WNBA Playoffs | Shock makes Finals for 3rd year in a row

YPSILANTI, Mich. — Taj McWilliams-Franklin isn't used to being a role player. She couldn't be enjoying it more.

On Monday, McWilliams-Franklin scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half, helping the Detroit Shock beat the New York Liberty 75-73 in the deciding game of the best-of-three Eastern Conference finals.

The Shock reached the best-of-five WNBA Finals for the third consecutive season and will face the Western Conference champion Silver Stars in Game 1 Wednesday in San Antonio.

"For the past couple years, I've been on young teams where I've been expected to be the leader for a lot of young players," McWilliams-Franklin said. "It's been a nice change to be on a team where I'm just one of the veterans — where I have so many great players surrounding me."

Detroit acquired the 37-year-old McWilliams-Franklin from the Washington Mystics during the Olympic break after losing All-Star Cheryl Ford to a season-ending knee injury.

"She's a very smart player," said Shock coach Bill Laimbeer, a former NBA player. "She isn't quick, and she doesn't jump very high, but she knows how to play basketball."

Detroit beat Sacramento in 2006 for its second league title and lost in five games to Phoenix in the Finals last year.

"This is where we expect to be every season," Laimbeer said of making the Finals.

Deanna Nolan led the Shock with 21 points, a total matched by New York's Janel McCarville.

Liberty coach Pat Coyle skipped the postgame news conference.

Games 2 and 3 were played on the campus of Eastern Michigan University because of scheduling conflicts at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Detroit will also play at least one Finals game at Eastern.

Leilani Mitchell, a former Kennewick High School standout, started New York's comeback with 12 points in the third quarter and played less than three minutes in the fourth.

"We were trying to keep the pressure on, so we were rotating our players," said Mitchell, who finished with 14 points. "I knew we needed to score some points in the third, and my teammates were doing a great job of setting screens and getting me the ball."

Cathrine Kraayeveld, a graduate of Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, had three points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Liberty.