Posted by Dan on September 29, 2008
2008 WNBA Playoffs Recap – September 28 – No. 1 Detroit Shock 64, No. 3 New York Liberty 55
Eastern Conference
No. 1 Detroit Shock 64, No. 3 New York Liberty 55
YPSILANTI, Mich. – Ten minutes away from advancing to the WNBA Finals, the New York Liberty showed its age. So did the Detroit Shock. Detroit overcame a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit to keep its season alive with a 64-55 victory over the Liberty.
The victory tied up the Eastern Conference Finals and forced a deciding game three on Monday night. For the second game in a row the contest will be played at the Convocation Center on the campus of Eastern Michigan University – which is an hour west of Detroit – because of a scheduling conflict with the Palace of Auburn Hills, the Shocks’ normal home court.
Either Detroit or New York has in the Eastern Conference finals every year accept 2005 since the league expanded the playoffs in 1999. The Shock have won both of the game threes they’ve played in – 2007 against Indiana and at Connecticut in 2006. New York has split both of its game threes – losing to Connecticut in 04 and beating Charlotte on the road in 1999.
After a fairly even first quarter, the Shock dug themselves a hole by only scoring 25 points in the second and third quarters. New York scored 19 points in the third period with Erlana Larkins’ lay up staking the Liberty to 46-38 lead with 1:03 to play in the third.
In the fourth the Liberty, the youngest team in the league, showed their age, and their nerves. New York had three turnovers and a missed lay up during the first two minutes of the quarter and that allowed Detroit to go on a 5-0 run to close within 46-44. Deanna Nolan made four free throws around a Taj McWilliams-Franklin lay up to give Detroit the lead, 50-49, with 6:48 to play.
“I think we showed our youth,” New York head coach Pat Coyle said. “For three quarters, we played really well, but early in the fourth, we missed some shots and got rattled.”
A three-pointer by Loree Moore temporarily gave the Liberty the lead back, but her three ball at the 6:10 mark would be New York’s last points four nearly four and a half minutes. Five different players scored during an 11-0 run as a close game turned into an easy victory of the Shock. Elaine Powell hit a jumper to put Detroit up 61-52 with 1:58 left to cap off the run and get the Shock thinking about game three.
“We played Shock basketball in the fourth quarter, and we started having fun again,” Detroit head coach Bill Laimbeer said. “We just needed to hit a few shots and get things going on defense.”
Her fourth-quarter scoring barrage pushed Nolan to a team-high 22 points to go along with six rebounds. Katie Smith added 11 points and pulled in five rebounds as well. McWilliams-Franklin grabbed 11 rebounds.
Detroit got a huge boost both emotionally and on the court from the return of forward Plenette Pierson. During game two of the opening round, Pierson was dropped to the ground by Indiana’s Ebony Hoffman and separated her shoulder. She missed game three of that series and game one of the one with New York. Runner-up for WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year, she scored 10 points off the bench.
Only one player managed to get into double figures for New York as Christon led the way with 16 points. McCarville was next with nine points while Cathrine Kraayeveld had seven points and nine rebounds.
Good defense at both ends of the court kept the shooting percentages low. Detroit shot 39 percent (23-of-59) to the Liberty’s 37.3 percent (22-of-59). New York was able to keep itself in the game by knocking down the outside shot. The Liberty were 9-of-26 from behind the arc, compared to Detroit’s 2-of-10.
The Shock compensated for their lack of three-point shooting by getting to the free throw lane more. Detroit made twice as many free throws, 16-of-23, than New York took, 2-of-7. Another area where Detroit had a distinct advantage was on the glass. The Shock had a 36-to-24 advantage on the boards with four players grabbing five or more rebounds.
Posted by Dan on
2008 WNBA Playoffs Recap – September 25 – No. 3 New York Liberty 60, No. 1 Detroit Shock 56
Eastern Conference
No. 3 New York Liberty 60, No. 1 Detroit Shock 56
NEW YORK – As the youngest team in the league, the thought of being on the doorstep of the WNBA Finals may have been overwhelming to the New York Liberty. Fortunately for the third-seeded team in the Eastern Conference they were able to recover from a poor finish to the first quarter and beat the top-seeded Detroit Shock, 60-56, in first game of the conference finals.
The Liberty started the game by only scoring eight points and played even for the next two quarters before making their move in the fourth. New York outscored Detroit 24-14 in the fourth to prevail by four.
