Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

YPSILANTI, Mich. – A golden oldie, although not an original, has helped establish the Detroit Shock as the new standard by which the rest of the WNBA measures itself.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Smith scored 11 of her team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter Sunday to propel the Shock to a 76-60 win over the San Antonio Silver Stars for a three-game sweep of the best-of-five WNBA championship series.

“It means more because of what we’ve gone through this year,” Smith said of her second champagne bath after being named MVP of the finals. “First, you talk about the Olympic break. That just throws a curve ball at everybody. Some people liked it – it probably helped us – some people are like why did it ever happen?

“Other than that, you talk about suspensions, you talk about injuries, you talk about trades. You talk about people in and out of camp. You talk about people playing a lot of minutes.

“You talk about all that stuff and we’re here. You take everybody’s best shot. I’m just proud that we not only have the competitors, not only the players, but our coaches are amazing.”

Her allusion was to head coach Bill Laimbeer and assistants Cheryl Reeve, a former La Salle star, and Rick Mahorn, a former NBA star.

Before Smith’s arrival via trade with the Minnesota Lynx late in the 2005 season, Detroit had one trophy in its collection – the fabled worst-to-first achievement in 2003.

Since then, the Shock have added two more in the past three seasons, allowing the Phoenix Mercury to get the best of them last year after Detroit held a 2-1 lead and played the deciding game at home.

Houston earned the first dynasty acclaim for capturing four straight crowns, beginning with the WNBA’s launch in 1997.

Now the same description can be applied to Laimbeer’s “Bad Girls,” a reference to what he has brought to the women’s pro game from his earlier years as a member of the NBA Detroit Pistons’ “Bad Boys” championship contingent.

“You have to look at the reality,” San Antonio coach Dan Hughes said after his Western Conference champions, owning the league’s best overall record, were unable to stop another Shock attack.

“I don’t know if they have had the consistency you saw early, but the simple reality is that they are playing to that level,” Hughes said. “And you have to tip your hat to them.”

Laimbeer has been a magician of sorts in his other role as general manager. Smith isn’t the only rabbit he has made appear out of nowhere to make Detroit a perennial contender.

After saving the franchise from the verge of extinction when he became coach early in the 2002 season, Laimbeer grabbed Ruth Riley in the dispersal draft involving the former Miami Sol roster the following winter. He then picked up Cheryl Ford with a high first-round pick in April 2003.

Together with Swin Cash, a first-round pick in the 2002 draft prior to Laimbeer’s arrival, the three components along with former Georgia star Deanna Nolan helped the Shock short-circuit the Los Angeles Sparks’ two-year title rule.

This past season when Ford was lost with an injury prior to the Olympic break, a casualty of the Sparks-Shocks notorious set-to that resulted in several suspensions, Laimbeer plucked Taj McWilliams-Franklin from the Washington Mystics.

The former member of the Philadelphia Rage in the defunct American Basketball League fortified the post attack. In Sunday’s game at Eastern Michigan University’s Convocation Center here. McWilliams-Franklin added 13 points, while Nolan scored 12.

“If Taj isn’t here, I don’t know if we get this done,” Smith said. “It was a huge, huge, move.

“Everybody on this team has that little fire – it’s just you want to be the best, you really want to be the best.”

Ann Waulters scored 19 for San Antonio and Sophia Young added 15, but Becky Hammon, a runnerup in the league MVP contest, was held to five points and shot 1-for-10 from the field.

Kelly Schumacher, who was a member of several Connecticut NCAA champions, has now been on back-to-back WNBA winners, having played with Phoenix a year ago.

“They’re all different, they’re all different situations,” Schumacher said of her trophy collection. “But it’s always a special feeling. Most of the time you feel it even before it happens. You notice the team has a certain chemistry and just the way they play together makes it possible to win championships.”

Detroit is getting to be a gypsy of sorts in celebrating trophy acquisitions. The Shock won their first title in their regular home at The Palace in Auburn Hills.

The next occurred at the Joe Louis Arena in downtown Detroit. The game played here Sunday was because the Disney On Ice show was appearing at The Palace.

It is a bit ironic that for a league that once thrived on glitz and had experienced its greatest summer of competition in its 12 year history, that the grand finale was here in a throw-back ABL-style arena in front of a noisy but much smaller crowd of 8,952, which was a sellout.

Smith, incidentally, played against McWilliams-Franklin in the first ABL championship in 1997, winning with the Columbus Quest when McWilliams-Franklin’s team was still in Richmond.

When Smith learned she was dealt to Detroit in 2005, Smith said Sunday there were a lot of doubts running through her mind about her role.

“This league is tough. It is hard to get here at the end,” she said. “When I got here, he (Laimbeer) told me he wanted to set this team up to win championships for years to come.

