Despite less-than-impressive offensive production, the Detroit Shock managed to beat Indiana to move a half game ahead of Washington for the final Eastern conference WNBA playoff spot. Detroit's defense was the story here, as they held Indiana to a mere 40 points which is the fewest the Shock have ever held an opponent to in a single game.

Washington plays Connecticut tonight, and a win by the Sun would put Detroit a full game ahead of Washington with the Shock and Mystics playing in the regular season finale on Saturday.

Detroit's recurring problems surfaced yet again in last night's game, mostly too many wasted opportunities on offense. The Shock trailed by a point at the half despite a great defensive effort, and if not for the "D" this would have been another close game that Detroit may or may not have ended up winning. Generally the team just does not look in synch on offense, with too many players standing around or generally out of position. Then when they do manage to set up a play well, all too often they end up missing the shot! And free throws continue to be a problem, especially for the otherwise very talented Cheryl Ford. Her rebounding skills are very valuable to the Shock and have often been a key factor in the games they have won...on the other hand her inability to make free throws (and to a certain extent field goals as well) have also cost the team games.

As has been the case for the last two seasons, it is hard to get a handle on this team. They could end up doing anything from winning the WNBA championship to failing to even make the playoffs, or anything in between. If nothing else, I guess you could say they keep things interesting for us fans...although I am sure they would rather not be doing that.

The Tigers continue to flirt with breaking even but can't quite get there. Two losses in a row to Oakland have them three games under .500 and 8.5 games back in the American League wild card race. It's not quite over yet, but looking less and less likely by the day.