Shock wins third WNBA title in six years
So you want to win a
championship? No problem. According to the Detroit Shocks new
Championship How-To Book, all you have to do is:
1. Trade your biggest star.
2. Lose another to a knee injury.
3. Follow that up, moments later, with one of the ugliest sports brawls
in recent memory.
4. Watch so many of your players get suspended for that brawl, the
league must stagger them in alphabetical order.
4.5. This is not mandatory, but if at all possible, see if you can get
your highest-profile assistant coach suspended, too.
5. Try the cheapest, most transparent PR stunt you can think of you
know, like adding your 50-year-old former coach to your roster.
6. Dont play a single game of the final round in your home arena.
There you go. Thats all it takes! Just follow those six steps and oh,
wait. Forgot one thing.
We have the best players in the world, coach
Bill Laimbeer said Sunday. No question about it.
Yeah, that helps.
The Shock swept its way to its third championship in six years Sunday
night. The final score of Game 3 of the WNBA Finals was 76-60, but in
deference to the battered San Antonio Silver Stars, lets call it a
three-round knockout.
The Shock outrebounded San Antonio, 44-27, including 16-4 in the fourth
quarter at Eastern Michigans Convocation Center. Detroit absolutely
destroyed San Antonios little star,
Rebecca Hammon (5'6''-G-77, college:
Colorado St.), who missed nine of 10 shots and had more turnovers
(four) than assists (three).
Three titles in six years probably qualifies this franchise as a WNBA
dynasty. But like other modern sports dynasties, the Shock has had to
change on the fly. And that was most apparent two months ago, in the
wake of a disastrous game against the Los Angeles Sparks, when
rebounding fiend
Cheryl Ford (6'3''-F/C-81, college:
Louisiana Tech) tore her anterior cruciate ligament and the Shock
responded with a nationally televised brawl.
Seven players and assistant coach
Rick Mahorn were suspended. It was an embarrassment for both
franchises, and for the league, but once everybody stopped blushing,
Laimbeer had a bigger concern: replacing Ford.
He promptly stole
Tay McWilliams (6'3''-F/C-70, college:
St.Edward's) from the Washington Mystics. She had 13 points and
eight rebounds Sunday.
We knew Bill was going to work his magic, forward
Katie Smith (5'11''-G-74, college:
Ohio St.) said. If we dont have Taj, I dont think were here,
If they dont have Smiths performance Sunday, they are still here, in the
Finals, hoping to wrap it up in Game 4. With the Shock clinging to a
two-point lead early in the fourth quarter, Smith poured in 11 points to
turn a tight Game 3 into a blowout.
She was the Finals MVP by acclimation; even the Silver Stars would have
stuffed the ballot box for her.
Somewhere, maybe Swin Cash was watching. Cash was the face of the
franchise and an extremely important player on the 2003 and 2006 title
teams, but she and Laimbeer did not see eye-to-eye. Sometimes, it was
unclear if they were even looking at each other. After the Shock lost in
last years Finals, Laimbeer traded Cash.
Some die-hard Cash fans probably thought theyd see former coach Nancy
Lieberman, now an ESPN analyst, suit up for the Shock before it won
another championship. And for reasons Ill never understand, that
actually happened this summer.
But then the Shock resumed one of the quickest, most remarkable
rebuilding jobs youll ever see in sports. Without Cash, and then without
Ford, the Shock still led the league in scoring differential and
rebounding differential.
As the final seconds wound down Sunday night, the architect of the
dynasty, Laimbeer, the former Bad Boy, held his hands up in triumph. Hed
done it again. In the locker room soon after, Laimbeer took a giant swig
of champagne, then looked at the bottle, as though he didnt know what he
was drinking.
Uh, Bill, you should recognize that stuff by now. And you might just be
drinking it again next year at this time after all, Ford is coming back,
and who is going to doubt this team?
That, however, is a challenge for another day. Sunday night, the Shock
had something else in mind.
Party! said starting guard Deanna Nolan, a Flint native.
Thats never been a problem for you, huh?
