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Who will win this game? |
Fever |
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Liberty |
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50% |
[ 12 ] |
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Total Votes : 24 |
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32335
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Posted: 05/14/21 7:55 pm ::: |
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pilight wrote: |
K.Mitch is 50% from the floor, so she should be shooting |
The 1-7 from three is what I was referring to.
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32335
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Posted: 05/14/21 7:59 pm ::: |
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Big shot Ionescu. omg. This is what we were treated to in the P12.
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Luuuc #NATC
Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 21928
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bluedevilaztecfan5
Joined: 16 Mar 2010 Posts: 796 Location: San Diego, CA
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Posted: 05/14/21 7:59 pm ::: |
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Ionescu!!!!!!!!!
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Luuuc #NATC
Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 21928
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Posted: 05/14/21 8:00 pm ::: |
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She has been huge these last 5 minutes in arresting and then reversing the choke
_________________ Thanks for calling. I wait all night for calls like these.
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Admiral_Needa
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 10479 Location: Tiburon, CA
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bluedevilaztecfan5
Joined: 16 Mar 2010 Posts: 796 Location: San Diego, CA
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Posted: 05/14/21 8:03 pm ::: |
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Sab’s first win in the W!!!!
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johnjohnW
Joined: 11 Aug 2020 Posts: 1839
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Posted: 05/14/21 8:04 pm ::: |
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"I wanted it"
🗽
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Iluvacc
Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 4167
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Posted: 05/14/21 8:04 pm ::: |
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Sabrina! She and Laney balled out. Damn I should've went with my first instinct.
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Luuuc #NATC
Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 21928
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Iluvacc
Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 4167
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 66908 Location: Where the action is
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Posted: 05/14/21 8:06 pm ::: |
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Iluvacc wrote: |
Sabrina! She and Laney balled out. Damn I should've went with my first instinct. |
At home against the consensus worst team in the league. If you're not picking them now then when will you ever?
_________________ I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home
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Michelle89
Joined: 17 Nov 2010 Posts: 16464 Location: Holland
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Iluvacc
Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 4167
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bcdawg04
Joined: 12 Apr 2016 Posts: 565 Location: Seattle
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Posted: 05/14/21 8:14 pm ::: |
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myrtle wrote: |
Big shot Ionescu. omg. This is what we were treated to in the P12. |
And the Pac-12 sure is well-represented with this team. 5 players, plus 2 ACs. (Technically all 4 coaches apparently, but only 2 of them played in the Pac-12 (10) ).
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Queenie
Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 18030 Location: Queens
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Posted: 05/14/21 8:39 pm ::: |
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myrtle wrote: |
Interesting the announcer can't tell the difference between Kelsey and Tiffany Mitchell. It's not like they look anything alike! |
To be fair, I have resorted to "whichever goddamn Mitchell you are". It's a memetic block or something.
_________________ Ardent believer in the separation of church and stadium.
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Queenie
Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 18030 Location: Queens
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Posted: 05/14/21 8:42 pm ::: |
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My throat hurts but it's good to be home. With my people. With my team. With those Maalox Moments.
_________________ Ardent believer in the separation of church and stadium.
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Randy
Joined: 08 Oct 2011 Posts: 10911
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 66908 Location: Where the action is
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undersized_post
Joined: 01 Mar 2021 Posts: 2864
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Lib Fan
Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 4593 Location: New York City
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Posted: 05/14/21 11:58 pm ::: |
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Queenie wrote: |
My throat hurts but it's good to be home. With my people. With my team. With those Maalox Moments. |
Yes great to have : An opening game win
Being in a real arena again
Paper Tickets for the rest of the season
Seeing old friends
Happy end of game faces
Yes Queenie,the Liberty might have gotten rid of Maddie but
they cant get rid of those Libierty "Maalox Moments"
(is Maalox even being made any more)
Being at a Liberty game at Barclays was so nice after years in WCC and then the Bubble
_________________ Lets Go Liberty
Brooklyn 2021
Bring Back Maddie!
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J-Spoon
Joined: 31 Jan 2009 Posts: 6796
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Posted: 05/15/21 1:29 am ::: |
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Got to go to the game in person
It was a great time!
I was nervous to be indoors in a big crowd but there was plenty of room (TBH it felt like being outside) Barclay's was checking vaccination cards and proof of negative tests and it felt very safe.
