Nearly 1,000 Words About One Pass
Marine Johannes and the assist that sent Chicago into the shadow realm
There have been plenty of cool assists before, yes. There have been plenty of assists that changed games before, sure.
I’m also sure that there are some passes that combine coolness and game impact as much as the one I’m about to talk about. But I ask you to keep all that to yourself, because frankly I don’t care about any pass besides the one Marine Johannes made last night.
The 7-seed New York Liberty are on the road for Game 1 of a best-of-three series against the 2-seed Chicago Sky. The Liberty led for much of this game, but find themselves down six with 3:29 to play. It seems like the Sky have survived the scare and are ready to start their normal playoff path as defending champs.
The two Liberty players in frame are the ones you would expect to be involved if the Liberty are to make this comeback. Sabrina Ionescu, the Liberty’s all-around star, has the ball, while Natasha Howard, the team’s second-leading scorer, runs up the court.
But Ionescu is well-covered, so she gives the ball to a player that not only is not any of the four “scoring leaders” shown on the chyron, but also a player that did not start the season on the Liberty’s roster. That would be Marine Johannes, a 27-year-old EuroLeague phenom who had 19 pretty solid games for the Liberty from 2019 under her belt.
This season, she has been crucial in New York sneaking into the playoffs. Johannes is averaging 10.0 PPG and 3.4 APG on some very efficient shooting (46.4 FG%, 43.7 3PT%). Those numbers are good, but don’t speak to her full impact as a player.
Before she gets this Howard screen, we need to revisit some of Johannes’ plays this season, because what is about to happen was by no means out of character.
Johannes was named EuroLeague’s “Most Entertaining Player” in 2018-19, an award I would love to bring to every major sport. It is very easy to see why.
Let’s start with about a minute of some completely disgusting whip passes.
OK, passes are cool, but maybe it’s not your thing. How about this three off one leg in the middle of a do-or-die game against the Atlanta Dream to make the playoffs?
Not sold? You’re a tough nut to crack, but I can respect it. How about this four-point play off a three in transition during this very same playoff game against the Sky?
Simply put, Marine Johannes is a very good basketball player with sauce that I cannot begin to comprehend. She does everything the Liberty needs her to do while having a flair that is legitimately helpful as a spark plug for the team.
Speaking of.
Hey! That’s two defenders on Johannes, leaving Howard, the Liberty’s current leading scorer, pretty open!
Doubling the guard could work if that guard isn’t Marine Johannes. A lot of players that aren’t Marine Johannes might not see the pass, might not be able to get the pass off or might throw it poorly, leading to a turnover.
But this is Marine Johannes.
I also want to make something clear: this is bad defense by the Chicago Sky. Leaving Howard this open under any circumstances is really bad, let alone down the stretch of a playoff game.
But let me also make something else clear: I don’t care. What happens next is something spectacular, something that caused me to write all of these words out, bad defense or not.
Can we just, for a moment, stop and look at what Johannes is doing. While down six. Late in the fourth quarter. Of a playoff game.
Stop for a second and think about what Johannes sees right now. That would likely be teammate Stefanie Dolson and the fans in the front row. It’s despicable to even fathom doing this now, with the game situation at hand.
And yet.
I mean what the hell. What the hell is that.
Natasha Howard looks like she’s taking a two-foot free throw, and the Sky players look like they think they are on a 5-on-4 power play with Howard in the box for tripping.
I want to say again that this is with under 3:30 to go in a playoff game, and that Howard is New York’s leading scorer to this point. Now, she gets the easiest two points of her career thanks to Johannes doing a truly despicable act.
Obviously it goes in, and the Liberty get a much-needed basket to cut the deficit to four. If New York loses this game, I probably still write this post.
But.
This Howard layup was the start of New York’s 13-0 run to end the game. This moment singlehandedly jumpstarted a complete detonation of the defending champs down the stretch to give the Liberty a deeply important road win.
Sometimes, friends, you need sauce to win games.
All hail Marine Johannes.
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