credit, she did make the trickiest call of the night, catching the over-and-back committed by the Sparks on an inbounds across the length of the frontcourt into the backcourt.) There was a lot of contact that could have been called and did not appear to be called evenly. (That being said, Connecticut fans never saw a whistle on their girls that they agreed with.)

Section 19 is really the place to be if you're looking for the kind of fans I like to hang out with- loud, passionate, snarky, supportive, and merciless.

Carol Ross earned the T by going way too far out on the floor, but Amy Bonner deserved Carol Ross's wrath for the non-call. That was a vicious hit.

I missed halftime, and did not partake in Asian night (unless you count the overfried and wontonesque nature of my taco bowl).

Why is there no satellite connection in Lyme? /shakes fist angrily towards the sky

I have absolutely no regrets about pulling this double-header, though perhaps I have some about that $10 I put in the slots. This was a great game, and now I'm looking forward to the Liberty-Sparks match-up on Saturday.

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