(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.”
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