Tina Takes Over
August 4, 2007

The Houston Comets’ Tina Thompson single-handedly took over what at the end was a close contest between her team and Minnesota and scored 14 points in the final quarter to allow Houston to top the Lynx by 80-77 at Target Center on August 4 before a crowd that easily numbered in the hundreds.

In a display of ineptitude that resembled the tragic-comedy last days of the ill-fated 1968-69 Minnesota Pipers of the old American Basketball Association, the Lynx were eventually outplayed by the 10-18 Comets and fell to 7-22, easily the worst record in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Comparisons to the Pipers begin with the striped basketballs and continue to efforts that led officials to seek a replacement coach for Jim Harding, a search that led to the hiring of Verl “Gus” Young.

In his biography of Piper great Connie Hawkins, author David Wolf wrote: “Since [team president Bill] Erickson could no longer deny rumors that the Pipers were going to move, he didn’t waste money. . . . Instead, he promoted the team’s director of special promotions, one Gus Young. Gus had prepared for the job by running a bowling alley for the past 12 years.”

It has been speculated that Minnesota Lynx owner Glen Taylor was in a similar mood to that of Bill Erickson when he solicited the services of Don Zierden to coach his team. A Minnesota native, as was Young, Zierden’s resume includes a stint as head coach at Minneapolis’ DeLaSalle High School, perhaps the height of his competence.

It has been well documented that Piper players paid negligible attention to the admonishments and encouragement of coach Young. Those observing the Lynx bench during time-out sessions Saturday night noted players staring blankly into space, then giggling among themselves after the huddle broke.

Zierden will finish the year with the worst won-lost record in Lynx history, despite having seven first-round draft picks (including two who were chosen first overall) on his roster. He blamed Saturday’s loss on the “inexperience” of his players, while failing to acknowledge obvious inexperience of his own at this level of professional basketball competition. He indicated that, for the balance of this season, bench players would see more action, almost guaranteeing another first overall selection in the WNBA draft and emulating the philosophy of tanking games employed by Taylor with his NBA Minnesota Timberwolves. Certainly, Zierden’s peculiar pattern of substitution against Houston resembled one used by former Denver Nuggets coach Dan Issel, one of the most confused tacticians in NBA history.

The Lynx began the game in a collective trance, falling behind by 11-0 before Svetlana Abrosimova scored at the 6:06 mark. Lynx fans are encouraged to stand until the team’s first basket. Many yielded to gravity and fell over before that moment arrived. Houston raced to a 13-2 lead with all the team’s starters scoring. However, instead of putting Minnesota away early, the Comets’ coach Karleen Thompson inexplicably substituted for all five starters, and the Lynx edged to within 21-12 at quarter’s end. Minnesota shot a sizzling 20 percent from the field in the first quarter. Zierden responded by placing starters Nicole Ohlde and Tiffany Stansbury into his doghouse for the balance of the half.

Ohlde, however, responded by scoring six points in the second half. Meanwhile, Lynx ace Seimone Augustus, who appeared disinterested for the majority of the first half, exploded for 10 points in the third quarter. The Lynx actually led by 51-43. Reality returned in the fourth quarter when Thompson hit on a six-foot jump shot to regain the lead for Houston at 62 to 61. From then on it was Tina’s show as the Comets never relinquished the lead.

Thompson led all scorers with 26 points. Augustus, meanwhile tallied 24 for the losers, followed by Ohlde with 12, Eshaya Murphy with 11, and rookie Kathrin “Cat” Ress with 10. The game was to be Ress’s last with the Lynx for the season as she had been enticed to leave the team for Olympic tryouts. “We will miss Cat,” Zierden mused after the game.