RebKell's Junkie Boards

[arjones]

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

I'm just super-excited right now and don't want to write a whole lot. That was a thrilling game and another character win to add to the mix. I have some strong opinions about LA's coaching and all of them are negative. I'll get to that later.

This game pretty much mirrored what I expected going in. The game was ugly, just in different ways for each team. LA had their usual TO problems and the Lib struggled to reach 40% from the field at the end, and they only got to the line 9 times. The Lib sold out on defense as a result of the mismatches they faced, and gave up a ton of offensive rebounds as a consequence. Still a necessary and acceptable trade-off. Right now the Lib are not getting any consistency from the 2-guard spot, and they do not have a dominant rebounder. In spite of this they continue to win, due to team chemistry, toughness, clutch play, solid offensive talent, and an offensive scheme that fits their personnel. I think there's an awful lot of reasons to feel positive about this team, because I think they can play even better than this. They'll have their whole team together during the Olympics, and that should help Carson and Willis gain confidence to be more consistent. Let me not fail to mention Kraayeveld's clutch shots. Huge one vs. Indy to send that game to OT prior to the west coast trip, huge one tonight to go up 67-65. Without those shots the team is 12-12 instead of 14-10.

As for LA, here's my take. First of all, their constant switching on every screen (which they did for most of the first half) is idiotic for the personnel they have on defense. They have mobile bigs who should easily be able to help and recover. They have a dominant one-on-one defender in DMJ, a very good one in Leslie, and an acceptable one in Ferdinand, when she is used correctly. Switching on every screen denies DMJ the opportunity to stay one-on-one with her man by fighting over screens, which she is capable of. Ferdinand is a good defender when bodying up her opponent to make up for a height disadvantage. But if you have her constantly moving instead of bodying her guard, then you negate her strength advantage and highlight her height disadvantage. On offense, why does Keisha Brown constantly dribble out two-thirds of the shot clock? Partially because she is not the most instinctive player. But partially because the offensive sets are not smartly conceived. A team with as much speed and agility as LA should run way more motion than they do. Their players should constantly be moving to create angles where they can easily score as well as create. Not only can LLL, CP and DMJ all score, but they can all pass. For this offense to be this stagnant so consistently is inexcusable. Cooper coaches as if he has different personnel from what he has. You could probably get away with more of this in the Teasley days because Teasley could break down defenses without a need for all that motion. But now you have to adjust. And he hasn't. Any LA fans who want to revisit that fire Michael Cooper thread, feel free.

Guess I wrote more than I thought I would. Won't be the last time.

I'm pumped right now.

[Richyyy]

[gpark33]

I knew it was going to be a good night when J-Mac’s intro with Maddie was a faux boxing match. I haven’t seen them do that before. Maybe it was a welcome back to LL, CP3, and DMJ?

I was happy to see Lil Lei shoot more during the game because she was ON FIRE during warmups. I believe she hit about 10 in a row.

CP3 could have had a ton more points/rebounds with LL and DMJ having a ton of assists if they would feed her the ball when she begs for it as opposed to calling her out for a screen. They pull her away from the basket, go in for a less than optimal shot, and then she’s out of position for the rebound on the miss.

Kraay didn’t do a horrible job tonight given the assignments she had. That last defensive hold against LL was worth her contract for the year.
J-Mac rocks. The last shot was just sheer will. She wanted it. She played the whole game hard like that. Someone drew blood (literally) on her early in the game and she just looked like she was feeling good tonight and wanted to win.

LL complained about every call (and what she felt were non-calls). I like her much better this year but the jawing got old quickly. At one point on a possession to NY, she tried to stop the game when the official handed the ball to NY to inbound and call all the refs together. She was furious when we inbounded and she had to get back on D.

Meka had nice hair tonight. My partner yelled that out to her during warmups and she politely stopped, turned to her, and said thanks. Very cute.

All in all this was the most fun I’ve had at The Garden in a VERY long time. This was a fun game, a huge crowd, and a VERY enthusiastic, hard-working team.

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The teacher and the student.

