HOUSTON — Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman showed she still had one nifty pass left in her.
The 50-year-old Lieberman had two assists, including a no-look pass in the closing minutes of the Detroit Shock’s 79-61 loss to the Houston Comets on Thursday night.
Lieberman made a one-time only appearance in the Shock’s first game since Tuesday night’s bench-clearing melee with the Los Angeles Sparks.
Five Shock players were suspended and Cheryl Ford sustained a season-ending injury, prompting coach Bill Laimbeer to offer Lieberman a seven-day contract.
“I had a great time,” said Lieberman, who missed her only shot, a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. “It was very historic to be able to do that.”
Lieberman played nine minutes, seven in the fourth quarter, when the game’s outcome was decided. The Shock players tried to get her in a position to score every time down the floor at the end, but Lieberman could only get off one shot.
With 1:16 left, she zipped a no-look pass to Olayinka Sanni in the lane and Sanni put it in, prompting some of the loudest applause of the night from the crowd of 7,261.
“I think I’ll be able to pass when I’m in a wheelchair,” she said. “Hopefully, that won’t be too soon. But I’ve always been able to pass and it’s fun to make people better.”
The Comets lined up to hug Lieberman after the game and Lieberman posed for pictures and signed autographs for fans for nearly a half an hour. Comets forward Tina Thompson credited Laimbeer for bringing Lieberman back after the fight brought a wave of bad publicity to the WNBA.
“He brought something positive back to the game and changed the focus,” Thompson said. “I commend him for that.”
Lieberman defended her contract, calling it more a necessity for the Shock than a gimmick to counter the negativity generated by the ugly incident.
“In a crazy way, the timing is good,” she said. “Bill never looked at this like a circus or an opportunity for a novelty. He looked at it as, ‘You know what, I have a roster spot available and I was excited to do it.’
Part of Lieberman’s motivation for Thursday’s game was the opportunity to break another barrier.
She was 18 when she played for the U.S. Olympic team in Montreal in 1976 and became the youngest player to earn a medal when the team took silver. A decade later, she became the first woman to play in a men’s professional league when she joined the Springfield Fame of the USBL. And now, twice, she’s become the oldest player to compete in the WNBA.
“Here I am at 50. How amazing is it?” she said. “We all have patterns. Mine are risk-reward and I’m willing to do what I have to do for my team. I’m very proud of this shot and this opportunity.”
She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame three years later.
Note
WNBA: It was a WNBA smackdown Thursday, when the league suspended Detroit Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn and 10 players for their roles in a skirmish with the Los Angeles Sparks earlier this week. Shock forward Plenette Pierson was suspended for four games, the harshest penalty, for initiating and escalating the altercation. Mahorn was suspended for two games, as were Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page of the Sparks, for the incident at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Players suspended for one game included Detroit’s Kara Braxton, Tasha Humphrey, Elaine Powell and Sheri Sam, along with Los Angeles’ Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker and DeLisha Milton-Jones. The melee at The Palace in suburban Detroit broke out with 4.6 seconds left in a game won by the Sparks. Parker and Pierson got tangled up and fell to the court. Deanna Nolan tackled Parker and Mahorn appeared to push Leslie to the court.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