“When I first got here, I didn’t know anything. I never played point guard,” Smith said.

“There were a lot of question marks. After I spent that first preseason with everybody, I earned their trust, they earned mine, We’re all here for one reason and that’s just to win. And its just been a great experience. But I was a huge question mark. Where do I fit in?”

Laimbeer was complementary of Smith’s game,

“I congratulate Katie Smith,” he said of the former Ohio State star who played in the 1993 NCAA title game. “I don’t give her all the credit that she deserves throughout the course of the year, and she really showed it.

“The Detroit Shock are a great basketball team and we have great players. And does it grind us that sometimes we don’t get the individual accolades that some of our players deserve? Yeah, it does a little bit, we’ll be honest,” he continued.

“But you know, we take that in stride and that’s little bit of motivation because the most important thing is that trophy we hold up at the end.”

-- Mel

(Guru's note: Here's the AP advance. The Guru will be parachuting into Michigan Sunday morning to be on the scene.)

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

YPSILANTI, Mich. — The WNBA season might end in the Detroit area again.

After the Detroit Shock won the 2006 title by beating Sacramento in Game 5 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, they lost the deciding game last season to Phoenix at their regular home — the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The Shock will be going for a sweep of the San Antonio Silver Stars at yet another “home” arena Sunday, when they host Game 3 at Eastern Michigan University.

Scheduling conflicts at the Palace meant the Shock have already played twice at EMU’s Convocation Center — beating New York in Games 2 and 3 of the Eastern Conference finals — and Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer doesn’t think his team will suffer by playing an hour away
from home.

“I expect a full house — an atmosphere second to none,” Laimbeer said.

“The Palace is great, but this building is actually louder, because the fans are right on top of you. We’ll have people who have never been to a WNBA game, and they’ll all be cheering for the
Shock. It’s like a college atmosphere, and that will be great.”

Of course, by winning the first two games in Texas, the Shock have given themselves three chances to wrap up the title, each of which would come in different buildings.

Game 4 would be back at the Palace on Monday night, with a possible Game 5 Thursday back in San Antonio.

“We can’t let up now,” Deanna Nolan said. “I don’t think we have to adjust anything, but we have to keep playing the way we played the first two games.”

The Silver Stars came into the series with a 14-0 record against Eastern Conference teams, but have been unable to solve Detroit’s defense. Becky Hammon is shooting just 9-for-23 in
the finals, while fellow MVP candidate Sophia Young is 13-for-39.

“I still believe in my team, but the problem is that I haven’t seen my team yet,” Hammon said. “They are outplaying us, and Katie Smith is killing us.” Smith has averaged 23.5 points in the first two games along with her normal tough perimeter defense.

“I want to win,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it is a pickup game or here — I always want to win, and these are the biggest games there are.” At the age of 34, and at the end of a long season that also included a trip to Beijing to win her third Olympic gold medal,

Smith’s effort has impressed even the tough-to-impress Laimbeer.

“I expect so much from Katie that it is hard for me to compliment her, but I’ve had to do it after each of the first two games,” he said. “I played her 40 minutes tonight, and she could played another 40.” Laimbeer didn’t expect this kind of stamina and longevity when an out-of-shape Smith showed up in Detroit after a 2005 trade.

“She was coming off a knee injury, and weighed 20 or 25 pounds more than she should, and said it was just because she couldn’t work out before the season,” he said. “I had to believe her, but I told her that she needed to lose that weight for the next season. She did —
there isn’t a player in this league that can compete with her work ethic or her physique.”

The Silver Stars, playing in their first finals, face a formidable task. They need to beat the league’s strongest franchise three straight times, with the first two coming
on Detroit’s pair of home floors.

“I’ve said that it isn’t in our DNA to give up, but we have to be done just talking the talk,” Hammon said. “Now it is time to walk the walk. We’ve got to keep believing, keep fighting and mostly, we have to start hitting some shots.”

(Guru's note: Some copy is from AP in San Antonio, including quotes)

By Mel Greenberg

The fans who made Candace Parker's jersey the best-seller in the WNBA were given proof Friday why the replica is worth every penny they spent.

Concluding an unprecedented year for a women's hoops star, the former Tennessee sensation who was the overall No. 1 pick in April's draft by the Los Angeles Sparks was named both the rookie of the year -- an unanmous choice -- and the Most Valuable Player.

It is the first time in the WNBA's 12-year history that a newcomer was also named Most Valuable player, although if the calendar and history were different, the milestone might have been achieved by the likes of Cheryl Miller, Nancy Lieberman, and even Seattle's Sue Bird, who was a finalist in the MVP voting.

