2008 Detroit Shock season

2008 Detroit Shock season
Head Coach Bill Laimbeer
Arena The Palace of Auburn Hills
Attendance 9,569 per game
Results
Record 2212
(.647)
Place 1st (Eastern)
Playoff Finish Won WNBA Finals
Team Leaders
Points Deanna Nolan (15.8)
Rebounds Cheryl Ford (8.7)
Assists Deanna Nolan (4.4)
Detroit Shock seasons
< 2007 2009 >

The 2008 WNBA season was the 11th for the Detroit Shock, an American women's professional basketball team. The Shock attempted to return to the WNBA Finals for the third consecutive year. They won the WNBA Finals for the third time in franchise history. During the finals, Katie Smith averaged a team high 21.7 points per game to be named WNBA Finals MVP.[1] Similar to Kevin Garnett with the 2008 Boston Celtics, Taj McWilliams-Franklin won her first championship after 10 years in the league.[2]

Offseason

The following player was lost in the Atlanta Dream expansion draft:

[3]

WNBA Draft

Transactions

[4]

Trades

Free agents

Additions

Subtractions

Season Highlights

The Shock season opener resulted in a record-breaking debut for rookie guard Alexis Hornbuckle. Hornbuckle set a Shock record with seven steals to help the Shock beat the Houston Comets on May 17. Deanna Nolan scored a franchise-record 44 points (28 in the fourth quarter and overtime) in a 98-93 victory over the Minnesota Lynx on June 20.

Malice at the Palace

Main article: Sparks–Shock brawl

Nancy Lieberman

In July, the Detroit Shock signed Nancy Lieberman to a 7-day contract. The 50-year-old Lieberman broke her own record for being the oldest player in the WNBA.[5] Lieberman, a Hall of Famer since 1999, was 39 years old when she played with Phoenix during the league's first year in 1997.

The 50-year-old Lieberman played nine minutes and had two assists.[6] One of the assists included a no-look pass in the closing minutes of the Detroit Shock's 79-61 loss to the Houston Comets on July 24.

Lieberman made a one-time only appearance in the Shock's first game due to a bench-clearing melee with the Los Angeles Sparks on July 22. Five Shock players were suspended and Cheryl Ford suffered a season-ending injury, prompting coach Bill Laimbeer to offer Lieberman a seven-day contract.

Roster

Detroit Shock roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From
C 45 United States Braxton, Kara 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Georgia
PF 35 United States Ford, Cheryl  6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 198 lb (90 kg) Louisiana Tech
SG 22 United States Hornbuckle, Alexis 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Tennessee
PF 44 United States McWilliams-Franklin, Taj 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 184 lb (83 kg) St. Edward's University
SG 14 United States Nolan, Deanna (C) 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 144 lb (65 kg) Georgia
SF 23 United States Pierson, Plenette 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 181 lb (82 kg) Texas Tech
PG 5 United States Powell, Elaine 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 150 lb (68 kg) LSU
G/F 55 United States Sam, Sheri 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Vanderbilt
C 24 United States Sanni, Olayinka 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 205 lb (93 kg) West Virginia
C 11 United States Schumacher, Kelly 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 183 lb (83 kg) Connecticut
SG 3 United States Shields, Ashley 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Southwest Tennessee Community College
G/F 30 United States Smith, Katie (C) 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 174 lb (79 kg) Ohio State
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Athletic trainer
Strength and conditioning coach

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Season standings

Eastern Conference W L PCT GB Home Road Conf.
Detroit Shock x 22 12 .647 14–3 8–9 16–4
Connecticut Sun x 21 13 .618 1.0 13–4 8–9 13–7
New York Liberty x 19 15 .559 3.0 11–6 8–9 11–9
Indiana Fever x 17 17 .500 5.0 11–6 6–11 12–8
Chicago Sky o 12 22 .353 10.0 8–9 4–13 10–10
Washington Mystics o 10 24 .294 12.0 6–11 4–13 6–14
Atlanta Dream o 4 30 .118 18.0 1–16 3–14 2–18

Schedule

Regular season

2008 Game Log: Regular Season

Postseason

2008 Game Log: Postseason

Player stats

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  TO  Turnovers per game
 PF  Fouls per game Team leader League leader

Regular season

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Deanna Nolan 34 34 33.6 .465 .374 .863 3.9 4.4 1.2 0.3 15.8
Katie Smith 34 34 33.9 .383 .360 .887 2.8 4.0 0.9 0.1 14.7
Plenette Pierson 28 0 23.2 .457 .000 .752 4.9 2.3 0.9 1.2 11.9
Taj McWilliams-Franklin 7 7 26.2 .422 1.000 .909 6.7 1.9 0.4 0.7 10.7
Cheryl Ford 24 24 26.5 .481 .000 .560 8.7 0.9 1.0 0.4 10.1
Kara Braxton 33 10 17.9 .415 .000 .743 5.1 0.8 0.4 0.7 8.9
Tasha Humphrey 22 16 13.5 .500 .385 .955 2.9 1.0 0.6 0.3 7.3
Alexis Hornbuckle 34 0 22.0 .354 .356 .636 4.1 2.1 2.3 0.3 5.4
Elaine Powell 16 16 19.6 .490 .500 .750 3.1 2.2 0.4 0.7 3.6
Olayinka Sanni 31 9 10.5 .500 .000 .649 2.1 0.2 0.4 0.2 3.4
Ashley Shields 7 0 6.3 .364 .333 .750 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.0 3.1
Sheri Sam 32 15 14.9 .309 .286 .692 2.8 1.2 0.6 0.1 2.9
Eshaya Murphy 13 3 9.4 .300 .263 .667 1.6 0.5 0.5 0.2 2.5
Kelly Schumacher 7 0 12.7 .375 .000 1.000 2.9 0.7 0.3 0.4 2.0
Stacey Lovelace 7 2 6.3 .286 .400 .667 1.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 1.4
LaToya Thomas 7 0 5.7 .267 .000 .000 0.7 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.1
Chrissy Givens 3 0 3.3 .000 .000 1.000 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.7
Wanisha Smith 1 0 0.0 .000 .000 .000 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Nancy Lieberman 1 0 9.0 .000 .000 .000 0.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Detroit Shock Regular Season Stats

Postseason

Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Deanna Nolan 9 9 38.8 .359 .341 .939 4.6 2.9 2.1 0.3 17.6
Katie Smith 9 9 34.3 .410 .354 .758 4.0 2.4 0.4 0.1 15.3
Taj McWilliams-Franklin 9 9 32.6 .490 .500 .864 7.0 2.1 1.0 1.3 12.9
Kara Braxton 9 9 20.0 .500 .000 .650 5.3 1.0 0.4 0.6 8.6
Plenette Pierson 6 0 17.8 .474 .000 .846 3.0 1.7 0.7 0.3 7.8
Alexis Hornbuckle 9 0 24.4 .429 .375 .750 4.9 2.1 1.2 0.8 6.3
Elaine Powell 9 9 19.0 .588 .000 .818 2.3 2.0 0.7 0.0 3.2
Olayinka Sanni 9 0 7.3 .438 .000 .500 1.8 0.3 0.3 0.0 1.8
Kelly Schumacher 8 0 11.9 .438 .000 .000 3.0 0.4 0.1 0.4 1.8
Sheri Sam 6 0 5.0 .286 .000 1.000 0.5 0.0 0.2 0.0 1.0
Ashley Shields 3 0 1.3 .200 .000 .000 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.7

Detroit Shock Playoff Stats

Awards and honors

References

External links

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