by Ethan Johnson
September 2, 2008
It really stinks being out-of-market for WNBA games. It also stinks that the WNBA was on hiatus for a month for the Olympics. But, everyone is back now. The New York Liberty went into this game hanging on to third place in their division, which (so far) means they're in good shape for the upcoming playoffs. But they play the games for a reason. Recap ahoy:
I'm not going to give a play by play account. In short, the last time these teams met in Houston, Leilani Mitchell cemented her rookie legend by scoring a career-high 19 points. Houston had to be looking for revenge. New York was also missing Shameka Christon and Tiffany Jackson. Christon is NY's top scorer, which means someone was going to have to pick up the slack.
Houston went 6 minutes (!!) in the first quarter before scoring their first field goal. Which should have been great news for the Liberty, but both teams essentially traded bricks, airballs, and steals back and forth, with NY sneaking in some scoring here and there. I would trash the shooting percentages for both teams during that time, but my basketball duffery this morning was no great shakes either. I think today was "put lids on all Texas hoops" day.
Leilani Mitchell faded into the background in favor of Lisa Willis, who scored her career best of 22 points for the game. Mitchell did impress me once tonight by driving the lane and dishing the ball off for a nifty score. Any 5' 2" basketball player who drives the lane can drink from my canteen any day. (Whaaaat?! The official WNBA bio page says 5' 5". Nuh uh. Mmmmaybe 5' 3".)
As for the other tall drinks of water, Cathrine Kraayeveld couldn't buy a field goal in the first half but redeemed herself afterward with 11 points. Janel McCarville did most of the heavy lifting with 33. Erin Thorn was called in to replace Shameka Christon and did a poor imitation. ZERO points.
Olympian Tina Thompson carried Houston with 34 points.
Despite controlling most of the game, New York lost the plot in the late stages, invoking Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) about their playoff chances. Houston is a sub-.500 team, and if New York lacked the necessary killer instinct to put them away in regulation, what's going to happen when they face the real meat and potatoes during the playoffs?
Houston ralled to take the game to OT, but New York got the memo and finished them off 90-87. I winced a lot at the brickage, but a win is a win is a win.
Next: New York returns home to face Atlanta this coming Friday (September 5), while Houston stays home to host the LA Sparks a day later. Check your local listings. <EM>
(The full WNBA archive may be found here.)
