I attended my first WNBA game of the year last night, at one of my favorite places to watch a game-MSG. The game was fairly well attended, though the crowd lacked the energy I've experienced at Liberty games in the past (though this surely had something to do with the home team's lackadaisical effort.) It was not an aesthetically pleasing game, though the second half got interesting towards the end, but the Monarchs were definitely the better team. Here are some of my impressions:
-The Liberty I like to believe are better than what I saw last night. They missed a lot of open three pointers, and just couldn't put the ball in the basket. Wauters is good, but Baranova has gone somewhere else, and none of Christon, Robinson, or VJ had good games, and Becky was not as aggressive offensively as she should have been. Frett made somewhat of an impression, and Loree Moore was much better at point that I thought she'd be. They also had more than a few careless turnovers that the Monarchs were all over.
-The Monarchs are a really good defensive team. Their hands were alwasy on the ball, and what looked like open lanes closed up quickly. However, they had a few problems defending the ball screens NY set for HAmmon all night, as Newton was usually able to get through them but the Monarch post would still be defending Hammon, leaving a Liberty player open for a while (this is how Baranova got her late 3.) The strategy was to have Newton guard the point (either Hammon or Moore), and pressure her full court, but the constant on ball screens seemed to be annoying Newton a little. Coach W had an interesting strategy of substiting not just backcout players but backcourts. Ticha and Chelsea would come out together and Lawson and Haynie would go into together as a twosome, and so on. It's good in that it keeps your backcourt constantly fresh. DeMya was simply unstoppable. If she missed a shot it was because she missed it, not because of anything NY did. Powell was solid but really didn't look for her shot. She did have a wonderful assist to Yo has the game was winding down though. Yo was also solid, as was Brunson. Coach has Maiga on a tight leash. And Ticha did resort to her habit of having driving into the lane and then holding the ball looking for someone to pass it to. She did make all her FT's though (as did the entire team.) In summary, the Monarchs still need to work on their offensive consistency, but they are solidly deep and have a lot of variety in their lineup.
-A lot of RU faithful in the house, including the entire RU coaching staff (CVS and Sue Wicks included), and a number of current and former players, including Cappie Pondexter. There was a little get together in the stands after the game, where both Chelsea and Yo (who gave a hug to CVS) came out.
-The Liberty I like to believe are better than what I saw last night. They missed a lot of open three pointers, and just couldn't put the ball in the basket. Wauters is good, but Baranova has gone somewhere else, and none of Christon, Robinson, or VJ had good games, and Becky was not as aggressive offensively as she should have been. Frett made somewhat of an impression, and Loree Moore was much better at point that I thought she'd be. They also had more than a few careless turnovers that the Monarchs were all over.
-The Monarchs are a really good defensive team. Their hands were alwasy on the ball, and what looked like open lanes closed up quickly. However, they had a few problems defending the ball screens NY set for HAmmon all night, as Newton was usually able to get through them but the Monarch post would still be defending Hammon, leaving a Liberty player open for a while (this is how Baranova got her late 3.) The strategy was to have Newton guard the point (either Hammon or Moore), and pressure her full court, but the constant on ball screens seemed to be annoying Newton a little. Coach W had an interesting strategy of substiting not just backcout players but backcourts. Ticha and Chelsea would come out together and Lawson and Haynie would go into together as a twosome, and so on. It's good in that it keeps your backcourt constantly fresh. DeMya was simply unstoppable. If she missed a shot it was because she missed it, not because of anything NY did. Powell was solid but really didn't look for her shot. She did have a wonderful assist to Yo has the game was winding down though. Yo was also solid, as was Brunson. Coach has Maiga on a tight leash. And Ticha did resort to her habit of having driving into the lane and then holding the ball looking for someone to pass it to. She did make all her FT's though (as did the entire team.) In summary, the Monarchs still need to work on their offensive consistency, but they are solidly deep and have a lot of variety in their lineup.
-A lot of RU faithful in the house, including the entire RU coaching staff (CVS and Sue Wicks included), and a number of current and former players, including Cappie Pondexter. There was a little get together in the stands after the game, where both Chelsea and Yo (who gave a hug to CVS) came out.
