Detroit Shock

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Detroit Shock
Image:DetroitShock 100.png
Founded	1998
Home court	The Palace of Auburn Hills
Colors	Blue, red
WNBA Championships	1 (2003)
Conference Championships	1 (2003)
Playoff Appearances	4 (1999, 2003–2005)
Head coach	Bill Laimbeer
General manager
Owner	William Davidson
Mascot	Zap [1]

The Detroit Shock is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Detroit, Michigan. Debuting in 1998, they were one of the league's first expansion franchises. They are the first WNBA expansion franchise to win a WNBA Championship. The team is the sister team of the Detroit Pistons and has been coached by Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer.

Uniforms:

White with the team's logo of the stylized Detroit Shock name, in black and blue, over a WNBA basketball at home. Blue with the word "Detroit" across the front for the road jersey.

1 Franchise history
2 Players of note
3 Coaches and others
4 External links

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Franchise history

Upon starting in 1998, the Detroit Shock quickly brought a blend of rookies and veterans, such as Sandy Brondello. (Brondello was later traded to the Miami Sol before the 2001 season.) Their first coach was hall of famer Nancy Lieberman.

Several years after making the playoffs in 1999, Detroit came in last place during the 2002 season, and former Detroit Pistons center Bill Laimbeer was brought in as coach. Laimbeer's ideas influenced the team's front management, who agreed with the new coach's idea to bring over some new players he felt necessary to become a contender.

Laimbeer predicted that the Shock would be league champions in 2003, and his prediction became a reality when they defeated the Los Angeles Sparks two games to one in the 2003 WNBA Finals. The final score in the championship game that year was Shock 83, Sparks 78. That game drew the largest crowd ever in WNBA history, as 22,076 came to watch. Detroit, much like the 1991 Minnesota Twins in baseball, became the first team in WNBA history to make it from last place to world champions the next year and the Shock also became the second Eastern conference team to win the championship in WNBA history (The Houston Comets were in the Eastern Conference in 1997).

2005 saw the addition of former Piston star Rick Mahorn as an assistant coach to Laimbeer. [2]

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