It took a while, but Detroit fell apart again. Monarchs fans got exactly the game they expected: tough D all day, contributions from the reserves, no big star, but an attractive constellation, able to capitalize on opponents' mistakes.

Griffith got lots of rest, and Haynie looked great. "We have to be the spark plug," she said. Lawson scored no points, but she made a good decoy. "We're going inside until they stop," she said. "There's no point in shooting three's when we can run it inside."

As with game one, this match was no ad for the league: Detroit had twenty-three turnovers to Sac's eight, the Monarchs' first-quarter offense consisted entirely of Walker, and Sac's runaway win had as much to do with Detroit's failed chemistry tests as with the defending champs' teamwork.

The game had some wondrous late moments, though: Buescher's third-quarter turnaround circus-shot trey, with one second on the shot clock, broke Detroit for good. "I just turned around and did some ice-skating moves," she said. (She later flattened Braxton with a questionable screen.)

ESPN's announcers got sick of coach Laimbeer's verbal attacks on the refs. Coach Laimbeer had blame to spare for his team: "In the middle of this game, we stopped playing." He also noted that Riley "is getting her butt kicked."

Game four starts Wednesday at 8:30pm (ESPN2): the longer delay between games could be good for Sacto (because Yo plays better with rest) or for Detroit (more time to forget Sunday). Some fans excoriate the Shock's poor effort; Detroit fans defend their bad-boy coach.