Odds and Ends

A game apiece into the Conference Finals, nothing has happened to change my picks.

Of course, the San Antonio Silver Stars would argue that might not be true were it not for the controversial (to put it mildly) call that went against them in the final seconds. That said, at worst Phoenix played even on the road and probably should have put the game away before that call. Becky Hammon is terrific and Dan Hughes has San Antonio playing very well, but the Mercury is the better team in this series.

Detroit and Indiana, in my mind, played to form Friday night. Indiana should have had the narrow advantage at home. Now it's up to the Fever to try to steal a game at The Palace of Auburn Hills. By the way, what's up with the Shock's free-throw shooting? 8-of-17 (47.1%) tonight and barely above 50% for the postseason. Bizarre.

- Congrats to former Storm guard Tully Bevilaqua on winning the WNBA's Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award. Tully's easy smile and great attitude will never be forgotten by those who worked with her when she was in Seattle (or elsewhere in the league, for that matter).

- I came across the Shock's 10th Anniversary Team on DetroitShock.com. Nice feature, and look for something similar in a few years on storm.wnba.com. There's several Storm tie-ins on the second team, which includes Storm posts Astou Ndiaye-Diatta and Wendy Palmer as well as former Storm guard Sandy Brondello.

Shock Basketball Information Specialist Eddie Rivero calls Palmer "probably the first true all-star on the team."