For starters, Indiana and Detroit each have three players in the mid-season showcase, and on top of that, the entire East starting lineup is made up of players from those two teams, who by no coincidence are setting the pace in the conference at the break.
Both the Sun and Mystics have a pair of players in the 2007 WNBA All-Star Game, meaning four teams make up 10 of the spots on the 11-player roster. (Candice Dupree is the Chicago Sky’s lone representative, while no members of the New York Liberty were selected to participate.)
“That’s the way it always works because you get some powerhouse teams in there stacked with great players,” said East head coach Bill Laimbeer of the defending-champion Detroit Shock. “They’re going to be on the team.”
Simply put, the first-place Fever and second-place Shock earned their multiple selections by dominating the rest of the East with well-balanced attacks during the season’s first half.
“It’s a testimony to how our team has been playing,” said Indiana’s Tammy Sutton-Brown, who was selected as reserve for the East. “We’ve been playing well up until this point. To be able to have three people represent our team is a really good thing. To be able to share this whole weekend with them and not do it on your own is definitely a good thing.”
The Sun are actually down three players in the All-Star Game from last year thanks to a somewhat disappointing 9-11 start, although they have turned things around lately. In 2006, Douglas, Lindsay Whalen, Nykesha Sales, Taj McWilliams-Franklin and Margo Dydek all represented Connecticut in the contest.
“I was very fortunate last year to have four teammates in the game with me, and it was a lot of fun,” said Douglas, who was last year’s All-Star Game MVP. “This year it’s just Ashja (Jones) and I, but we’re having a lot of fun and I’m definitely fortunate to have her here.”
Jones, a six-year veteran, was equally excited to have Douglas by her side for her first All-Star experience.
“It makes things a lot easier,” said Jones. “It’s a lot more comfortable having that one person you’re always around.”
There’s a good chance Douglas and Jones will get to play together on the court at the same time on Sunday. Ditto for Washington’s DeLisha Milton-Jones and Alana Beard. And there’s no doubt the Shock players will get to play together since all three will be starting. But it might be trickier for Indiana’s Anna DeForge, Tamika Catchings and Sutton-Brown to all play at once against the West.
“Yeah, it would be nice,” said Sutton-Brown about playing together at the same time. “I don’t know if (Laimbeer) is going to make that happen, but we’ll see.”
“I hope Bill doesn’t hold us back,” joked DeForge. “Because we already have that flow, that rhythm, that chemistry, he may screw it up.”
But perhaps the non-Shock players should be worrying less about seeing action at the same time and more about just getting a sufficient amount of minutes from Coach Laimbeer.
“I told him not to do that, to not be biased like that during an All-Star Game,” said Detroit guard Deanna Nolan. “He should play everybody evenly.”
Should is the operative word there. But it doesn’t sound like Laimbeer is out to make any friends on Sunday.
“Well, last I looked I’ve never been accused of playing something and not trying to win, so I’m gonna try to win,” Laimbeer said.
And that might require relying on the collection of teammates that he knows best.
Center (or Guard or Forward) of Attention
When asked if he intended to shut down one player on the West Sunday, Laimbeer admitted to having such a plan, but wouldn’t reveal who would be the focus of the East’s attention.
“We’re going to keep that a secret until tomorrow,” Laimbeer said. “We have a defensive gameplan that’s planned around a certain individual, but we’ll bring that out tomorrow.”
The most likely candidates are Lauren Jackson, Diana Taurasi and Seimone Augustus. Jackson, an early favorite to win MVP, seems like the obvious choice, but since smaller players typically rule All-Star games, the Aussie from Seattle is no lock. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Dreams Become Reality
Following East practice, Milton-Jones of the host Washington Mystics talked about what it meant to play in front of kids from the Richard England Boys and Girls Club in northeast D.C.
“It means the world to me," said Milton-Jones. "These kids have something right in front of them that they can look at and say ‘OK, they were once like me. This was their dream and they achieved it. I can do the same thing.’ So when they come out here and see us, it’s really visual for them and they can see and touch and hear everything we have to say and it can impact their lives.”
Stuffing is No Shock
With a couple of surprising names showing up in the East starting lineup, Laimbeer was asked what he thought about All-Star ballot box stuffing.
“Well, every team in the league does it, both men and women do the same thing,” said Laimbeer. “They have their parties and fans all vote for their players and it doesn’t really affect anything because they all vote for their players. It’s the other conference, especially in our league, that affects the voting for the starters.”
Laimbeer added that he was satisfied with his starting five because it was what the fans wanted to see.
Downtown Deanna
The East held a halfcourt shooting competition toward the end of practice, with Laimbeer offering up $200 to the player that made the shot. After the first round of attempts resulted in no winner, the prize was lowered to $150 before Nolan came out the victor.
It turned out to be a return to glory for the first-time All-Star starter.
“Well, every year, after every shootaround in Detroit we have this contest,” said Nolan. “Now, this year in Detroit I hadn’t made it, so this was the first time. But the year before I used to make it all the time. So this is a sign that the East is going to win.”
Most impressive about the bomb was that Nolan sank it with a set shot.
“When you run into it you’re pushing it and it’ll throw you off,” said Nolan. “But when you’re a set shooter you can guide it to where you want it to go.”
Bring on the Subs?
The East also held shooting competitions between the starters and the subs, and early on the subs couldn’t be touched, winning the first four challenges from various spots on the court. Granted, the subs had six players to the starters’ five, but it took some shady score-keeping in the second round of competitions to finally get the starters on the winning track.
That begged the question, could the East subs beat the starters if they played each other?
“Oh, without a doubt we could take the starters,” said Beard. “But it’s not about us taking the starters; it’s about us taking the West right now so we’ll see how that goes.”
 Indiana's Tamika Catchings, left, and Tammy Sutton-Brown of the East All-Stars look on during practice.
Ned Dishman/NBAE/Getty Images
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