http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/19490.html
Ailene Voisin: Monarchs meekly let opportunity slip away
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Sports Columnist
Last Updated 11:27 am PDT Thursday, September 7, 2006
Those mysterious sounds you heard upon waking up this morning? Those were the brakes being slammed on the parade, the air being squeezed out of the balloons, the truckloads of champagne and assorted delicacies being dispatched back to the warehouse.
The party died out before the invitees arrived.
The game tipped off without them, with the Monarchs still in their sweats.
Those were the Monarchs, right?
Did someone forget to set the alarm clocks? All 12? So what in the name of John Whisenant's club happened Wednesday night in Arco Arena, other than the fact the defending WNBA champions absorbed a few early sucker punches and promptly turned the other cheek? Again and again? Anytime the visiting Detroit Shock sensed its grip loosening and felt even remotely threatened?
"We took ourselves out," admitted a disgusted Yolanda Griffith, who while addressing the announced crowd of 14,213 afterward, asked the fans to "excuse" her club's miserable performance in what could have been a title clincher. "Our defense wasn't sharp. We made a lot of mistakes in the other games, even though we won. We know we stunk up the place tonight, (but) we have another game. We're going to take care of what we need to take care of."
But now it's off to Joe Louis Arena -- and isn't that someone's idea of a cruel joke? -- for the best-of-five series finale that is scheduled only because the Monarchs failed to finish the job. Or, really, because the Monarchs failed to do much of anything except squander one of those once-in-a-career opportunities. They didn't rebound, defend, move the ball, move their feet. They didn't pursue loose balls or rebounds. Most troubling of all, they offered very little resistance. They went down meekly, certainly not like defending champions, and not at all like the Monarchs squad that, for the better part of two seasons, routinely overwhelmed opponents by outworking them.
On most nights -- on most nights throughout these playoffs -- Whisenant shuttles 11 players in and out of the lineup, extracting maximum effort and energy in smaller bursts. The idea is to exert yourself into exhaustion, when it becomes someone else's time to step up.
Yet Wednesday, the Monarchs' prospects for a second consecutive title diminished noticeably mere minutes into the game, or about the time the Shock players, en masse, began beating the Monarchs to all the hustle plays, beat the Monarchs for position underneath the basket, beat the Monarchs at the free-throw line and the perimeter, beat the Monarchs mercilessly in the paint. And, no, there was nothing pretty or colorful about it.
"When you look at the stat sheet and you see so many things that are just so one-sided," said Nicole Powell, "we didn't have a chance. It's frustrating. You don't get this (chance) again."
Though Whisenant usually does a masterful job utilizing his players, experimenting until clicking on an effective combination, he mixed and matched repeatedly, and still came up with a clunker. Griffith failed to convert inside or from the line. DeMya Walker was a non-factor, turnovers again an issue. Ticha Penicheiro reverted to passive play. Kara Lawson was afforded too few open looks. The reserves forced shots, made poor decisions and, as did the starters, got trounced on the boards.
Meanwhile, on the other sideline, Shock coach Bill Laimbeer was whining his way to a masterpiece. Laimbeer, one of the original Detroit Pistons bad boys, might have pulled a fast one. Whining instead of sampling the local wines, Laimbeer used theatrics to deflect attention from his players and shifted the burden onto his own thickly muscled shoulders. His "us-against-them" theme was a major hit Wednesday, with his group playing loose and fast, as if there was nothing to lose, certainly not a championship.
"It was a fun game for our team because of the last two days, we have watched us be maligned by Doris Burke and Nancy Lieberman in particular, calling us all kind of mean, nasty things," said Laimbeer, who has been feuding with the ESPN analysts. "It actually helped us, brought us together. No question about it, we came in today with a chip on our shoulder, to prove that we know who we are."
Athletic, aggressive, relentless.
Eager, enthusiastic, combative.
Once, that could be said of the Monarchs.
