SCHEDULE

Gm 1: at Detroit, Wed., 8/31, 8 p.m. ET. ESPN2

Gm 2: at Conn., Fri., 9/2, 8 p.m. ET. ESPN2

Gm 3*: at Conn., Sun., 9/4, 4 p.m. ET. ESPN2

The Connecticut Sun dominated the Western Conference this season, losing only once in 14 games. Not that they struggled against the Eastern Conference much en route to the best record in the WNBA this season, but the Sun only had a losing record against one team this season. The Detroit Shock. The Shock have not shown the same dominance with which they won the 2003 WNBA title, bowing out in the first round of the 2004 Playoffs and finishing with a .500 record in 2005. Yet, a late-season trade for Olympian Katie Smith means that the Shock start five All-Stars and are a very dangerous team. But the Sun are loaded with weapons as well. Nykesha Sales and Taj McWilliams-Franklin were All-Stars in their own right, and guard Lindsay Whalen could very well have been. The Sun have also had three different players win WNBA Player of the Week honors. These two teams have a history of not getting along, so it should make for an interesting series.

2005 Regular Season: Detroit Shock 3 - Connecticut Sun 1 Some fast facts about the Sun-Shock first-round matchup:
McWilliams-Franklin	One of the deepest, most balanced teams in history, four Sun players averaged better than 11.0 ppg this season: Nykesha Sales, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Lindsay Whalen and Katie Douglas. The Shock started out the season just as strong as the Sun and looked like they would contend for the conference crown, winning five of six games to start the season. However they went on to lose their next nine of eleven games and were not above .500 since mid-June. The Sun had winning streaks of eight games, six games, four games and three games (twice) this season. They only lost back-to-back games twice, both times to New York and Indiana. Katie Smith, the only player to play in all 36 games of a 34-game WNBA season this year, averaged a little better than 10 ppg after the trade to Detroit, well below her career average of 17.2 ppg. But in playing just 13 games with Detroit, she still finished second on the team in 3-pointers made behind Deanna Nolan.	Nolan

Saturday, May 21, 2005: Shock 78,Sun 67 | Box score

Saturday, June 18, 2005: Sun 73, Shock 63 | Box score
Wednesday, July 20, 2005: Shock 66, Sun 57 | Box score

Saturday, July 30, 2005: Shock 75, Sun 66 | Box score