[flojojr2007]

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

[LdyVolsFn]

[Elizabeth]

This was a great game, but the refs SUCKED. I'm surprised Patty didn't argue the calls more - but perhaps everyone is on extra good behavior due to Tuesday's kerfuffle? Liberty won anyway, go I can't complain too much.

There were a million tiny girls in Parker jerseys and many men and women sporting them too. I would say at least 40% of the crowd or more was in Sparks purple or Tennessee orange, and yes they were cheering LOUDLY. I did my best to scream louder. Going to a wedding tomorrow and I hope I have a voice to congratulate the bride and groom.

[jammerbirdi]

[flojojr2007]

[bballgrl]

[thesixthwoman]

WOO HOO!!!

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

[Tiffany Jackson=future]

Wow that game was just very entertaining. I thought we had it in the bag midway through the 4th but was on the verge of tears when LA went up by 1. I knew we played better basketball than them, and I woulda hated a loss.

But what a great win, a great boost to their confidence knowing that they swept the "unbeatable" Sparks this season, both times with the Olympic 3 on the court.

Great win over both the Sparks and the refs. No way was that a foul on Shameka to Lisa. That was clearly an offensive foul; Christon's feet were set and Lisa's shoulder was lowered. What a horrible call. And no way Los Angeles should have had that last possesion it was clearly off of Lisa.

Loree Moore statistically didn't do much but she was very aggressive on the defensive end especially in the 1st half.

Leilani had another good outing with 6pts, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal. And that steal was a heck of a steal on Candace Parker.

As for Parker, I guess she felt so much energy to be in NY and playing in MSG that she did that little one on one move. Although she missed the shot, it was definitely a crowd pleaser. I don't know why she wasn't aggressive tonight. No one on our team could stop her one on one, although we did do a good job of double teaming. Great win!

_________________
We killin dem out there they gon have to bring caskets
This all I hear after the basket...swoosh
Fabolous ?Its in the Game?

[thesixthwoman]

Ok, I have to watch the game tape but how just freakin' weird was it that LA could barely inbound the ball like 4-5 times? They looked like a bad HS team -- they are all doing something different most of the time, and if they're lucky, someone like LL or DMJ or Parker just says "F this" and creates her own shot. With gifted players like LL and DMJ and CP3 you can do that from time to time, but not on every other play. (especially when you're turning the ball over the rest of the time)

Ms. Keisha Brown nearly broke ma heart tonight ... and she is clearly one of the few people out there thinking "team..." she's constantly trying to get the play set up and move the ball to the right place, but it seems her teammates are SO not where they're supposed to be. I dunno.

i heart Janel. thank you, Minny Lynx, for passing her up, you schnooks.
she might have been inspired by some visiting teammates from Kosice who were there in various J-Mac shirts ... so cute.

[jersey_stupka]

oh.my.fucking.god...
what a game. I am so spent. the atmosphere was electric. insane. unfuckingbelievable...
I'm not even sure what happened. we mostly lead until the last few minutes and then i felt like we had pulled out so many close games, there would be hell to pay. and we were going to be heartbroken... however, thanks be to god, the kids pulled it out.

i felt like there were 4 or 5 calls that went against the Liberty. I'm not recalling any that I felt LA got charged with unfairly.

The numbers put up by the Detroit 3 were very impressive but they weren't enough. Candace and Lisa were less animated than usual. But Dnasty was Dnasty- mean, hard, and an annoyance. it was like the suspension and punching was just an everyday thing.

Ha Ha the best moment of the game...Lil Mitch, our fluffy little bunny stealing da ball from CP1. A real David vs. Goliath moment. A real NY vs. LA moment.

What a great win for NY. The had command of the game...lost it but come thru and picked up the W. This was a game for the ages.

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Break out da booze...is New Yawk...

[myt]

[KeiraNY]

To answer everyone's questions:

1) Yes, there were tons of people (I'm still wondering where the hell they came from) cheering for LA! I had 4 right in front of me....hope they didn't mind me calling LLL "my pretty pony" every 5 secs! The LA fans were all over the place so maybe that's why it sounded on "stereo".

