Related Images
Last Year’s Finals Teams Facing Early Adversity
The slumping San Antonio Silver Stars were on their way to falling to 1-4 on the season on Tuesday as they trailed the first-place Phoenix Mercury by five heading into the fourth quarter.
With San Antonio coming off back-to-back resounding defeats at the hands of the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Sun, it was a game the reigning Western Conference champions had to have. The Silver Stars had lost three of four games to open the season while watching the Mercury, Seattle Storm and Minnesota Lynx get off to hot starts in the West.
Much like the Mercury in 2008, the Silver Stars have found defending their Western Conference crown to be a tough task, at least early on. To this point the Silver Stars have yet to win a road game in three tries after posting the best record away from home last year (9-8). And their offensive efficiency, which had made them so dangerous last season and even the year prior, has seemingly vanished, as they are currently 11th in the league in points per game (70.4).
There have been a myriad of reasons for San Antonio's struggles. The team is playing the early part of the season without their starting center from last year,
On top of the M.I.A.'s San Antonio also hasn't received the production it had hoped for out of some typically reliable players as well as their new additions. In an inexplicable funk that started in last season's WNBA Finals, Erin Perperoglou averaged just 3.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists through the team's first four games. Shanna Crossley, who missed all of last year with a knee injury, was averaging 6.0 points and shooting just 36 percent from the floor in two games this season before she suffered a torn meniscus in her left knee that will sideline her three-to-four weeks. Free agent signing Belinda Snell had only contributed 5.3 points per game prior to Tuesday while shooting a putrid 18 percent from the floor. And Katie Mattera and rookie Megan Frazee have yet to make a significant impact on their new team.
Perhaps the seeds of San Antonio's poor play were planted in last year's WNBA Finals when they were soundly defeated by the Detroit Shock in three straight games. While losing in a championship round can be a motivating factor for some teams the following season, it can take a psychological toll on others. After San Antonio did nearly everything right leading up to the 2008 WNBA Finals, everything seemed to go wrong against the Shock. Staring down the prospect of having to do it all over again in 2009 while raising their level of play to stay competitive in the much-improved West has to be daunting, especially when the aforementioned obstacles are thrown into the mix.
The strange part is the other half of last year's WNBA Finals matchup may be worse off right now.
As if repeating in the WNBA wasn't difficult enough, the Shock have been hit with a cavalcade of adversity to begin 2009. Of course, the most demoralizing setback had to be the resignation of head coach and general manager Bill Laimbeer, who had led the franchise to three WNBA championships and built a dynasty in the process. Citing a desire to go after an NBA head coaching job, Laimbeer stepped aside three games into the season and handed over the coaching reins to assistant Rick Mahorn and the GM duties to assistant
The Shock may have championship pedigree, but Mahorn hasn't necessary walked into an ideal situation.
First, there are injuries. Cheryl Ford, who has battled knee problems for the better part of the last two seasons, suffered a setback prior to this season that caused her to miss the team's first three games. Deanna Nolan is playing after recovering from a shoulder injury that she suffered overseas. And it was just announced Wendesday that Plenette Pierson, who suffered an injury to her right shoulder in the team's opener against the Sparks, underwent surgery and is done for the season.
The injury concerns up front would be easier to withstand if Kara Braxton hadn't been suspended for the team's first six games for violating league rules. Fortunately for the Shock she has just one game remaining on her suspension and should return to the team Sunday against Sacramento. But Detroit also needs to be wary now of Taj McWilliams, who turns 39 this year and has been inconsistent so far this season.
Guard Katie Smith, 35, has also yet to hit her stride in 2009, averaging just 11.6 points and 2.2 assists while shooting only 36 percent from the field.
As a result of all of this, the team that has won the East the past three seasons finds itself in a previously unfathomable position -- at the bottom of the conference standings with a 1-4 record. Detroit's most recent loss saw it squander a 17-point lead in Indiana.
Sure, once all are playing together, Nolan, Ford, Smith, Braxton and McWilliams should help Detroit creep back near the top of the East though their talent and experience, but they now have to do it under the guidance of a first-time head coach. And one has to wonder about the long-term effects of losing Laimbeer and Pierson and thus what this team will look like come September.
San Antonio's prospects for returning to the Finals appear to be more favorable at this point. Hammon and Johnson rejoined to the team in its last game, Wauters should came back refreshed in July, Sophia Young is in her prime, Ruth Riley is playing her best ball in years and Dan Hughes, a two-time Coach of the Year, is still regarded as one of the best motivators in the league.
And on Tuesday the Silver Stars showed that they were getting closer to resembling the team that finished 2008 with the league's best record. San Antonio outscored the Phoenix Mercury 28-20 in the final quarter to rally for a 91-87 victory and improve their record to a respectable 2-3. And it wasn't all Hammon and Young. In fact, Young made just 5-of-17 field goals and Hammon totaled only three assists. Snell picked up the offensive slack against her former team by pouring in 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench, and the Silver Stars totaled 22 assists as a team, compared to just 13 for Phoenix. Much like the Silver Stars did for most of last season, they found a way to win Tuesday, getting contributions from more than just their star players.
Many people may not remember this but the Silver Stars actually began the 2008 campaign 3-4 and lost just six more times over their remaining 27 regular season games. And the Shock were thought to be out of contention for the 2008 title on a couple of occasions after crushing injuries to first Ford and then Pierson.
In other words, never count these teams out.