McWilliams-Franklin helps Detroit find way to WNBA Finals again

Originally Published: September 29, 2008

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By Mechelle Voepel
ESPN.com
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Basically, what you need to know about why Detroit has been such a success in the WNBA the last several years can be summed up by what happened Aug. 12.

That's the day Shock coach/GM Bill Laimbeer got Taj McWilliams-Franklin in a trade with Washington. Detroit gave up no one it needed and got exactly whom it wanted.

On Monday, McWilliams-Franklin was a key factor -- just as you might have expected her to be -- as the Shock beat New York 75-73 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Shock have made the WNBA Finals three seasons in a row now -- Detroit will play Game 1 in San Antonio on Wednesday (ESPN2, 7:30 p.m. ET) -- and it has had Deanna Nolan and Katie Smith to rely on each of those seasons.

Those two did their jobs again Monday, with Nolan scoring 23 points and Smith 16. But McWilliams-Franklin added the experienced post presence Detroit absolutely had to have.

She had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Shock, who rallied in Game 2 and then held off a rally in Game 3. Liberty fans will dissect and critique the coaching moves and player decisions of the last two games of this season right up until tipoff next year.

No WNBA franchise has wrestled with more "almosts" than the Liberty, who were also eliminated by Detroit last year with two frustratingly close losses. That was a first-round series, and last year, New York was the second youngest team in the league. The youngest team in the league this summer, New York on Monday was done in by one of the league's oldest players.

McWilliams-Franklin will be 38 on Oct. 20, at which point she might also have a WNBA championship ring for the first time. It's a long way from playing for the Mystics, with whom she started the season.

D. Lippitt/Einstein/Getty ImagesTaj McWilliams-Franklin scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half to help the Shock reach a third consecutive WNBA Finals.

This summer, Alana Beard talked about how nice it was to have such a presence around to help keep everybody and everything even-keeled in D.C. Beard said it freed her up to concentrate on basketball.

The den-mother role has never been something McWilliams-Franklin shied away from. But by the same token, her career is coming to a close. And Washington was not the place she could seek a championship in whatever time she has left in the WNBA.

Strange how things work out, though. After the July 22 fight with Los Angeles, the Shock lost center Cheryl Ford to a knee injury.

Detroit lost four games in a row heading into the Olympic break. Laimbeer knew he had to do something, and it was clear to him there was one player perfect for the role he needed filled. All the better for him that she was with the Mystics, an organization that has not exactly been known for its shrewd front-office moves.

Detroit traded Tasha Humphrey, Shay Murphy and a 2009 second-round draft pick to Washington and got a veteran who is relishing another chance at a WNBA title.

After picking up her third gold medal at the Summer Games in Beijing, Smith was asked about what her expectations were heading back to Detroit for the resumption of the WNBA season. She was very upbeat about McWilliams-Franklin joining the team and how much of an impact she expected such a veteran to make.

McWilliams-Franklin got two previous chances at the WNBA Finals with Connecticut, but both ended in disappointments against Seattle and Sacramento. But McWilliams-Franklin never has lost her perspective, even when things don't go quite the way she wants them to in basketball.

That's because she went through so much early in adulthood -- raising a daughter while playing in college -- and has such a realistic view about how much she has accomplished with her life. Winning a championship won't define her -- and neither will not winning one.

Just getting another opportunity is a well-deserved reward for McWilliams-Franklin. Laimbeer didn't need her to take over the team, on or off the court. She didn't have to be the emotional anchor of the Shock. What she needed to do was exactly what she did Monday: provide a consistent presence inside, as she countered a very good performance from New York's Janel McCarville.

Against San Antonio, McWilliams-Franklin will face a variety of post players -- but that also plays to her strengths. She knows the game as well as any coach in the league. She might not be quite the athlete she was in her prime, but she's still the most savvy of basketball players.

Laimbeer knew that when he traded for her. And she has done nothing but prove him right.

Mechelle Voepel of The Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com.