In her redshirt junior season before declaring for the draft, Parker won every collegiate player of the year award except the Margaret Wade honor, while leading Tennessee to a second-straight NCAA title.

The Chicago-area native was also a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in Beijing.

And had not Sophia Young rescued San Antonio at the last second in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, Parker would be vying to become to pull a women's basketball hat trick in the championship series, trying to become to win all titles in the same calendar year.

Parker edged Connecticut’s Lindsay Whalen and Seattle’s Bird in
the MVP race.

“You know, Coach (Michael) Cooper set this goal for me early on,
and I looked at him like he was crazy,” Parker said. “He’s like,
’We’re going to win the rookie of the year, and you’re going to win
a championship and you’re going to win the MVP.’ I just looked at
him like, ’That’s what you expect of me already?”’

Parker averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds She had a high of 40 points and grabbed 10 or more rebounds in 17 games. She led the league in double-doubles with 17, led the league
in rebounding and led rookies in scoring, blocks (2.3 bpg) and minutes (33.6 mpg).

The all-rookie team, selected by league coaches, included Parker, Minnesota’s Candice Wiggins and Nicky Anosike, Chicago’s Sylvia Fowles, Houston’s Matee Ajavon, the former Rutgers star; and Connecticut’s Amber Holt. Ajavon and Holt tied for the fifth spot on the team.

Parker received 276.79 points, while Whalen finished second with 242.08 points and Bird came in third with 218.51 points.

Rounding out the top six vote getters in one of the closest MVP races in WNBA history were San Antonio’s Sophia Young (169.62), Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi (148.98) and San Antonio’s Becky Hammon (131.75).

By Mel Greenberg

So who is it?

In a period spaced apart by ten minutes, the WNBA will announce the rookie and player of the year awards in San Antonio late Friday afternoon or early Friday night, depending on your location on the planet, prior to the start of Game 2 of the championship finals between the host Silver Stars and Detroit Shock.

WNBA president Donna Orender as part of her state of the league several days ago made a reference to the race being the closest in league history.

At least the Guru thought it was in the transcript -- it has been a looong night on the desk and this is coming to you right from the top of the Guru's head.

Having been deprived a little history in Los Angeles' narrow loss to the Sparks in the deciding Game # of the Western Finals, former Tennessee star Candace Parker can no longer become the first player to win a WNBA title to go with an NCAA and Olympic championship in the same calendar year.

But the native of Chicago could still become the first to win both the rookie and MVP in the same WNBA season.

Having been the overall No. 1 choice of the Sparks in April, Parker lived up to the expectation and it would be the only shock not associated with Detroit for someone else to be given the rookie honor.

So the fact that both awards are happening in close proximity to each certainly makes her a prime candidate.

The Guru was unable to reach either Sparks or league sources to ask how many plane tickets had to be sent to Los Angeles, considering Lisa Leslie could be in the MVP mix.

Another clue, but maybe meaningless, comes by way of a coast-to-coast call to the Guru's good friend Jayda Evans, the beat writer for the Seattle Storm, home of Sue Bird, another strong candidate.

Is Bird the one?

On one hand Evans noted, she might be since Bird's name was thrown around a lot.

On the other, Evans said she had not been able to reach her usual contacts, many of which are also associated with the Guru.

"Usually, they let the writer in the city involved with the winning player know ahead of time and no one has called me and I hadn't been able to reach anyone," Evans reported.

A third possibility could be a San Antonio player, likely Becky Hammon if the vote was close.

Home city is usually worth extra publicity and after Friday night, if the Silver Stars don't prevail, holding off the winner would become a major gamble because San Antonio could be finished with its season in Texas, dropping 2-0 in the best-of-five series.

Appropriately, being located not far from the Alamo becomes significant for the Silver Stars because the new Mexican general Santa Ana is Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer who is not known for taking prisoners -- just technical fouls and not always by his request.

A loss Friday night and San Antonio will once again be down to its last shot. And after Sophia Young's heroics in Game 2 of the Western Finals to keep the Silver Stars alive, how many last shots are left in the arsenal?

-- Mel

(Guru's note: Here's the AP enhanced coverage of the WNBA Opener)

SAN ANTONIO (AP) _ Someone finally figured out how to stop Deanna Nolan. Katie Smith and Taj McWilliams-Franklin were more than enough to help the Detroit Shock make up for it.

Smith scored 25 points and McWilliams-Franklin had 24, and they helped Detroit take a first step toward reclaiming the WNBA title by leading the Shock to a 77-69 win over the San Antonio Silver Stars on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the WNBA finals.

"It was clear they were trying to take Deanna Nolan away," Shock coach Bill Laimbeer said. "But Katie Smith was huge. Taj was phenomenal."

