Young has another big night, even if Silver Stars don't

  Minus empirical evidence, such statements are whimsical, of course. But doesn’t it seem like some players just have a knack for the dramatic shot?
  So it has appeared with San Antonio’s Sophia Young – although by “knack,” perhaps all I really mean is that it’s happened more than once.
  A couple of weeks ago, on July 28, Young nailed the game-winner as time expired, and the Silver Stars defeated Seattle 74-71. Adding to the improbability factor was that it was a 3-pointer … although that’s actually become notably less improbable during the course of this season.
   Young didn’t make a single 3-pointer her first three WNBA seasons, but is 14 of 47 from behind the arc thus far in 2009.

  And, of course, we all remember that Young made the two-pointer that really changed the course of the WNBA playoffs last year. That was the Game 2 buzzer-beater against the Los Angeles Sparks in the Western Conference finals, an unlikely shot that forced a third game, which was also won by San Antonio.
  The Sparks led 66-65 on DeLisha Milton-Jones’ putback, and the Silver Stars had just 1.3 seconds left to save their season. Vickie Johnson was the inbounds passer, and she found Young just inside the arc. Young spun around, and… I’ve watched it again and again, and still am not sure the exact right words to describe her motion on that shot.
    Would you call it off-balance yet balletic? A graceful lunge? Whatever it was, it hit the backboard, hit the rim, the backboard again and then fell through the net. Silver Stars 67, Sparks 66.
   And here was the call by the Silver Stars’ broadcast crew, “Sophia, for the win … Got it! Got it! Got it!”
    Many were expecting an LA-Detroit league finals for 2008, which would have highlighted MVP/rookie of the year Candace Parker. Plus meant lots of revisiting the feud between the franchises, which had resulted in a brawl during the regular season.
  Instead, it was Young’s San Antonio team that faced the Shock in the finals, but by that point the Silver Stars had used up most of their fuel. Detroit swept San Antonio 3-0.
    “We watched it when that game was over,” Young said recently about her amazing shot against the Sparks. “But when the season was over, I was in depression mode because we had lost the finals. And I didn’t watch it again. But we had watched it like 35 times after that game; it was a great moment.”
   Of course, Young is a player still on the rise. And in this, her fourth season, she is averaging 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds. She had 29 points Thursday in Phoenix, but it wasn’t enough on a rough night for teammate Becky Hammon, who was held to seven. The Mercury won 95-83, as Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes was ejected in the first quarter.
    (OK, quick Hammon aside … did anyone else watching Tuesday’s Liberty-Sparks game laugh derisively during the quick “legends of the game” spot on Carol Blazejowski at halftime? And, no, not because they showed old video of Blaze wearing those funky 1970s librarian-looking glasses on court. We all had those clunkers then. Rather, because to illustrate her career as Liberty GM, the TV folks flashed up a picture of Blaze and Hammon, posing with a basketball. Whoops! Gotta admit I howled with the instant recognition that several Liberty fans watching probably began screeching uncontrollably at the top of their lungs. Uh, you, know the Hammon trade really didn’t do much _ as in nothing _ for the Libs. But that deal really made their day – for three consecutive seasons now – down in San Antonio.)
   Hammon has been dealing with some knee problems, so perhaps that was bugging her Thursday. But Phoenix’s defense also bugged her. The Mercury wasn’t able, though, to stop Young.
    In speaking to Young recently, I asked her about what things she worked on while overseas and how she sees her game growing.
   “I’m pretty much trying to evolve from post into more of a guard,” Young said, which explains the new effectiveness from behind the arc. “To stay at this level it takes going overseas and working on your game, trying to find new moves and new ways to score.
   “It’s a lot of hard work. And I have a great assistant coach in Olaf (Lange). He’s amazing, and I give him most of the credit for teaching me a lot of what I’ve learned in the pros.”
   Young played in Turkey over the winter, and she plans to go back there this year after the WNBA season ends.
  “Of course, you always have to be learning, and always have to be interested in picking up new things,” she said. “If you don’t, you’re not going to get better. I’ll see a move, I’ll tell Olaf about it, and he’ll help me learn it. I’ll pick things up from the NBA, the WNBA, even from a college player. No matter what it is, if I don’t know it, I want to learn it.”
    Her Silver Stars dropped to 10-13 Thursday, but the two teams directly head of them in the West standings – Seattle and Minnesota – lost, too. Meanwhile, West-leading Phoenix improved to 17-7, as Diana Taurasi had another one of those “whatever I need to do” games: 29 points, six rebounds and six assists. Cappie Pondexter had 19 points.
    And it’s good to see Mercury reserve Nicole Ohlde back. She missed six games at the beginning of the season because of broken bone in her foot. Then she broke a bone in her wrist on July 11, and missed nine more games. She had eight points and three rebounds Thursday, and Phoenix does need the depth she provides inside.
   The Mercury and the Silver Stars turn around and do this again Saturday, this time in San Antonio. The Silver Stars are still OK in the playoff picture, but having lost two in a row and five of their last seven, they need a lift.
    And it will be no surprise if Young gives it to them again.

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