2) Willis blocked that shit clean!! Candace's face said it all -- not sure if it was surprise that someone had blocked her or that she thought it was a foul. Then again, she thought someone breathing on her it's a foul!

3) Question for LA fans: Why doesn't Cristi Thomas play more? I mean, she IS better than Jessica (overrated) Moore?? What's going on there...

4) Yes, we were celebratin!!!! Cafe 31 was PACKED!!! My goodness!!!! TONS of people there and Patty opened the door for me...awwww!!!!

5) The game was won on D, period. Our offense was OK, but our defense was better. There were some lapses there, but overall, "defense makes offense" as my old coach used to say.

6) LLL & CP1 got away with a few "over the back" calls. I don't think the refs sucked but there were a few questionable calls. But they let them play for the most part.

I'm sure there's more stuff but I can't remember...I'm trying to process the recent "Yankee/Pirates" trade...WOOT, WOOT! GO LIBS!!!!

Oh and last time someone asked "why is Ashley Battle still in the league"? Hope you were watching tonight cause that's WHY she's in the league!! LOVE AB and bless Cathrine Kraayeveld!!!! And THANK YOU Minny for passing on Janel. We'll send you a piece of cheesecake from Junior's as a thank you

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Since this "FUCK this 'signature is too long' bullshit!!!" is no longer applicable, I'm gonna have to get creative - just not right now. Oh, GO LIBERTY!!!!

[OldSchoolBB]

[Queenie]

BEAT LA! BEAT LA! BEAT LA! It still rings in my head with the rest of the noise from that crazy end of the game. If you gotta go out, like we do for the break, dear God, what a way to go out!

Lots of people in the house. Far too many of them wore purple, orange, or other pro-Sparks/Sparks players paraphernalia. The entire section next to us, and the row behind us, were cheering for Los Angeles- well, no, cheering for Parker, although at least the people behind us recognized DMJ and Temeka Johnson. And there was a guy in AAMCO's section who was being very obnoxious and really made me want to go Lauren Jackson on his dreadlocks.

Wonderful anthem. Absolutely nailed it. A little bit of Whitney and a little bit of Martina McBride. And that always puts me in the mood for a game.

I realize that the events of the brawl have me in a really anti-Sparks frame of mind, or at least in a frame of mind that feels like saying "fuck you" to the favorites, but really, I'm not liking Parker that much. She gets away with complaining too much- far more than I would expect from a Tennessee alumna, even if I'm given to understand that Summitt went easy on her. She had some beautiful moves, I'll say that, but she wasn't the freak of nature I've been led to expect. Leslie put up some gaudy numbers, but those were strongly helped by Cathrine's inability to box out properly. Also, those shenanigans with standing in the inbounder's spot when it was Liberty ball? Very immature. My high school team behaved better than that. Milton's a piece of work too, but we all knew that going in. Kiesha Brown really looks like she's come into her own in Los Angeles. While I wish it didn't have to be Los Angeles, I'm glad for her- she's been around so long that it's good to see her finally shine. I just wish she wasn't on the Dark Side of the Force, and that she hadn't almost kicked our asses. Not impressed with Ferdinand-Harris- the spirit is willing but the body doesn't go that fast anymore. Johnson's got a nice little jump shot, but I thought things went more smoothly with Brown in the game. Jessica Moore's reason for existence seems to be to be called for the fouls that she's in the vicinity of- not necessarily all of them committed by her, although she certainly does her part. Very little of Spencer- why not fight fire with fire, what's the worst that can happen?

