August 25th, 2009: Detroit at Connecticut

Detroit Shock 90, Connecticut Sun 70

It's not a great night to be the Connecticut Sun. It's a pretty good night to be Crystal Kelly, though.


Well, it was an exciting, competitive first quarter. Then Connecticut ran out of gas, whether it was physically or emotionally, and Detroit took advantage.

Hi, Barbara! Eeee, people recognize me in real life!

Let it be said here and now, for all the world to see: Crystal Kelly is a woman of her word. When she came out to stretch, I asked for her autograph, and she said she'd come back later. This usually means "I'm going to run past you and maybe look at you regretfully but what can I do?". Not for her. She came back with a smile and signed. Major, major props. Good karma.

LOLtastic moment of the day: as Taj was signing for a few Sun fans, Alexis Hornbuckle came flying down the tunnel towards the locker room, yelling, "BEEP! BEEP!" to clear the path. I thought I was the only one who yelled "BEEP!" to get through a crowd.

The anthem singer was... interesting. Lot of bottom to his voice. Not expected from such a slightly built package.

You remember the good karma Crystal Kelly had two paragraphs ago? It showed up for the game. She played very well off the bench, working hard and making things happen (though the exchange of three-point plays with Phillips was funny). Braxton didn't quite seem all there- I mean more than usual- and the jiggling is really starting to give me sympathy pains. SPORTS BRA. FIND A BETTER ONE. Zellous had a really good offensive game, and is starting to look a smidge like Nolan on defense. She needs to realize that if she wants the scrutiny from the refs when she's on offense, so she can get the calls she wants, she's going to be under the 'scope on the other end too. Sanni and Teasley both only played when Mahorn felt comfortable with the lead, and neither of them did anything that would give me or Mahorn any reason to put them in more often. It was actually less weird seeing Teasley in Shock blue than it was seeing her in #6 instead of #42.

Katie Smith's shot is such a thing of beauty, but for the love of God, Katherine, shut up! All night her mouth was going. The three-guard set really worked for Detroit- Hornbuckle makes an excellent forward and clears space for Nolan and Smith to get their shots off. Amazingly, either my powers of observation or Deanna Nolan's offense improved yet again this year- she was doing an unusually great job of getting space and creating her own shot. I know she's always had that skill, but it seemed more pronounced in this particular game. Cheryl Ford- or Sheryl Crow, as the announcer called her at one point- looked... I don't know if desperate is quite the right word, but it's close. She was going inside and throwing up shots with the hope of getting calls, but good luck with that for this crew. Her mobility has significantly decreased, but she's been trying to make up for it with more active hands. Not the world's greatest strategy, since that leads to more fouls, but I'm glad she's making the effort. Taj, while she got a rousing round of applause from the Sun fans who still love her, wasn't much of a factor.

The Sun bench really needs a good clout upside the head, except maybe for Erin Phillips. (Maybe she can be the one to deliver it.) Kiesha Brown was the only one who really showed some metaphorical cojones, and she kept getting called for charges because she was barreling inside. Amber Holt's shots weren't going down the way they had in the last couple of games. The Shock posts completely took Chante Black out of her game- she doesn't have the outside game Gruda has, which means she's stuck down low, which means world of hurt for a skinny rookie. Tamika Whitmore's lack of mobility, and the associated lack of conditioning, really showed tonight because the bench got so much run. She hit a couple of pretty shots, but showed no inclination to go after rebounds or loose balls. Even Phillips didn't look like her usual straight-ahead-damn-the-torpedoes self.

Neither did Lindsay Whalen. For whatever reason, whether it was the way the game was being called, or the physical presence of the Shock in the middle, or preoccupation, she didn't stamp the game the way she usually does. Gruda, at least early in the game and in the third quarter, was able to get away and hit some outside jumpers, but she wasn't enough to carry the whole team on her shoulders. Jekabsone-Zogota played pretty well- not great, but all right. Ditto for Tan White. Ditto for Kerri Gardin. Wow, this bit turned out shorter than I expected. The problem was that Connecticut really wasn't all that inspiring, or inspired.

I knew the refereeing was going to suck when Breeding was the first ref announced. You might know him from such places as the Indiana game at the Garden that almost descended into a brawl. A lot of late whistles, a lot of really odd calls, and a higher-than-average amount of time spent conferring and/or checking with the scorer's table for reasons that never became clear.

All the events tonight involved season ticket holders. I approve of this plan. I also approve of the Sun's extremely generous gifts. Sure, they do the usual array of "prize packs", but when you've got sponsors willing to pony up two $100 gift cards and a pair of diamond earrings, that's pretty fucking sweet. The Sun do a pretty good job of reaching out to folks. I know I've heard Sun fans complain about community and fan outreach, but compared to New York they're the biggest social butterflies in the group.

All in all, not a bad experience- not what I needed as a Liberty fan, since we do have to step on Detroit if we want to climb the ladder, but enjoyable nonetheless.