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
Ailene Voisin: Monarchs meekly let opportunity slip away
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Sports Columnist
Last Updated 11:27 am PDT Thursday, September 7, 2006
Those mysterious sounds you heard upon waking up this morning? Those were the brakes being slammed on the parade, the air being squeezed out of the balloons, the truckloads of champagne and assorted delicacies being dispatched back to the warehouse.
The party died out before the invitees arrived.
The game tipped off without them, with the Monarchs still in their sweats.
Those were the Monarchs, right?
Did someone forget to set the alarm clocks? All 12? So what in the name of John Whisenant's club happened Wednesday night in Arco Arena, other than the fact the defending WNBA champions absorbed a few early sucker punches and promptly turned the other cheek? Again and again? Anytime the visiting Detroit Shock sensed its grip loosening and felt even remotely threatened?
"We took ourselves out," admitted a disgusted Yolanda Griffith, who while addressing the announced crowd of 14,213 afterward, asked the fans to "excuse" her club's miserable performance in what could have been a title clincher. "Our defense wasn't sharp. We made a lot of mistakes in the other games, even though we won. We know we stunk up the place tonight, (but) we have another game. We're going to take care of what we need to take care of."
But now it's off to Joe Louis Arena -- and isn't that someone's idea of a cruel joke? -- for the best-of-five series finale that is scheduled only because the Monarchs failed to finish the job. Or, really, because the Monarchs failed to do much of anything except squander one of those once-in-a-career opportunities. They didn't rebound, defend, move the ball, move their feet. They didn't pursue loose balls or rebounds. Most troubling of all, they offered very little resistance. They went down meekly, certainly not like defending champions, and not at all like the Monarchs squad that, for the better part of two seasons, routinely overwhelmed opponents by outworking them.
On most nights -- on most nights throughout these playoffs -- Whisenant shuttles 11 players in and out of the lineup, extracting maximum effort and energy in smaller bursts. The idea is to exert yourself into exhaustion, when it becomes someone else's time to step up.
Yet Wednesday, the Monarchs' prospects for a second consecutive title diminished noticeably mere minutes into the game, or about the time the Shock players, en masse, began beating the Monarchs to all the hustle plays, beat the Monarchs for position underneath the basket, beat the Monarchs at the free-throw line and the perimeter, beat the Monarchs mercilessly in the paint. And, no, there was nothing pretty or colorful about it.
"When you look at the stat sheet and you see so many things that are just so one-sided," said Nicole Powell, "we didn't have a chance. It's frustrating. You don't get this (chance) again."
Though Whisenant usually does a masterful job utilizing his players, experimenting until clicking on an effective combination, he mixed and matched repeatedly, and still came up with a clunker. Griffith failed to convert inside or from the line. DeMya Walker was a non-factor, turnovers again an issue. Ticha Penicheiro reverted to passive play. Kara Lawson was afforded too few open looks. The reserves forced shots, made poor decisions and, as did the starters, got trounced on the boards.
Meanwhile, on the other sideline, Shock coach Bill Laimbeer was whining his way to a masterpiece. Laimbeer, one of the original Detroit Pistons bad boys, might have pulled a fast one. Whining instead of sampling the local wines, Laimbeer used theatrics to deflect attention from his players and shifted the burden onto his own thickly muscled shoulders. His "us-against-them" theme was a major hit Wednesday, with his group playing loose and fast, as if there was nothing to lose, certainly not a championship.
"It was a fun game for our team because of the last two days, we have watched us be maligned by Doris Burke and Nancy Lieberman in particular, calling us all kind of mean, nasty things," said Laimbeer, who has been feuding with the ESPN analysts. "It actually helped us, brought us together. No question about it, we came in today with a chip on our shoulder, to prove that we know who we are."
Athletic, aggressive, relentless.
Eager, enthusiastic, combative.
Once, that could be said of the Monarchs.
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.