by Ethan Johnson
June 22, 2008
I haven't been recapping WNBA games lately partly because there have been too many things jockeying for my attention (and involvement), and partly because I'd tune into clinkers that cured my insomnia somewhere in the first quarter. This isn't an indictment of the WNBA per se, but rather bad luck on my part or poor journalistic insight. Either way, no recaps. But persistence paid off big time with this game. I'm going to consult the Three Ns for this recap:
Names: For Phoenix, Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter. Pondexter and Taurasi are ranked 1 and 2 respectively for scoring league-wide. Both players are slated to play for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics. For New York, Shameka Christon, Essence Carson, and Janel McCarville. Loree Moore gets "name" honors as well, as she returned today from a hiatus due to back spasms. Leilani Mitchell had been getting the start in her absence.
Narrative: Well, where to start? Phoenix is the defending WNBA champion. They had a bad game recently, and to no-one's surprise they're averaging 107 points over the last 2 games. Pondexter and Taurasi were held to about 20 points combined in their lousy showing, and have since been back on track with their 25 points (each) per game. When Taurasi gets going, she's a bucket factory. Really, Phoenix is designed around an offensive scheme similar to say, the Indianapolis Colts: It's okay if the defense is porous, because they'll make it up in volume at the other end of the floor.
However, coming into this game, Phoenix hasn't been in championship form, ringing up a disappointing 4-6 record.
New York has been fair to middling, coming into this game with a .500 (5-5) record. NY has a tendency to alternate between good/bad individual efforts and overall games. Leilani Mitchell scored 15 in her first start, and faded back into single-digit scoring since then. In fairness, Mitchell is 5' 5" being matched up against women who are 6+ feet tall. Her forte is ball movement anyway, not shooting. But she can score, as the opportunity arises. She reminds me of Dennis Rodman that way minus the funky hair and high rebounding volume.
Loree Moore looked stiff (as can be expected) in the early going, but seemed to loosen up as the first quarter progressed. New York seems to be comfortable with LeiLani Mitchell in at Point Guard, and the overall flow seemed smoother while she was in for Moore. But that's probably because I find Mitchell utterly irresistable, kind of like how one's eyes are attracted to light. Moore actually played very well for New York, and brought more scoring to the game than Mitchell had been providing, bad back be damned.
Diana Taurasi is certainly an offensive threat (put mildly), but her Achilles heel seems to be her tendency to try and work the refs. She got dinged with a technical foul in the 2nd quarter and shortly thereafter was right back in the ref's face. Apparently it was to make nice, but at a glance I wondered what more she needed to get the message: Play the game, back away from the refs.
New York tied their team record for most points scored in a half with 52. Halftime score was 30-52 NY. Phoenix managed to sink a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to ensure NY would not be breaking any team records in the near term.
In the third quarter, Diana Taurasi seemed to walk right up to the NY basket. But she couldn't carry the team on her own. NY turned up the heat and really made a statement when Janel McCarville scored at one end, then grabbed a steal way at the other end within seconds. McCarville doesn't seem that quick and I did a spit-take when I realized that she teleported to the other end of the court.
Here's another name: Tiffany Jackson. She had 15 points off the bench with 1:52 remaining in the 3rd quarter, and a career-high 21 points for the game.
Which leads to more narrative: NY had 62 total points off of the bench. Phoenix had 21. Cappie Pondexter had 16 points, Diana Taurasi 21. Both sat on the bench for the entirety of the 4th quarter.
They got to watch NY score the most points in team history. 97 points broke the previous team record by 2 points, and 8 more were tacked on for good measure, driving NY to their first-ever triple-digit game. In fact, every player who dressed for the Liberty scored at least 3 points. Essence Carson ended up with 4 points, but the team was on such a hot roll her lack of production wasn't mentioned. Things went so poorly for the Mercury that they scored their first fast-break points with 1:05 remaining in the 4th quarter.
For final narrative goodness, Leilani Mitchell was traded to NY from Phoenix, who opted to stick with equally short (and new) Yuko Oga. To my delight, Mitchell and Oga were matched up against each other in the 4th quarter and Mitchell got the better end of the pairing. Mitchell scored 3 points, pulled in 3 rebounds, and dished out 2 assists to Oga's 0 points, 1 rebound, and 0 assists. To be fair, Mitchell played twice as long, but Oga wasn't making NY think they were missing out.
Speaking of missing out...
No Tomorrow: Well, fortunately for both teams, there is indeed "tomorrow", but games like this are one in a million. Too bad the WNBA can't be televised with more regularity, but that underscores the importance of tuning in when you can. Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter are going to avenge this loss with malice aforethought, no doubt. New York has a lot to smile about going into the week, and perhaps can capitalize on their full starting roster strength. Now is a great time to find out how the season plays out for both teams.
New York is off to Minnesota, and Phoenix continues onward to Washington on June 24. Check your local listings. <EM>
(The full WNBA archive may be found here.)
