June 11th, 2004: Indiana at New York

Indiana Fever 72, New York Liberty 68

The Fever are quotable, the Liberty are pathetic, and the Game Notes have a brilliant marketing idea.



I'm trying to find positives from this game, I really am. The turnout was great, Ann looked really good, and Becky can shoot. And I got introduced to jersey.

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So yeah. Tari stank, Elena's shot went missing, as did Vickie's, and the defense was only good when it didn't need to be. Becky forgot that she was supposed to be a point guard and pass the damn ball, and Shameka got her Garden jitters again. Coach forgot that he has a nine-woman rotation, didn't keep track of who needed to come out, didn't watch the matchups. The referees were three blind mice, and the chaperones of the birthday party in front of me didn't know how to conduct themselves at a basketball game. The team has forgotten that they need to play defense for 40 minutes and stop overpassing the ball.

(I'm trying to be concise for a change. How'm I doing?)

For the Fever, no one stood out for me on a full-game basis. Ebony Hoffman impressed early, though if she's 6-2 and 210, then Natalie Williams is 6-2 and 190. Speaking of which, Nat's still got the tenacity and the body to bang on the inside. Tamika Catchings :worships: is still fearfully intense, still a threat on the offensive end, still a chaotic force in any loose ball situation. As much as this might offend the Fever fans, and as arogant as it might sound- the Liberty lost this game and all the Fever did was pick up what New York dropped. Which is no bad thing in and of itself, but if anyone's doing silly dances and downing shots, they're overreacting. But Brian Winters apparently asked Trader Bill for some pointers on adjustments, because he changed up the defense in the second half, denying the Liberty the paint which they had owned in the first half.

Sue finally arrived. Hurrah! She sat with Kym through the first half. Kym vanished after halftime. If she took the mojo with her, I'm going to be really annoyed unless she went to deliver the baby. From my vantage point waaaaaay up there *points at 210* Sue looked good. Then again, according to some, she can't not.

Quotes 'n' notes: (paraphrase) Lin Dunn's on a low-carb diet. The only carbs she's eating are the ones in her beer (reported to me by a dear friend in courtside seats)

"There's the college Becky... there's the Jewish Becky... there's the original Becky... there's the emergency one-night stand Becky... there's the S&M Becky... there's-"
"That's enough."
I'm not attributing this conversation, merely stating in passing that I've now got the weird image of a line of Becky dolls in blue packaging similar to Barbie design.

Before the game, there was a partial meeting of the ACL sisterhood, as Becky stopped to say hello to Natalie Williams and Stephanie White. I was surprised Catch didn't swing by.

In summation: I think we as Liberty fans took this game for granted. We assumed that because we had our full roster for this game, and we were on such a roll, that of course we'd beat the snot out of the Fever. But that's why you play the games, isn't it? Because nothing is ever certain.