Thats never a problem, she said. Especially in Detroit.
Especially for this franchise.
Courtesy of Detroit Free Press
Candace Parker Named 2008 WNBA MVP
Los Angeles
Sparks' Star Becomes First Player to Win Top Award as a Rookie
Los Angeles Sparks forward Candace Parker (6'4''-F/C-86, college: Tennessee) has been named the 2008 WNBA MVP. Parker
received 276.79 points. Connecticut's
Lindsay Whalen (5'8''-G-82, college:
Minnesota)
finished second with 242.08 points and Seattle's
Sue Bird (5'9''-G-80, college:
Connecticut)
came in third with 218.51 points. It marks the first time in the WNBA's 12
seasons that a rookie has earned the award.
Rounding out the top six vote getters in one of the closest MVP races in WNBA
history were San Antonio's
Sophia Young (6'1''-F-83, college:
Baylor)
(169.62), Phoenix's Diana Taurasi (148.98) and San Antonio's Becky Hammon
(131.75).
Parker, the top overall pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft earlier this year, caps a
season in which she has also earned All-WNBA First Team honors, the Hanns-G 'Go
Beyond' Rookie of the Year Award, two Hanns-G 'Go Beyond' Rookie of the Month
Awards (May and July), one Player of the Week Award (Aug. 31) and the Peak
Performer Rebounding Award.
She nearly averaged a double-double in 2008 (18.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg) and was the only
player in the league to pull down more than nine rebounds per game. Parker
grabbed 10 or more rebounds on 17 occasions and tied her career-high of 16
rebounds three times in 2008, originally set on May 29 at Indiana. In that game,
she tallied five or more in five statistical categories (16 points, 16 rebounds,
six blocks, five assists and five steals) to accomplish the league's first
'5x5.'
In her very first game as a pro at Phoenix on May 17, Parker narrowly missed a
triple-double with 34 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. A native of
Naperville, Ill. and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Parker also led
the league in double-doubles with 17 and ranked among WNBA leaders in rebounds
per game (first), blocks per game (second), points per game (fourth), field goal
percentage (fifth), minutes player (seventh) and assists per game (17th).
Presented by T-Mobile, the WNBA MVP was selected by a panel of 45 national
sportswriters and broadcasters, which accounted for 75 percent of the vote, and
an online fan vote, which accounted for 25 percent of the vote. This was the
first year that an online fan vote was incorporated.
In honor of being named the WNBA Most Valuable Player, Parker will receive
$15,000 and a specially-designed trophy from Tiffany & Co.
Below are the top 25 vote-getters from the 2008 WNBA Most Valuable Player
presented by T-Mobile voting and a list of past recipients:
2008 WNBA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER VOTING RESULTS
Player Team Total Points Candace Parker Los Angeles Sparks 276.79 Lindsay Whalen Connecticut Sun 242.08 Sue Bird Seattle Storm 218.51 Sophia Young San Antonio Silver Stars 169.62
Diana Taurasi Phoenix Mercury 148.98
Becky Hammon San Antonio Silver Stars 131.75
Lisa Leslie Los Angeles Sparks 58.23
Deanna Nolan Detroit Shock 53.84
Asjha Jones Connecticut Sun 42.32
Lauren Jackson Seattle Storm 41.79
Seimone Augustus Minnesota Lynx 27.16
Tina Thompson Houston Comets 26.78
Katie Smith Detroit Shock 15.57
Cappie Pondexter Phoenix Mercury 13.58
Tamika Catchings Indiana Fever 12.38
Janel McCarville New York Liberty 8.39
Sylvia Fowles Chicago Sky 7.83
Swin Cash Seattle Storm 6.35
Kara Lawson Sacramento Monarchs 6.13
DeLisha Milton-Jones Los Angeles Sparks 5.46
Candice Wiggins Minnesota Lynx 5.10
Katie Douglas Indiana Fever 4.79
Betty Lennox Atlanta Dream 4.69
Ann Wauters San Antonio Silver Stars 3.86
Alana Beard Washington Mystics 3.11
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