Also the fan base overall took safety seriously, everyone pretty much wore their face coverings and was respectful of personal space. I love WNBA fans. Between the people I was with and the folks around us there was a constant stream of informed and hilarious commentary through out the game, and you could feel after two years how grateful everyone was to be back in the arena enjoying the sport they love.
My comments on the teams
I will start with the Fever
McCowan is inches away from being a super star the question is how much can someone increase their speed and conditioning? Every time she got her hand on the ball in the paint whether from a pass or a rebound it was a done deal. OTOH the Liberty are probably a great match up for her we simply didn't have the size or experience to cope with her, we were slow to double team and even when we did it slowed her down but didn't stop her. (There were a number of very predictable times when her and Lavender seemed like they were playing catch off their backboard, If you give someone three chance in three seconds they will eventually get it in).
K. Mitchell as Myrtle says likes to shoot. When it starts going in it can be scary, in the second half we couldn't contain her even when it was obvious she was going to try and score. If Mitchell and McCowan can bring this every night the Fever can get some wins.
Lavender is exactly we she has always been a pretty good, less physical post with good size and a midrange game.
It was great to see Breland back on the floor. I was kind of surprised we didn't see her more as she was pretty effective in her minutes. I think she could have a Hamby like impact on the Fever. I believe her minutes will increase. Interested to see how Cox fits into this line up. If she shows lottery level talent Indy has a decent post rotation.
Everyone else kind of under performed IMO. T. Mitchell has an energy and intensity but her consistency is an issue (granted it has been one game but this seems to be what stops her from being a real impact player).
The announcers had no idea how to pronounce Kysre Gondrezick name but she made it easy on them by sort of disappearing after her first few good minutes. Vivians also seemed to disappear once the game got going.
In short McCowan and Mitchell were amazing and if there was just a little more support from the rest of the team the Fever would have won pretty easily.
OK The Liberty
lets start with the fact that we were missing Howard, Allen and Stokes and our only player over 6' 1" was a sophomore who averaged less than 15 minutes a game last year.
NY over all played a great game but you could definitely see nerves from almost everyone to a point where some player were even derailed.
Sabrina Ionescu is a great player but she started out a little tentative (understandable she played 3 games last season in the bubble and suffered an injury that took her out of basketball for a year). Once she got going you could see the whole package. She has a natural floor general leadership vibe. In her fourth W game it was clear she is going to be the team leader and that is going to be her role for her entire career. She did a great job of getting everyone involved. One thing you could see was her struggling with calling her own number. Early on it seemed like she was tentative to shoot and wanted to get everyone involved. Later in the game she seemed to force shots on drives and do weird scoop shots with no one in place to rebound. But most of the time she found the balance and she frequently was the player who made the crucial shot that stop the Indy run. After last season as Indy seemed to take charge in the last 5 minutes I expected the team to fold but Ionescu (and some others) refused to let it happen and fought back. Ionescu getting the buzzer beater almost seemed scripted but you need to have that type of star quality to make the unlikely seem inevitable and that is the intangible quality that make Liberty fans thrilled to have a player like Sabrina.
Welcome to the Liberty B. Laney. Laney had an amazing game! What was interesting about it was a lot of the time Laney seemed a little out of control but then you looked up and she had 20 points 30 points and was making a critical play on the defensive end. It seemed to come easy. Her dribble and her shot aren't really a thing of beauty but effective has a beauty all its own. Laney also plays with an edge, she seem kind of pissed off, but if that is how you have a 30 point debut then be pissed off. If Laney ends up being our 3rd option behind Howard and Ionescu NY is going to be pretty good.
Onyenwere didn't look like a rookie, she looked like a pro, like she belongs. She plays bigger than she looks and was the player who kept the ship on course while others were playing through their nerves. She has definitely thrown her hat in the ring for ROY, her 3 shot looks good to me and she can play from the 2-4 and has impressive athleticism (Atl and Indy might really regret passing on her). My only concern is how much her minutes will be cut with the arrival of Stokes, Howard and Allen. Hopefully Onyenwere has already done enough to hold her place in the top of the rotation she is for real.
