Detroit Shock-New York Liberty playoff gamer for the Detroit Free Press
Detroit guard Shannon Johnson is defended by the Liberty's Erin Thorn in the second half Friday night in New York.
GAME 1 | NEW YORK 73, DETROIT 51
Speedy Liberty dominates Shock; defending champs face elimination
August 25, 2007
NEW YORK -- Bill Laimbeer sat and stared in disgust.
His team, the defending WNBA champion, was being dismantled by a team that finished the regular season with a 16-18 record -- worst of all the playoff teams. His team, which boasted about dominating the league, was being dominated.
And now, after Friday night's 73-51 loss to the Liberty, the Shock is down, 1-0, in the best-of-three series and on the precipice of being eliminated from the playoffs."We didn't play basketball," said Laimbeer. "We didn't want it, basically. We didn't want it at all, and that was a little bit discouraging. We didn't have any desire to compete. We weren't cohesive as a ball club coming into this game. They have to find it in the next day and a half, and I hope they do."
For a team making its first playoff appearance since 2005, the Liberty did not back down before the defending champions. Rather, it was New York that controlled the tempo. It seemed as if the Liberty grabbed every loose ball and used its speed to get good looks against the Shock's zone defense. And the Liberty made those looks count, connecting on 40% of its shots from the field and 37.5% from three-point range.
"They're going to play geeked-up basketball, and we're going to have to match that intensity," Laimbeer said. "New York played hard; they played a hard-nosed basketball game like you are supposed to in the playoffs."
The Shock finished the first half with a 12-5 run that tied the game at 25. Most of that came from Shannon Johnson and Deanna Nolan; Johnson poured in nine points in the half, and Nolan -- who was named to the WNBA's All-Defensive First Team before the game -- added eight. Nolan finished with 16 points, Johnson with 11 and Ivory Latta with 10.
The momentum carried over into the second half. Swin Cash's putback 1:05 into the third quarter gave the Shock a 29-27 advantage, its first lead since 2-0.
The lead was short-lived. The Liberty went on a 23-3 run to take a 50-32 lead. New York, which led the WNBA in three-point shooting in the regular season with a .372 clip, made four threes and had a three-point play during the run. Shameka Christon led New York with 16 points. Cathrine Kraayeveld and Janel McCarville each scored 13.
Earlier in the day, the league announced that Detroit reserve center Tausha Mills was suspended without pay for Games 1 and 2 of the series because of violating the WNBA antidrug program. It's unclear what substance Mills was alleged to have taken, and director of public relations John Maxwell did not respond to an e-mail on the matter. Laimbeer said that both Mills and the team were informed about the suspension Thursday.
The Shock signed Mills as a free agent on Aug. 9, in response to losing star forward Cheryl Ford with a sprained knee. The 6-foot-3, 232-pound Mills played five of the last six games -- missing the 87-77 loss to the Houston Comets on Aug. 16. She scored 15 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in 51 minutes.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070825/SPORTS04/708250376/1048/SPORTS
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 9:27 AM
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