WNBA Playoff Preview – Eastern Conference – No. 1 Seed Detroit Shock vs. No. 3 Seed New York Liberty

Posted by Dan on September 26, 2008

WNBA Playoff Preview
Eastern Conference
No. 1 Seed Detroit Shock vs. No. 3 Seed New York Liberty
Season Series: Detroit Won 3-1
In Detroit: Detroit Leads 2-0
In New York: Series Tied 1-1
Last Meeting: September 14, Detroit won 61-59 in New York

Sept 25 @ DET 72-62
July 12  @ NYC 74-64
Aug 29 @ DET 83-69
Sep 14 @ NYC, DET 61-59

Playoff Schedule:
Friday, September 26 @ New York, 7:30 p.m. TV: MSG, NBA TV
Sunday, September 28 @ Detroit, 3 p.m. TV: ESPN2
If Necessary Monday, September 29 @ Detroit, 7 p.m. TV: ESPN2

This Season Series:
One of the better road teams on the road, New York has won a Eastern Conference best nine games this season away from Madison Square Garden, but one of the places they couldn’t win was The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Liberty dropped both of their contests in Motown by a combined 24 points this season. Because of a scheduling conflict New York won’t actually have to step foot in the Palace as game two, and potentially game three, will be played in the Convocation Center on the campus of Eastern Michigan University, which is located about an hour west in Ypsilanti.  At home New York won its lone game against the Shock, 74-64, and dropped a 61-59 decision in the season finale.

About the Detroit Shock:
Detroit extended its winning streak from the regular season to six games with an opening round victory over the Connecticut Sun, but they had their streak stopped in game two, 89-82 in overtime. During the game, forward Plienette Pierson was dropped to the floor by the Sun’s Ebony Hoffman. That fired up the Shocks as they played well at both end of the court during a 80-61 drubbing of Indiana in game three. Detroit has been in three of the last four WNBA Finals, winning the whole thing in 2006 and 2003. They lost last season in four games to Sacramento. The Shock have won an Eastern Conference best 15 games at home this season and are tied with New York as the best road team with nine victories.

About the New York Liberty:
The youngest team in the WNBA, New York had an up and down finish the regular season, but put it together to during the first round of the playoffs. After winning game one on their home court, the Liberty nearly swept the series, losing 73-70 in game two. They completed the upset of the second-seeded Sun on Monday night with the 66-62 decision. New York has been getting it done on the defensive end of the court, limiting the Sun to only 65 points per game and 62.5 ppg. during their two victories. The Liberty advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for just the second time since the 2002 season. New York had to win an Eastern Conference-best nine road wins to make up for a 12-6 mark a home that is the lowest of the any of the eight teams that qualified for the playoffs.

The Match Up
The Eastern Conference Finals will be a match up of the old Beast of the East versus the new Beast. The Liberty were in four of the first six WNBA Finals, but they never won a championship. Now Detroit has taken over as the East’s top dog. During the regular season both teams held opponents to 74 ppg. and in the playoffs Detroit has stayed true to that number while New York has limited to nine points below that. The Liberty have needed to play better defense as their scoring is also down by seven points. The Shock have turned up their efforts on offense, scoring 81 ppg., compared to their 78.6 during the regular season.

Players To Watch:
Detroit guard Deanna Nolan has been the top scorer during the playoffs with an average of 19.6 ppg. Forward Taj McWilliams-Franklin has also reached double figures in all three games. Guard Katie Smith, a potential league MVP candidate disappeared in game one, but has score 15 points in each of the last two. On the boards, Kara Braxton has had six or more rebounds in all three games. Through the first two games Pierson was giving the Shock solid minutes off the bench, but her status for the conference finals is uncertain.

In all three playoff games New York had three players in double figures with Shameka Christon and Janel McCarville getting there in all three games. Christon is leading the way at 14.3 while McCarvline is averaging an even dozen points. Guard Cathrine Kraayevled has been distributing the ball extremely well, averaging seven assists per game. Rebounding has been a total team effort with a different player leading the team each game.

Prediction:
New York just isn’t scoring enough points right now to keep up with the Shock. If they were a little bit more experienced team they might have a fighting chance, but Detroit will be back in the finals after a sweep of the Liberty.