Nolan scored 10 points, a playoff low this season after averaging 20.7 points per game in the postseason coming into the finals. She made 5 of 16 from the floor and missed all four of her 3-point tries.

"Katie and Taj set the tone for us," Nolan said. "It's not necessarily that I have to get off (and score) because we have other players that can step in and help."

Smith, a member of the Shock team that won the title two years ago, had nine rebounds, was 4-of-8 on 3-pointers and made all 5 free throws while playing all 40 minutes.

McWilliams-Franklin was 11 of 16 from the floor despite asthma problems.

The Silver Stars, who lost to an Eastern Conference team for the first time this season after 14 wins, were led by Sophia Young's 21 points and 16 from Ann Wauters.

San Antonio's Becky Hammon, who scored 35 points in the decisive Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday, scored 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting in Game 1.

"I thought we let them get too comfortable offensively," Hammon said. "We just weren't ourselves in the first half. It's disappointing to come out and lack energy in a game like that."

Detroit, WNBA champions in 2006, also won Game 1 last year but lost a five-game series to Phoenix. Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Friday in San Antonio.

Smith came through for the Shock at the most critical times.

"She wanted the basketball," Laimbeer said. "Her will pushed us a long way today."

Smith helped the Shock build a 10-point lead at halftime when she connected on a 4-point play — a 3-pointer from 22 feet plus a free throw after Young's foul — that put Detroit ahead 40-30.

"I put it up and got hit in the chest," Smith said.

Smith's jumper from 19 feet with 8:19 to play gave Detroit a 14-point lead. But the Silver Stars outscored the Shock 20-6 during the next six minutes.

Hammon scored on two straight layups and then hit two free throws to tie the game with 2:16 to go.

But Kara Braxton scored inside and was fouled. She missed the free throw, but Detroit rebounded and Smith sank a jumper to make it 73-69 with 1:44 left and the Shock hit four free throws to close out the game.

"It wasn't surprising that they made a run against us," Smith said. "We had a couple of looks. But we missed a couple of shots, and they hit a couple. The crowd gets into it. It does happen."

Detroit didn't get its first lead until 2:19 into the second quarter when Smith made two free throws to go up 21-20 before the Shock outscored San Antonio 21-12 the rest of the half for the double-digit margin.

The Silver Stars went cold, shooting 4-of-16 in the second quarter. San Antonio played without key reserves Helen Darling and Edwige Lawson-Wade. Darling strained her right calf and Lawson-Wade sprained her right ankle during Saturday's Game 2 victory over Los Angeles in the Western Conference semifinals.

Detroit, already without All-Star forward Cheryl Ford, missed Plenette Pierson for the third time in the last five games because of a labrum tear in her right shoulder.

(Guru's note: To avoid duplications and rehashed analysis that is available every else at this hour, the Guru offers his own off-the-top musings going into Game 1 of the WNBA finals from a town that only understands Game 1 is Phillies vs. Brewers.

If Game 4 is not necessary someone will have to bail the Guru out from an extra day in Michigan to return to the City of Baseball Love, which may or not be by then.)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA (So you know where I am) - According to the WNBA playoff bracket, the New York Liberty's stirring postseason run has been shortcircuited by the Detroit Shock.

If so, then who are some of those key players hiding in San Antonio Silver Stars uniforms?

Let's start at the top with Becky Hammon, the former darling of the Madison Square Garden crowd.

In fact, should San Antonio go on to make life miserable for the Shock, the 2007 WNBA Draft Day will have to be amended to two key deals made back-to-back at the top that resulted in championships.

The first was already achieved a year ago when Phoenix dealt its No. 1 pick for Tangela Smith from Minnesota and the swap helped the Mercury win its first title at the expense of Detroit.

Soon after the Mercury played its card, San Antonio coach Dan Hughes, in his home state of Ohio, in Cleveland, emerged to say the Silver Stars had acquired Hammon from New York.

Meanwhile, Ann Wauters, a former No. 1 pick from Belgium, migrated from the Liberty as a free agent to the Lone Star State. Then there's Vickie Johnson, one of the mainstays in New York's earlier appearances at the finals.

Finally, assistant coach Vanessa Nygaard, the former Stanford star, also saw time with the Liberty, although she had suffered some injuries that limited her activity.

Bailout Kings

Maybe Congress needs to borrow Hughes and Detroit Shock coach Bill Laimbeer to help dissolve the financial mess in Washington.

By now, the Laimbeer story is well know. Shock owners wanted to deep-six the franchise until he went into the front office and claimed he could save the day and turn things around.

As soon as he took control, an early streak was halted and the follow season in 2003 the Shock became the Worst-to-First darlings when they upended the two-time reigning champion Los Angeles Sparks to win a thrilling final, rallying in Games 2 and 3.