Janelllllllllllllllllllll McCaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarville for the win! (Literally.) Has Nellie made it clear to everyone yet that she fears no one and nothing? What a move, what a game. And Miss Jackson- whew, she's tough. I'd like to see her go inside more instead of trying to take that jumper she's not so good with, but hey, it kinda worked tonight, so let's roll with that. Cathrine, while her defense was atrocious beyond belief, even more so than usual, displayed a knack for making some very big plays- in that regard, she reminds me very much of Elena. The late points, the late rebound, the late block. If they ever get bored with Captain Caveman, perhaps "Ride On Time" would work for her? Essence came in for defensive purposes and took some really, really bad shots. Like, seriously, E, you are not going to get a foul call one-on-four on a contested layup- pass the gods-bedamned ball and get the easy two for your teammate. Shameka hit one unbelievable three that had us all going "OH GOD TOO LONG" right until it swished through. She wasn't the Meeksiah, but we didn't need her to be. Ashley stepped up big tonight, when we needed her at both ends. About the only complaint I had about her was that she didn't use enough conditioner, and if I can see that from the upper deck… yeah. Leilani was solid, and ballsy- when you've got a fluffy little bunny throwing her body at a Sparks post, you might have a fluffy little bunny with nasty pointy teeth on your hands. Loree, watch your back. Lisa didn't have the world's greatest shooting night, but for that block, all can be forgiven.

I booed the three fighters. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I also screamed myself raspy trying to outshout the obnoxious Sparks fans around us. My humble apologies to the Finnish (?) fans in front of us. (Either Finnish or Slovakian. I'm not so good with the recognition of Eastern European languages; while the writing on the bag looked Finnish, it amused me to think that the girl in the McCarville jersey was from Kosice.)

Refs suck, what else is new? I thought Erlana was robbed of the and-1 on that play. And Leslie came damn close to being T'd up more than once.

Did anyone else see the Lady Blazers? They must have been heartbroken that Bobbitt had to miss that game. They have damn nice uniforms for a high school team- yes, I know, they're not your typical high school team, but I get to thinking that Piph must have thought she was going down in uniform quality when she went to RU.

How much do I love these Libkids? Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much. And more.

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Ardent believer in the separation of church and stadium.

[noamg]

almost LA... almost

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/noamg/

[sambista]

the team that relies on everything that everyone can give beats the team that relies on too much from too few.

_________________
no justice, no peace.

[Michelinah]

My first game this season and I picked a fantastic one!

I've got no voice this morning but it was well worth all the screaming and jumping!

I especially loved my section chanting BEAT LA!! during the last seconds.

My God..it was so exciting to be there and I hope to be at the rest (including the playoffs!)

The pre and post game celebration was spent with the most funtastic crowd! and thanks to Jersey for turning me on to Margarita's!! I think I've found my new favorite drink

Of course..now that I'm hooked again there has to be a loooong break

[Barrister15]

We took our 6-year old nephew to his first game last night -- it was his first time at MSG, and his first time at any sporting event. In the car on our way in, we taught him "Beat L.A." which he chanted nonstop. It was awesome. Then when we got there, we taught him "De-Fense" and to hold both arms up when a 3-point goal is scored. He caught on very quickly -- purple = bad, white = good. He even got a foam finger and a high five from Maddie (which made his day).

What a game to take him to! He didn't really get the magnitude of what he was seeing -- after the game I explained to him that even though we don't like the Sparks, they had two of the best players in the world on their team and he was very lucky to see them play. He still thought they were the enemy. Good boy.

Man, I could not believe how many Sparks fans there were! Seriously, so much for home court advantage. Where are all these people when the Sparks aren't in town? Are they WNBA fans or just Sparks fans or just CP3 fans? Crazy! We were sitting among an entire group of middle-aged women who were cheering for the Sparks, and in front of an entire huge group of Upward Bound high school students who were also cheering for them. It made the ultimate victory even sweeter.

I have to say, I do feel sorry for CP3 and LLL. The throngs of people near the tunnel waiting for CP3 to get on and off the court was unlike anything I'd seen at a Lib game before (Queenie, you were down there during shoot around -- was it as crazy as it looked from up in the stands?). It seems like everyone wants a piece of that kid -- that's got to be overwhelming. And for LLL -- her star is clearly fading. There's a new rockstar in town and she's old news. That's gotta sting.

Anyway, I think the best quote of the night came from the 6-year old who, as we were walking away from our seats says to me, "Now that the Liberty won, all those Sparks fans should become Liberty fans because they're the best."

Yeah, what he said!

(and what was up with the concessions??? I think they brought in the folks from Ashe. I missed practically the entire third quarter waiting to buy a soda.)

[jersey_stupka]