Weekend Warrior Wake-Up - Liberty Lose 2

You lost me, chief.

Houston 80, New York 74
Seattle 77, New York 75

Losing two games hurts. It sucks bad donkey balls for a number of reasons. One, obviously, is that puts us two games below .500, seven and a half games out of first, into fourth place, and only a half game ahead of the sky.

Screw the aspirin. Pass the bong.

Secondly, both were at home, a place where we are supposed to come home, take a few, impress the crowd, and rejuvenate. But that, of course, didn't happen nearly according to plan.

Rejuvenation? No sir.

Lastly, we should have taken both of those games. And the Detroit game, now that I think about it. We outplayed all three of those teams for significant stretches but couldn't close the door. We should have won. Not because we deserved it - because we definitely played like we didn't - but because we had each game within our grasp and let them slip away like so much booze out of a drunken-man's mouth.

Not very pretty, but apt.

Case in point, Friday's game against Houston. Decent crowd, solid play in the first half. We're tied, but one could definitely feel that Houston was doing all they could to stay together. Dutch even put together 31 points for the night - a career-mark - and with the help of 10 rebounds (8 defensive) from Ms. Marvel, we should have been in the clear.

Fat chance.

Houston came back and outplayed New York in the second half. Outshot, outrebounded, out-everything-ed. They damn near took every category possible, mostly based on their second-half play. The refs didn't help, but this wasn't their game to win. The Comets took care of business.

As if we were pre-teen lads at a NAMBLA convention...

Kraayeveld was the only Lib with double-digit points. The Comets had only three, but two of them posted twenty-plus points and four players with five or more rebounds. The Liberty starters (not including Dutch) combined for twenty-eight points. Wow.

Screw the pot. I need tequila...

All-in-all, a horrible game that I would sooner forget than ever have to remember. If someone could beat me over the head for a ghetto-grade, Total Recall-style memory erasing, I would take it in a second. Nothing, however, could prepare me for Sunday.

Hurry up and erase! ERASE!!!

Now, let's make a deal. Would you rather have the team that has five players score over ten points, two players with 7 rebounds (and four with five or more), a solid three-point percentage, as well as out-rebounding, assisting, and blocking the team they were playing against? Or would you rather go with what's in the box?

If you didn't go for the box, you got hosed.

The Liberty offense seemingly awoke like a slumbering giant from its ages-long sleep, with all starters (except one) contributing majorly to the game. Everything seemed to click; pass after pass was made, shot after shot hit, and it seemed like finally everybody had arrived on time to play.

Unfortunately, the Libs' D missed the memo.

It was one of those games that, while not being horrible, you could just see falling apart in front of you. The Libs couldn't get a handle on the Storm's movement, largely because they didn't have First-Alert Doppler Radar like WPXI back at home.

Money in the bank.

Jackson and Marques took care of business, with 23 points apiece and 23 rebounds between them (a mythic-level 17 and a more human 5). Other notables? Sue Bird and Tanisha White took 9, while Janell Burse had 10. Not overwhelming, but enough to get the job done against a team who's defense is completely absent.

That's the 12th absence this year.

I can't talk much more about this. It's making me sick to my stomach. Or maybe that's just the bouncy plane-ride I had this morning.

Probably a bit of both...



AROUND THE LEAGUE...

Typical Monday without games.

Much like Garfield, I hate Mondays.

The weekend was a hullaballoo with tons of excitements, upsets, and playoffs approaching. The Sun have come back in a strong way, edging above .500 again since the beginning of the season and bullying their way into third place with a win over the Comets.

You see, New York? If the world was made up with really bad photographers and actors, THIS is how it would be done!

The Sky snuck past the Silver Stars. I wouldn't be worried about them, except... oh yeah...

THE LIBS ARE BLOWING IT!!!

Remember when Chicago was a joke? I know, I know... they're a joke on this blog everyday of the week. But remember when everybody and their mother knew that they were a joke?

"That takes me back to the Taft Administration... God! He sucked almost as much as the Sky did!"

More reports about the coming troubles facing the WNBA, its CBA, and the monetary predicaments of breaking even.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave!

Blame a shaky airplane that circled New York for an extra half-hour in turbulent weather for making this post late. I held it together for a while, but ultimately, a technicolor yawn was inevitable.

This only hints at the horror that was unleashed in the bathroom of Paramount Plaza.

Liberty Belle up in the afternoon. I hope you all is doing well. Peace, yo!

See ya, Space Cowboy...