WNBA President Donna Orender made a bold, accurate assessment Saturday night -- "the San Antonio-Phoenix rivalry is year-round."
She joined the likes of TV darling Heather Cox in presenting the Phoenix Mercury with the WNBA Western Conference Championship title, after the Mercury's 98-92 win over the San Antonio Silver Stars, propelling Phoenix to their second straight 2-0 postseason series sweep of an opponent.
Phoenix's Cappie Pondexter stole the show, as she's done this entire postseason, scoring a season-high 33 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and drilling 8 assists.
"I've just been trying to attack the rim and make plays," says Cappie, a Capricorn by birth (DOB: January 7), though she says that's not what's behind the name Cappie. "But I have to credit my teammates and the coaches for giving me great opportunities."
The Mercury's win comes just months after the San Antonio Spurs handed the Phoenix Suns a controversially crushing defeat in the NBA Playoffs.
In the eastern time zone, it took the defending WNBA champions four days and three games to do it (including a back-to-back affair), but the Detroit Shock earned a second straight trip to the Finals and their third such berth in five years. They beat the Indiana Fever 81-65 in game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, taking the series 2-1, and improving to 11-2 in elimination games under head coach Bill Laimbeer.
"We play all year long to secure the home-court advantage," Laimbeer proudly says. "We talk about it from the start of the year, until the end of the year, that if we win our home games, we are the WNBA champions again, and that has been our mentality."
In this deciding game of Detroit's second consecutive 2-1 playoff series win, Shock guard Deanna Nolan scored 30 points (20 of them in a 14-minute span), while collecting 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
40 Years Ago This Week...are you ready?
In early September of 1967, TV viewers were getting ready for the exciting lineup of NBC season premieres about to come to the screens of those big pieces of furniture known as televisions...quite a few of which were still colorless. In looking at this Phoenix/Detroit matchup, there are several story lines, yet the biggest questions go along with the same anticipation TV audiences 40 years ago were asking.
Is Phoenix's offensive 'bonanza' too fast for Detroit's 'dragnet?' The Mercury averaged a league-best 88.8 points per game, and twice already this postseason scored over 100, 'running (with the ball) for their lives!' Plus, Phoenix has boldy gone where no offense has 'trekked' before, spawning three of the league's top 10 scorers in Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, and Penny Taylor...a first in WNBA history.
"I think that's the beauty of our team," says Taylor. "Everyone can score, everyone's a threat. Regardless of what the other team does, we need to have that same energy."
Detroit though has shown the most defensive prowess, grabbing an average of 42.83 rebounds, and 'getting smart' by allowing under 70 points per game.
Shock fans' dreams of Tweety, a.k.a Deanna Nolan, might come true again, as she and fellow guard Katie Smith create an I-Spy sort of duo, averaging more than 30 points per game, giving Detroit an offense to go with their defense.
“We’re both transition teams, we both like to get out and go," says Nolan of her own squad and the Mercury. “This series is going to be a matter of making shots." Phoenix sank more 3-point shots in 2007 than anyone, 290, while the Shock were second, with 203 - a challenge for both teams' perimeter defenders.
The Shock were the the 'High Chaparral's' in both regular season meetings, winning in June in Phoenix, 87-84, and crushing them on July 8th, 111-82 on Detroit's 'ironside.' In those meetings, Detroit overcame their largest deficits of the year, 16 in the June 22 Arizona game and 11 in the later match.
"What happens in the regular season has nothing to do with the postseason," admits Laimbeer, the man from U.N.C.L.E. Actually, he grew up in Southern California. "Everyone's on the same travel schedule, there are no back-to-back games in the finals, it's totally different."
So, the 2007 WNBA Finals pits Phoenix's 'accidental family' of Taurasi, Taylor, Pondexter, running guard Kelly Miller and talented post player, center Tangela Smith, against Detroit, the 'mothers in-law' of two WNBA titles: Nolan, Smith, All Star game MVP Cheryl Ford, forward Swin Cash and center Kara Braxton.
And in between, a Bell Telephone Hour's worth of T-Mobile commercials in which Duane Wade and Charles Barkley will make us laugh.
The Finals tip off Wednesday, September 5th at 7:30 p.m. EST, 'in living color,' on ESPN2.
