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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
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.