Sunday the Liberty fell apart in the fourth; last night they couldn't get going until after halftime, and their feisty comeback behind speed demon Leilani Mitchell wasn't enough.

Mitchell took over the game in the third quarter, but Loree Moore spent more time on the floor in the fourth, when Detroit reasserted their defensive prowess, and the Liberty stopped penetrating: some Lib fans want to know why. On the other hand, whose defense would you prefer-- Mitchell's or Moore's-- at the end of a close, athletic game?

If I had to name one clearly terrible decision made in last night's game, it wouldn't be Patty Coyle's or Bill Laimbeer's: it would be ESPN's decision to keep affixing a microphone to Bill, which is apparently a covert full-employment scheme for the operators of seven-second delays. (Justine feels even more strongly than I do-- of course, she's been a Lib fan for a long time.)

Leilani and the always-eager McCarville combined for 35 points, but Nolan and Taj together tallied 40. Voepel (and everyone else) says we can credit Taj for much of the Shock's success.

San Antonio will play three (of a possible five) finals games at home; Corwin, after analyzing the Western Conference title game at length, says the SASS will need to win all three. I'm not holding my breath: San Antonio did beat Detroit twice in the regular season, but those matchups had Lawson-Wade and Darling both healthy-- and one of them had Detroit without Ford or Taj.

I'm going to have some trouble focusing, frankly, on a Detroit vs. San Antonio series-- and I bet Secaucus is mighty displeased. On the other hand, Taj and VJ are worthy veterans with terrific work ethics, and they seem to enjoy their new teams: both have now won sportsmanship awards. It's cool that one of the two will end up with a ring.

Minor irony you'll likely hear about on-air: Taj's husband and children now live in San Antonio.