The series now shifts to Detroit for game two and potentially game three. Game two will be played Sunday afternoon, but the game will not be played on the Shock’s home floor. Because of scheduling conflicts with The Palace of Auburn Hills, the game two and game three, if necessary, will be played at the Convocation Center on the campus of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich., which is about an hour away.
For the opening minutes of the game it looked that Detroit was the younger of the two teams as they managed to score only two points for the first four minutes of the game. A lay up by Shameka Christon at the 3:06 mark of the first quarter gave the Liberty an 8-7 lead, but that would be the last points the host would score the rest of the period.
Detroit went on a 10-run from the three-minute mark of the first quarter through the first 2:26 of the second to capture a 17-8 advantage. A lay up by Janel McCarville would stop the Shock’s run and sparked one by the Liberty. She personally outscored Detroit 9-2 over the next two minutes to pull New York within three, 19-16.
The Shock would recover and take a six-point lead into the locker room, 29-23. Just like it did to start the game, New York played excellent defense to start the second half. Again it was McCarville capping a run that gave the Liberty a 34-33 lead with 5:25 to go in the third.
Katie Smith made a pair of baskets that helped Detroit take a 42-36 lead at the end of three quarters. Once again the Liberty’s defense came through as they held the Shock to just one point through the first 5:24 of the fourth quarter. Essence Carson and Cathrine Kraayeveld combined to score eight points in two minutes to push the Liberty’s lead to five, 55-50, with 1:55 to play.
Deanna Nolan, who scored the Shock’s last 11 points, hit a trio of free throws to close the margin to 57-56 with just 18 seconds left. After Erin Thorn hit two free throws, Nolan missed a three pointer that would have tied the game and another Thorn three sealed the victory.
McCarville led the way for New York, producing a team-high 17 points. The only other Liberty player to reach double figure was Christon and she produced a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Sixty-three percent of Detroit’s scoring came from two players. Nolan scored a game-high 22 points and Smith added 13 more.
Both teams played great defense as neither team shot better than 36 percent from the field with New York having a slight edge – 35.9 percent to 34.4 percent. Neither team was particularly sharp from behind the arc, as Detroit shot 31.3 percent (5-of-16) to Liberty’s 4-of-14 (28.6 percent).
As a result, both teams had a number of rebounds. After Christon’s 11 boards, four more New York players had four or more rebounds and Detroit had six players that grabbed that many boards. The Liberty had a one-board advantage, 37-to-36.
Posted by Dan on September 26, 2008
2008 WNBA Playoffs Recap – September 24 – No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 85, No. 1 San Antonio Silver Stars 70
Western Conference
No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 85, No. 1 San Antonio Silver Stars 70
LOS ANGELES – Through the first quarter of game one in the WNBA Western Conference Finals it appeared that the top seeded San Antonio Stars had broken out of the offensive funk that plagued them during the first round. Then the second started.
The Silver Stars jumped out to a quick 26-17 lead after the first 10 minutes of play. The rest of the way San Antonio only scored 44 points as it dropped an 85-70 decision to the number three seed Los Angeles Sparks. The game was played on the USC campus because of a scheduling conflict with the Staples Center.
Game two is Saturday night in San Antonio at the AT&T Center. Despite having the second-best home record in the league, the Silver Stars dropped their first home playoff games to Sacramento and needed overtime to finish off the Monarchs.
This is the second year in a row that San Antonio has found itself trailing in the Western Conference Finals. Last season they lost their first game to Phoenix, who swept them and went on to win the WNBA Championship.
The victory was the Sparks’ first in the conference finals since the 2003 season when they beat Sacramento in the game three. Los Angeles lost in three to Detroit during the WNBA Finals.
After the Sparks found themselves down nine points following the first quarter, Los Angeles started the second quarter on a 9-2 run to pull within 28-26 on a pair of Marie Ferdinand-Harris free throws. Candace Parker hit a pair of baskets during a 2:23 stretch with the second giving LA a 35-34 lead.
The two teams would trade baskets until WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Lisa Leslie took control of the game. She scored six-straight points to ignite an 11-0 run by Los Angeles to close the half with the Sparks leading 48-39.