A major star in the Shock ascendancy was Ruth Riley, who will now be on the other side playing for the Texans.

Since then, the Shock have become perennial championship contenders, although the darling phrase is no longer, well, appropriate.

When it comes to Hughes, if anyone calls his two previous places of employment for references, they'll think his resume is loaded with fiction. The numbers of the Charlotte Sting and Cleveland Cavaliers are now unlisted, as are the two former franchises, themselves, in the league standings.

The Silver Stars used to be known be known as the Utah Starzz, a team which made editors challenge reporters to see if their "z" keys on their laptop computers were stuck because the letter at the end of the alphabet kept showing up in repetition in the copy.

Of course, the franchise after its shift from the Salt Lake City was still in danger of being flushed down the Riverwalk until Hughes arrived and turned San Antonio into one of the jewels of the West.

The Meaning of Taj

While the Shock have regaled into a reputation as the WNBA "Bad Girls" in the personna of Laimbeer's time as a member of the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys" NBA champions, people are openly cheering for veteran Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who was acquired late in the season and has helped Detroit make do without the injured Cheryl Ford.

Just before the Olympic break, the Guru was in the Washington Mystics lockerroom interviewing McWilliams-Franklin, who once played for the Philadelphia Rage in the former American Basketball League.

She was busy offering calculations as to what the Mystics had to do to make the postseason.

Fate has now given her another way to achieve the goal if not more. And for those who were born yesterday, Shock teammate Katie Smith and McWilliams-Franklin were on opposite sides in the first ABL championship when Smith's Columbus Quest beat the then-Richmond Rage in 1997.

Smith got her first WNBA title two years ago in Detroit and now McWilliams-Franklin, a native of Texan, could earn hers.

Guru Marketing Idea for San Antonio

Speaking of Texans, former Baylor star Sophia Young is now getting even more notoriety after her buzzer-beater in Game 2 of the Western finals rescued San Antonio from elimination by Los Angeles.

So if the Silver Stars win it all, why not take the team to the nearby Alamo, have Young stand in front of them launching a ball, and then produce a T-shirt with the phrase "Remember the Shot!"

Michael Cooper Phone Home

With Los Angeles' elimination, the Guru was reminded of the theory he espoused several years ago, called "The Curse of the No. 1 pick."

At that time, with Suzie McConnell-Serio's departure from Minnesota, the Guru noted that every coach, except Van Chancellor, in the history of the league who held the No. 1 pick, was gone from their job with a year.

We're still trying to remember how to qualify Phoenix, which held the pick last year, though dealt away, and no longer is coached by Paul Westhead.

Well, the Sparks, predicted by all in the preseason to run away with the title with the addition of Candace Parker, didn't make it.

So L.A. coach Michael Cooper should check his voice mail a little more often this winter, although the Guru expects that a member of Sparks ownership will read this and call the Guru to say the curse streak won't continue.

Paul Newman and the Guru

Bet you are wondering what this item is all about. Well, the passing of acclaimed actor Paul Newman last weekend recalled a moment from the Guru's youth as a high school senior.

The Guru and his cousin had faked their way into the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, a short ride from Philly, as bonafide media representatives -- yeah, it'd be jail time in today's climate.

When one of the big nights of the week arrived, the Guru was down near the front with the Pennsylvania delegation, some of whom he knew because they were politicos from the neighborhood.

Well, in those times of pre-video and every other technological toy associated with the Guru, the only way to view the speeches live by Ted Kennedy, etc., was to stand on the bridge chairs because that's how close to the podium the Pennsylvania crowd was located.

So as the Guru held his own on top of his seat, he suddenly felt a person behind him, kind of leaning on the Guru's shoulder to balance himself.

The Guru glanced backwards and it was -- Paul Newman.

And no, several years later, the Guru did not try to remind Newman of their meeting when directors were looking for someone to play the role of the Sundance Kid to Newman's Butch Cassidy.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: Here's the AP coverage from Monday night)

McWilliams-Franklin helps Shock reach WNBA finals

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) _ Taj McWilliams-Franklin isn't used to being a role player. She couldn't be enjoying it more.

Monday, McWilliams-Franklin scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half to help the Detroit Shock reach the WNBA finals for the third straight season with a 75-73 win Monday night over the New York Liberty.

"For the past couple years, I've been on young teams where I've been expected to be the leader for a lot of young players," she said. "It's been a nice change to be on a team where I'm just one of the veterans — where I have so many great players surrounding me."

Detroit acquired the 37-year-old McWilliams-Franklin from the Washington Mystics during the Olympic break after losing All-Star Cheryl Ford to a season-ending knee injury.

"Taj is damn near the oldest player in the league, and there she was making plays for us down the stretch," Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said. "She's a very smart player. She isn't quick, and she doesn't jump very high, but she knows how to play basketball."