Whitcomb gave us a glimpse of what she could do with two 3s early, but sort of dropped off after that. She is a pest on defense and has really nice handles she can probably get some minutes at the 1 and 2 and her shooting will be needed but it was a little weird to see her come out hot and then fizzle except for being a steady hand (she was the experienced player who looked experienced). When Mitchell started going off neither her or Ionescu had an answer for her on the defensive end.
Shook. I always feel like I am hard on Shook and being the starting center against McCowan is probably not what she is supposed to be doing on this level. She did a pretty god job considering, she made some nice cuts and gave it her all. I think If Stokes can get in their and take the brunt up front and Shook is our bench big she has a lot to offer. The only problem was she couldn't stop McCowan she tried but was consistently over powered. She also had some chances in the post on offense but you could see when McCowan was within 5 feet of her she would get nervous, fumble or try to pass when she should have gone up for the shot. Shook was Shook when it came to trying to shoot against McCowan.
Jones also looked nervous, she was way too hyped and made a bunch of mistakes the first few time she was on the floor. BUT and this is a big but in the last few crucial minutes Hopkins went Offense/defense and Jones and Richards were critical in shutting down Mitchell and disrupting the Fever from getting the ball into the post. There were two stops that could be traced directly to Jaz and Didi.
DiDi Richards There is a common expression that to make it at the highest level you need at least one pro level skill. Richards plays pro level defense, period! She is a disruptive force on that end and can literally defend 1-4. It was awesome when she got the steal and made that shot after driving up the court but Didi can have a net positive effect on a game without ever scoring. She is also already a fan favorite. sometime in the third quarter a chant for Didi to come in started and she didn't dissapoint. If I get a jersey and it isn't an Ionescu it will probably be a Richards (maybe an Onyenwere) eventually three players are going to be cut when Howard, Allen and Stokes are available but Didi won't be one of them.
Clarendon Ironically the most experienced player in a Liberty uniform was part of the nerves crew and like some others was pulled after a few short minutes of pushing too hard. I am willing to give Clarendon the benefit of the doubt, but coach wasn't because she never returned after her 3 rough minutes in the 2nd quarter.
The replacement players
Gray is Gray she plays hard, was really the only post who got McCowan even slightly off her game and was clearly willing to give up her body. She is still undersized and doesn't offer much on offense. There was a run where both her and Richards were on the floor they did slow the Fever down on the defensive end but the offense got a little clunky, luckily Laney kept making shots in that period so it wasn't a negative. I wouldn't mind if after she gets cut maybe they could bring her back (just not sure at whose expense) I wouldn't be surprised to see her on and off of the roster all season as our first hardship option.
Holmes, I have been rooting for Holmes but this game was rough, she is big and could have been effective in the post but she was slow and made a bunch of mistakes. Like Jones she was nervous, but unlike Jones her effort seemed questionable and she wasn't given any chance at redemption after what was a shaky five minutes in the second quarter, others were involved but she was prominent in the minutes where the Fever went on a run a got back in the game.
Overall it wasn't a masterpiece but there is a lot to be excited about for this year's Liberty they already look much better than last season and when Howard and to a lesser extent Allen and Stokes are added to the line up NY should be competitive in most games and play a much more fan friendly form of basketball than last year (we score 90 points in regulation that in itself is amazing and hit a bunch of 3s. The system looks much better when you hit 3s)
I am not going to get too excited because Indy is a team we should be competitive with no matter what but I went into the game expecting to lose, too much youth and not enough size is usually a very bad combo. McCowan killed us which I expected but we held the rest of the team at bay, we had some great performances from our player shout out again to Laney, Onyenwere and Ionescu and we fought back in the last three minutes after losing a lead we held on to most of the game when last year we would have faltered.
The game was fun to watch and it was great getting out with a win in a very exciting fashion hopefully this bodes well for the season. Go Liberty.
Sorry I wrote a book and
that I am not going to go back and edit what I am sure is a grammatical and spelling/typo disaster.
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Michelle89
Joined: 17 Nov 2010 Posts: 16464 Location: Holland
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Shades
Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 63770
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32335
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Posted: 05/15/21 11:51 am ::: |
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J-Spoon wrote: |
Sorry I wrote a book and
that I am not going to go back and edit what I am sure is a grammatical and spelling/typo disaster. |
great book! I enjoyed reading it. Hope you have a fun season.
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