The second half started with San Antonio scoring the first two baskets to cut the lead to five, 48-43, at the 8:05 mark. The Sparks answered with a quick run of their own as Ferdinand-Harris hit a pair of baskets to push the margin to 11. The lead would remain around 10 for the rest of the quarter.
The Silver Stars worked to cut the lead to six, 74-68, on a lay up by Erin Buescher at the 5:05 mark. Unfortunately, San Antonio would only make one of its last eight shots as the Sparks closed the game on an 11-2 run.
Leading all scorers was Leslie as she poured in 22 points to go along with seven points and four assists before she fouled out for the second playoff game in a row. Posting her first career playoff double-double was Parker with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Ferdinand-Harris and Tameka Johnson equaled Parker’s 14 points.
A starter in the first three games, Johnson came off the bench against San Antonio.
She added five assists and Shannon Bobbitt had five more. The knock on LA has been is front court, but Johnson and Bobbitt have risen to the occasion at home. The challenge for them will be to get it done on the road.
During the opening round the Silver Stars had the top scoring tandem in the Becky Hammon and Sophia Young as they both averaged 19 points. In game one they were held to combined 25 points. Ann Wauters led San Antonio with 18 points and Vickie Johnson had 10. The Silver Stars’ starting five accounted for 89 percent of the team’s scoring.
Los Angeles was on fire from the floor, hitting 52.9 percent (36-68) to the Silver Stars’ 40.3 percent (25-of-62). The Sparks also dominated San Antonio on the boards, 37-21, and in the assist category, 27-16.
Posted by Dan on September 24, 2008
2008 WNBA Playoffs Recap – September 23 – No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 71, No. 2 Seattle Storm 64
Western Conference
No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 71, No. 2 Seattle Storm 64
SEATTLE – Not even the best home record in the WNBA could help the Seattle Storm. Rookie Candace Parker reminded Los Angeles fans of another spectacular rookie during the playoffs as she scored 20 points to help the No. 3 Sparks beat the No. 2 Storm, 71-64, in the opening round of the playoffs.
This was the third time the two teams have met in the playoffs with LA winning all three. In 2006 the Sparks won game three on their home court. Los Angeles swept the series in 2002. Seattle has been bounced out of the playoffs in the first round for the fourth year in a row.
The Sparks have won three of the four game three contests in their history, but this was the first time that they prevailed on the road. For the second time in four years Seattle lost a game three on its home court and they have lost all three of the game threes.
The Sparks advance to their second Western Conference Finals in the last three years. They are trying to make their first WNBA Finals since the 2003 seasons.
Los Angles will face the number one seed in the West, the San Antonio Silver Stars with the series starting on Thursday. This will be the first meeting between the two in the playoffs since the Silver Stars moved to San Antonio from Utah.
The home team won all four games of the regular season series. While the series starts in LA, it will shift back to the Lone Star State for the final two games.
Throughout the game Los Angeles kept building its lead. Seattle was only down three after Camille Little hit a pair of free throws with 1:04 left in the half. The Sparks answered with a pair of baskets, including a bucket by Temeka Johnson with seven seconds left, to send the visitors into the locker room up 42-35.
Los Angeles held Seattle to just 10 points in the third quarter to push their margin up to 59-45 with just 10 minutes left. The lead was down to 10, 61-51, at the 5:43 mark when the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Lisa Leslie had to go to the bench with her fifth foul
This allowed Seattle to get back into the game as they went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 61-58 on a pair of baskets by Sue Bird. Another Bird jumper got the Storm back within three, 65-62, but a pair of turnovers on Seattle’s next two possessions forced the Storm to foul. Los Angeles hit all six of its free throws in final 30 seconds and Seattle could only muster a pair of points the rest of the way.
After scoring 21 points in the first two WNBA playoff games of her career, Parker scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. She also grabbed five rebounds and had four assists. Before she fouled out, Leslie had 15 points and seven rebounds. Marie Ferdinand-Harris added 12 points and DeLisha Milton-Jones grabbed a tied for the game high at eight rebounds.
Tanisha Wright had her best playoff game of the series, tying Parker for the game-high with 20 points to go along with six rebounds. Little was next with 17 points and Bird added 16 plus five assists.
Neither team was particularly accurate with the Sparks holding a slim 41.9 percent (26-of-62) to the Storm’s 38.1 percent (24-of-63). The difference was the foul line as Los Angeles made more free throws, 18-of-25, than Seattle took, 13-of-15.