The Shock won the best-of-three Eastern Conference finals and advanced to play San Antonio for the championship. Detroit beat Sacramento in 2006 for its second league title, then lost in five games to Phoenix last year.

"This is where we expect to be every season," Laimbeer said. "We start every year with the goal of making it to the finals, and that's what we talk about all season. To win the title, you have to get to the finals."

Liberty coach Pat Coyle skipped the post-game press conference and declined a request for an interview.

The Shock led by 20 in the first half, but had to fight off the deeper Liberty in the second half. Sixth woman Plenette Pierson, who played well in Sunday's Game 2 just seven days after dislocating her shoulder, was limited to two points in six minutes on Monday.

"I knew that Plenette wasn't going to be able to do much, so I got her out of there," Laimbeer said. "Hopefully, she'll be able to help us in the finals."

Both games were played on the campus of Eastern Michigan University because of scheduling conflicts at the Palace of Auburn Hills — about an hour's drive away. Detroit will also play at least one finals game at Eastern.

Leilani Mitchell started New York's comeback with 12 points in the third quarter, but played less than three minutes in the final period.

"We were trying to keep the pressure on, so we were rotating our players," she said. "I knew we needed to score some points in the third, and my teammates were doing a great job of setting screens and getting me the ball."

New York got within two early in the fourth, but Loree Moore missed a free throw and Alexis Hornbuckle answered with five quick points for the Shock.

Cathrine Kraayeveld missed two free throws with 2:42 remaining that could have again got the Liberty two points away, and Nolan hit a jumper at the other end to make it a six-point game. Detroit had a chance to put the game away from the line, but two misses by Hornbuckle with 17 seconds left gave New York a chance, trailing 75-71.

The Liberty missed two 3-pointers, before McWilliams-Franklin fouled Shameka Christon with 0.8 seconds left. Christon made both free throws, cutting Detroit's deficit to two, but the Shock ran out the clock.

"It's hard to maintain a lead in this league — we knew that team was good to run them out of the gym," said Katie Smith, who scored 16. "But this team is full of players who are willing to do anything to win a game, and that's what we did in the fourth quarter tonight."

Janel McCarville led New York with 21.

"Last year, Detroit beat us in the first round, and this year, we got to the conference finals, so that's progress," McCarville said. "We took the best team in the league to the end of Game 3, and that's something good."

(Guru's note: Here's the AP coverage of Sunday's game in the West)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN ANTONIO — When he became coach of the San Antonio Silver
Stars and directed a team that won seven games his first year, Dan
Hughes didn’t have far to look for the role model to build a
championship team.

“My role was right outside my back door,” Hughes said. “You had
the Spurs sitting here. And the things they represented just
reinforced me that even when we won seven games, you know what, keep
going, keep going, keep going.”

Just as the Spurs played for a championship not long after Tim
Duncan joined the team, the Silver Stars’ fortunes changed when Becky
Hammon came on board.

Hammon scored 35 points, making four free throws in the final 36
seconds, and the Silver Stars advanced to their first WNBA finals
with a 76-72 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks in Game 3 of the
Western Conference finals on Sunday.

“We were lucky to get people, and now I’ve got people anybody
could coach,” Hughes said.

Hammon is at the top of the list. In her second year playing with
the Silver Stars after a draft-day trade with New York, Hammon topped
her 32-point performance from last year’s playoffs.

Her 35 points tied for second in WNBA playoff history with the
Sparks’ Lisa Leslie, behind Tameka Whitmore’s 41 points two years ago
while she was playing for Indiana.

The Sparks led 72-67 when Temeka Johnson made two free throws
with 1:57 left in the game, but Hammon tied it on a 3-pointer with
1:03 left.

Hammon was 10-of-18 from the field, including 6-of-8 from 3-point
range, and made all nine foul shots.

“I just try to go up there and knock them down,” Hammon said.
“It’s just repetition. It’s for those moments you work so hard as a
player.”

After Hammon’s 3-pointer, Los Angeles lost the ball the next trip
down the floor when DeLisha Milton-Jones, who joined Candace Parker
to lead Los Angeles with 16 points, was called for an offensive foul.

Hammon followed with four free throws on the next two possessions
to put away the game.

“We come back when things seem impossible,” Hammon said.

The Silver Stars forced Game 3 when Sophia Young hit a turnaround
14-foot jumper that banked off the board and the rim and fell in at
the buzzer on Saturday.

The Sparks missed their final three shots from the floor on
Sunday, going the final 2:16 without a basket.

“I thought our inability to hit key shots during the course of
the game was key for us,” Sparks coach Michael Cooper said. “When we
needed a basket, we couldn’t get it.”

