Sun, Storm Take WNBA to Limit
The WNBA season finally concludes tonight with either Seattle or Connecticut as a first-time champion. And that conclusion is both good and bad for the league.
Good in the sense that, having been forced into playing into October to make up for the month’s worth of games lost because of the Olympic Games, the league’s playoff profile has had to struggle through the maze of baseball and football flooding the sporting public’s consciousness.
Bad in the sense that the current best-of-three format will cut short some intriguing story lines.
Seattle is saying all the right things publicly. “We knew every team in the WNBA is a good team,” said veteran center Janell Burse. “We didn’t expect anything to be easy.”
But privately the Storm, after coming out of the rugged Western Conference, might have felt it won the championship by outlasting Sacramento in the conference finals. Eastern Conference champion Connecticut has displayed more pluck and verve than expected and been a worthy challenger.
“I don’t think there’s a player on either side that doesn’t realize it will come down to every possession,” Seattle Coach Anne Donovan said. “Early in the game, late in the game, every possession will matter.”
Another surprising development has been the emergence of Katie Douglas as a stopper. The 6-foot Connecticut guard, more known as a scorer, doesn’t appear especially quick or mobile. But she has effectively neutralized All-WNBA first-team pick and Olympian Sue Bird. The 5-9 Storm guard has averaged 11 points but is shooting only 35% and has more turnovers, eight, than assists, five.
“Do I think she’s doing a great job? Yes,” Bird said. “She denies the ball from me very well, more so in transition. I can’t get the outlet pass and go, which is what we want to do. When we’re running we can be a real good transition team. And she’s done a good job of stopping that.”
Seattle’s key counterpuncher has been Betty Lennox. The 5-8 shooting guard, who has played for four teams in her five seasons, has long been considered a terrific talent and a headache to coach. But she has been embraced in Seattle and the payback has been tenfold. She is averaging 22 points in the series and is proving too quick and too savvy for rookie point guard Lindsay Whalen -- or any other Sun player -- to stop.
Sun Coach Mike Thibault doesn’t put all the blame on Whalen, though.
“On Sunday, Betty got her shots against four different people,” he said of Lennox’s 27 points. “Sometimes we switched on her, sometimes we didn’t. She had about eight or 10 of the 27 on Lindsay. It’s a team game, and both teams are here because they play good team basketball.”
With the exception of Nykesha Sales’ 32-point outburst Sunday, the frontcourt action has been a wash. Neither team has had a discernible edge, with the officiating permitting physical inside play by both sides.
“It’s definitely been more contact than we’re used to seeing without going to the free-throw line,” Donovan said. “Are they letting the players decide the game? You could call it that way. I won’t say anymore.”
If either the Storm trio of Lauren Jackson, Sheri Sam and Kamila Vodichkova or the Sun threesome of Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Wendy Palmer-Daniel and Sales can impose its collective will, it might be the difference tonight.
“What we won’t do is get caught up in the moment,” McWilliams-Franklin said. “Anybody that knows us knows that’s not our personality.... Our team has always been cool about everything. It won’t get to a point where pressure will get to us because we don’t have any pressure on us.
“At the beginning of the year, we were picked seventh with no big names to promote. Nobody on our team has a contract for a shoe deal. We’re the team that’s just here to play to win.”
*
WNBA Finals
Seattle vs. Connecticut
* Game 1 Connecticut 68, Seattle 64
* Game 2 Seattle 67, Connecticut 65
* Game 3 Tonight at Seattle, 6, ESPN2