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August 12, 2008

Shock come to TC for camp, practice

WNBA is on Olympic break

By DENNIS CHASE

TRAVERSE CITY -- In the midst of a month-long Olympic break, Detroit Shock coach Bill Laimbeer said he's stressing three things to his players -- stay in shape, work on fine-tuning the offense and, last but not least, have fun.

With that mind, Laimbeer brought the Shock to Traverse City for practice and a one-day camp Monday at Traverse City West.

"You have to make it fun sometimes, do something different or you get bored," said Laimbeer, who gave his players nine days off before resuming practice last Wednesday.

"The last time we had an Olympic break we went up to Boyne. That was a little too rural for some of the ladies," he said. "So I said, 'Okay, let's go up to Traverse City for a couple days.' We wanted to get away and do something different."

The break was welcomed by the Shock (16-11), who lost four straight games in the final week leading up to the break to fall out of first in the WNBA's Eastern Conference.

Three of the losses were at The Palace, including an 84-81 setback to Los Angeles that ended with a skirmish in which five Shock players and assistant coach Rick Mahorn drew suspensions. All-Star forward Cheryl Ford also tore the ACL in her right knee during that game and will miss the remainder of the season.

"Incidents happen in professional sports," Laimbeer said. "You have a lot of very competitive people, playing very physical basketball and sometimes things get out of hand. Hopefully, it doesn't escalate into something that happened (in the Los Angeles game), but if it does happen you have to learn from it and move on and try to make the best of it."

Ford, who did not make the trip north, will have surgery Wednesday.

"It's a big blow," rookie guard Alexis Hornbuckle said. "Obviously, Cheryl's a big asset to our team. She's a rebounder (third best in the WNBA), a team leader.

"It's time for everybody else to step up."

Laimbeer, who has led the Shock to two WNBA titles, agreed.

"Injuries are part of the game," he said. "You can't complain. You have to move on. We have enough talent to get the job done. We just have to make sure we stay focused on the task at hand."

Detroit, which trails Connecticut and New York by a half game, has seven regular season contests remaining. Two of those games are against New York.

"Our goal is to win the last seven," guard Deanna Nolan said. "We have to come back ready to play. We needed this break to refocus, regroup.

"We have what it takes," she added. "We just had a little slippage the last four games. It was one of those things. Hopefully, when we start back everybody will be ready to go."

Laimbeer, whose in-laws own a farm outside Karlin, is optimistic.

"Our team traditionally comes out of training camp pretty good," he said. "This is like a training camp. We're going to have to be focused on what we're doing, execute and play solid defense. If we do those three things, we'll be fine and we'll get back to the finals."

In addition to Ford, Katie Smith was not in town with her teammates Monday. She's competing in the Olympics, where the women's team has started with two impressive victories.

"They're going to beat everybody by 40 until they get to the medal rounds," Laimbeer said. "I think the only competition will be Australia."

Hornbuckle, like her teammates, has been watching as much Olympic coverage as possible, including the United States' dramatic win in the men's 400 freestyle relay Sunday night.

"It was crazy," she said. "I was cheering like I was at the Olympics."

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