The best-of-five finals will start Wednesday in San Antonio. The
opponent will be determined Monday when Detroit and New York play
Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Shock
evened the series Sunday with a 64-55 victory.

Hammon, who played in New York from 1999-2006, has a feeling she
will be playing her former team.

“I think New York might be coming out of the East,” Hammon said.
“I hope we do see them.”

The Silver Stars moved to San Antonio in 2003 after six seasons
in Utah. San Antonio lost in the conference finals last year to
eventual champion Phoenix.

With the Spurs ready to start their training camp in two days at
their nearby practice facility, Spurs guard Tony Parker watched with
his wife, Eva Longoria-Parker. They saw the Silver Stars rally from
eight points behind early in the second half to take a one-point lead
with less than a minute to go in the third quarter.

The Sparks took an eight-point lead with 3:39 remaining in the
third quarter when Raffaella Masciadri scored on a drive and made a
free throw after being fouled by Ruth Riley.

But Riley helped San Antonio scored eight straight during the
next 2:01 to tie the game. She hit a 3-pointer and then hit a 14-foot
jump shot to knot it with 1:38 left.

San Antonio took the floor without key reserves Helen Darling and
Edwige Lawson-Wade. Both wore protective boots at the bottom of their
right legs after Darling strained her right calf and Lawson-Wade
sprained her right ankle sprain during Saturday’s Game 2 victory.

By Mel Greenberg

It will get a little less luster because of distance and the WNBA's postseason is not at the championship round, but Sophia Young joined the list of great moment-makers Saturday with a game-saving buzzer beater that kept the San Antonio Silver Stars alive against the Los Angeles Sparks in the Western Conference Finals.

Of course the Silver Stars, with the best overall record in the regular season, where very much alive until the Sparks rallied from a 14-point deficit and took what appeared to be a winning lead.

But then Young, a former Baylor star of the 2005 NCAA championship, had last word.

Her shot may not have been the same as the stature of 50-foot-plus buzzer-beater by Theresa Weatherspoon in Houston when she enabled the New York Liberty to extend the Comets in what was then a three-game finals in 1999, but it was significant enough in the 67-66 win.

Meanwhile, a Liberty source in Michigan reported on the scene from Ypsilanti that Janet Jackson cancelled her concert in Auburn Hills, which now leaves the Palace, home of the Detroit Shock, expect at times in the postseason, unconflicted.

But the move comes too late to change venues and so the Shock and New York Liberty will tangle in Game 2 of the Eastern Finals Sunday at Eastern Michigan.

Now, here's the AP report on the San Antonio-Los Angeles Sparks game.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio coach Dan Hughes had no doubt who was
going to take the final shot with the Silver Stars season on the line
— Sophia Young.

Young delivered with a 14-foot turnaround shot at the buzzer to
lift the Silver Stars to a 67-66 win over the Los Angeles Sparks
Saturday, and forced a deciding game 3 in the Western Conference
Finals.

“She’s just a player you can get a lot from in those situations,”
Hughes said. “It’s not about the play, it’s about the player.”

Young finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead San
Antonio.

Los Angeles rallied from a 14-point deficit to take a one-point
lead with 1.3 seconds left on Delisha Milton-Jones’ lay-in.

After a timeout, San Antonio took the ball at half court. Young
grabbed the inbounds pass and hit the turnaround from the wing to
keep the Silver Stars’ playoff hopes alive.

“If you’ve got players who are playmakers, as a coach its’ your
job to get them the ball,” Hughes said. “I have a few of those.
That’s why we’re still playing.”

The final game of the series will be played on Sunday.

“I thought it was a very, very, very well played basketball game
by both teams,” Sparks coach Michael Cooper said. “San Antonio showed
you why they are the top in the Western Conference with the record
they have; then we showed why we are an up and coming team. The
Western Conference is at stake, so both teams will go at it again.”

Candace Parker led Los Angeles with 19 points and 17 rebounds.
Lisa Leslie, who scored 22 points in game 1, had 17 points and 12
rebounds. Milton-Jones finished with 14 points.

“It was a great shot,” said three-time MVP Lisa Leslie. “You need
a little luck to play this game. Hail Mary right?’ “But we still feel
really good about our chances.”

Los Angeles took a 64-60 lead on Milton-Jones’ layup with 1:33
left in the fourth. Young sparked a 5-0 run hitting two free throws
with 11 seconds left to give San Antonio a 65-64 advantage.

Becky Hammon added 19 points and Ann Wauters had 11 as San
Antonio is looking for its first trip to the finals. They advanced to
the Western Conference finals last year, but lost to the eventual
champions, the Phoenix Mercury.

