Who needs points?

In which the Liberty put together a defensive masterclass

Liberty 75 - Mercury 68

If you’re the sort of fan who enjoys “points” and “baskets” and “possessions on which we don’t throw the ball out of bounds,” then last night’s rematch with the Mercury was perhaps displeasing. But I’m sufficiently warped, at this point in my Liberty-fan-hood, that I found it a delight — one of our most encouraging performances of the season.

For the second straight game we played proudly smothering defense, and though our shots didn’t fall — often we didn’t even get to the point of taking a shot — our offensive movements were deliberate and clever. If other teams are depending on Stewie getting 9 points and zero free throw attempts on a regular basis, then they are in Astier-single-covering-Alyssa-Thomas-in-the-paint levels of trouble.

Some notes:

Chris DeMarco seems to have convinced Johannes to enjoy playing defense — to envision these as the plays that will eventually be clipped into NYC-propaganda montages on the Jumbotron. She was going for windmill blocks and leaping into flying-starfish formations to interfere with passes. She was, in other words, playing defense with the same self-actualizing élan which with she plays offense. A transformative development, if it holds.

JJ too seemed bizarrely invigorated by the newfound pleasure of stopping the other team. In one fourth quarter sequence she blocked consecutive shots (the second one yielding a silky Gardner breakaway), and this in itself seemed enough to keep her customary self-defeating sense of grievance at bay.

About DeMarco: if he had the manner of Alex Sarama, Portland’s rookie coach (teenage mad scientist as played by John Early), then I think we’d regard his experimental lineups, his endless tinkering, with a fond sense of wonder. But because his manner is more Teenage Son Who Doesn’t Know Why He Has to Go to His Great-Aunt’s Funeral, we mostly regard him with exasperation and impatience. But I’m coming to appreciate him.

Astier continues to be this season’s saving grace. On a night when our offense often stagnated, she flowed. A sequence of post-plays with JJ demonstrated her offensive formidability: The Mercury collapsed on her, and she passed to JJ for a layup. So the next time down, the Mercury focused on JJ — and Astier made the layup herself. Finally the Mercury hedged their bets, sagging a bit off of both — and Astier pulled up for a midrange floater. (Incidentally, a free idea for my anthropologists out there: a study of how eagerly, even ecstatically, the TV commentators attribute Astier’s every action to her Frenchness.)

Stewie and Johannes were both unusually quiet, offensively — which served to demonstrate that this year we have sufficient weapons to survive such anomalies. A 3 or two from Betnijah here, a layup or two from Astier there, and the drought is over.

Satou had a negligible game, statistically, but was actually a decent presence in her ten minutes — grabbing rebounds, finding her teammates, getting to the basket. The rust is still mighty (she seems almost to be playing while wearing oven mitts), but if her mysterious constellation of health conditions continues to resolve, I have faith in her as an asset.

Fiebich was uncharacteristically disastrous on offense — each of her touches yielding a turnover or a hopeless flail of a shot — but her troubles seemed highly resolvable. She had some open shots (much better shots than the ones she actually took) and I have no doubt that the video team has already put together a super-cut that she will solemnly digest before Wednesday.

Han was her delightful, improbable self — each rebound and three and post-move yielding a happy huh, as of a structural engineer busily revising his sense of how high a building can get without tipping.

And that’s a season wrap on the Mercury, who I must admit I take a special pleasure in defeating. (That this one ended with Bonner missing a potential game-tying 3 was an extra cherry in the Shirley Temple.)

Next up: Sandy Brondello and the healthier Sabally sister (how??). See you Wednesday.