SAN ANTONIO (AP) - If the WNBA finals are going to be about stopping the other team's top scorer, Detroit guard Deanna Nolan thinks the Shock have the edge over the San Antonio Silver Stars.
Nolan speaks from the experience of Game 1, when she struggled through a 5-for-16 shooting night while veteran teammate Katie Smith propped her up with a playoff career-high 25 points.
The Silver Stars didn't get the same kind of help for Becky Hammon, who had just four points through three quarters of Detroit's 77-69 victory. Game 2 is Friday night in San Antonio before the series shifts to Michigan for Game 3 on Sunday.
Although Sophia Young scored 21 points for San Antonio, no one could match the impact of Smith, a 10-year veteran who was 4-of-8 from 3-point range and added nine rebounds. Her four-point play gave Detroit its first double-digit lead late in the first half.
"Katie was stepping back and shooting 3s with a post on her," Nolan said. "I don't know if they're going to do the same thing, but that's something that's an advantage on our side."
Combined with Taj McWilliams-Franklin (24 points), the duo that usually plays alongside the spotlight of Nolan scored more than half of Detroit's points.
"I thought Katie Smith got it going well," Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes said. "But Franklin was especially troublesome to us in that situation."
Franklin hit 11 of 16 from the floor.
It was a great help to Nolan, who scored 10 points. That's a playoff low this season after averaging 20.7 points in the postseason coming into the finals.
Hammon carried the Silver Stars into their first finals with a playoff career high of 35 points in the deciding game of the Western Conference finals against Los Angeles. Entering the fourth quarter against Detroit, though, she was 1-of-5 shooting before warming up a bit and finishing with 13.
Shock coach Bill Laimbeer said the defensive work from Nolan and Smith either met Hammon head on or directed her penetrations into a smothering defense in the lane.
"You can try to keep (Hammon) from dominating, and I think that's what our team did tonight," Laimbeer said.
Hammon said Detroit's defense was equally effective guarding the perimeter. Hammon, who was 18-of-35 from 3-point range entering the finals, was 0-for-3 from long distance in Game 1. The Silver Stars went 1-for-12 as a team.
"They took our 3-pointers away; I know they took mine away," Hammon said. "They're very committed to bringing a lot of attention, so we just have to have a lot of other people step up and knock down shots for us."
But there are fewer possibilities for the Silver Stars lately. San Antonio played without key reserves Helen Darling and Edwige Lawson-Wade in Game 1. Darling strained her right calf and Lawson-Wade sprained her right ankle during in Game 2 of the Los Angeles series.
Their status is uncertain for Friday night's game. Lawson-Wade would be another outside threat. She is 7-of-15 from 3-point range in the playoffs.
"Hopefully, some healing takes place in the next few days," Hughes said. |