Los Angeles is looking to return to its first Finals since 2003,
where they lost to the Detroit Shock. They won back-to-back titles in
2001 and 2002.

The Sparks have not won on San Antonio’s home floor since July
26th, 2006.

The teams split the regular season series 2-2, with each team
winning on their home floor.

(Guru's Note: This is written from the home office where the game was viewed on broadband on the computer. Love that techology -- when it works!).

By Mel Greenberg

Memory Lane has been a place of alternating joy and pain in the regular and postseason rivalry between the New York Liberty and Detroit Shock.

On Friday night, it was New York’s Erin Thorn who took a turn to apply the hurt to the boisterous Detroit contingent with five points late in the game that carried the Liberty to a 60-56 win over the Shock in the WNBA’s Eastern Conference championship best-of-three opener in Madison Square Garden.

A year ago, New York suffered a tough one-point overtime loss in Detroit and was eliminated in the third and deciding game of the conference semifinals.

However, the Liberty has a previous memorable moment. That occurred in the deciding game of the 2004 conference semifinals when New York reduced the Shock’s WNBA reign to one season, courtesy of Bethany Donaphin’s turnaround jumper with a half second remaining for a 66-64 victory in Madison Square Garden.

"We just match up well with them,” Thorn said. “Other teams have a problem with their quickness and physicality, we battle with them."

And now the Liberty are a knockout win away with two shots to deliver the punch and advance to the WNBA finals for a record fifth time.

However, New York will have to get the job done on the road in Michigan, but not in Auburn Hills.

It seems the Shock, who are getting a history of coming up short in Palace availability, if not outcomes, will be doing the hosting Sunday and, if necessary, Monday in Ypsilanti at Eastern Michigan.

On Friday night, New York rallied from a six-point halftime deficit and outscored Detroit, 24-14, in the decisive fourth quarter.

Once again rookie Essence Carson out of Rutgers was somewhere to be found when the game was on the line as she was on Monday when New York dispatched Connecticut on the road.

She finished with eight points.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes and whatever my team needs me to do to win,” Carson said.

It seems Big East and NCAA Final Four experience has served Carson well in these situations.

Janel McCarville led New York with 17 points, while Shameka Christon had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Deanna Nolan, one of the top clutch players in the league, scored 22 points for Detroit with 11 coming in the final three minutes. Katie Smith added 13 points.

"It's playoff basketball,” New York coach Patty Coyle said of her team’s determination and close encounters when the two teams meet. “You are not going to get a lot of fast break points and it's going to be incredibly physical. Every time you play Detroit, it's going to be a war. The next game you are going to see the same thing."

Coyle was not too discouraged at halftime, despite the Liberty’s 28 percent effort from the field.

“"I thought we got good looks, but didn't make any shots in the first half. I think in the second half we got good looks, but we were making our shots. I would credit Detroit's defense because they guard you."

Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer, with the comfort of sort-of-home-court-advantage the rest of the way, was still dismayed at the Shock’s inability to take a stronger grip on the series after having control much of the way.

"There was no doubt that was disappointing,” the former Detroit Pistons star said. “We played hard enough to win that ball game. That is the bottom line. We had the game under control, and the offense was struggling.

“We didn't make enough shots to win this game,” he continued. “If we don't make shots and they don't make any shots, then I don't have a problem with that. In the fourth quarter we made bad decisions offensively

“We didn't get into our sets, walked the ball up the court, and didn't call the right plays. I can't live with the fact that we made mental errors. We pride ourselves in being a smart basketball team and for two and half quarters we played smart and the other one and half we played dumb."

Meanwhile, if many are surprised at the Liberty’s situation given the roster is the youngest in the WNBA, that group doesn’t include Coyle.

New York was taking critical hits from inside and outside the organization during the preseason and early regular season action when the Liberty didn’t appear to pick right up where they left off at the close of business in 2007.

But there was good reason and Coyle, with her experience as one of Rutgers’ all-time guards, remained calm understanding the cause.

Half the roster was still in Europe, an annual malady that affects virtually every team in the WNBA.

And half of what was here was either brand new or relatively inexperienced.

But Coyle thought things could be fine once everyone was aboard and got some time to know each other.

Sure enough, New York made a run before the Olympic break that virtually assured the playoffs and briefly had the Liberty in the regular-season conference race.

Now all that remains is one more win and she’ll make her first WNBA appearance as a head coach.

Looking ahead. The Liberty may suddenly have gained a cheering section from East Coast media members. If New York gets to the finals, critical games three and four, if necessary, of the WNBA finals will be at Madison Square Garden in the best-of-five series, reducing travel costs considerably.

If Detroit prevails, the Shock need Los Angeles to beat San Antonio in one of the next two games in Texas in the West, to gain home court in the finals.

-- Mel