No Rest for the MVP
Posted Jul 15 2007 9:45PM
By Brian Martin, WNBA.com


WASHINGTON - Cheryl Ford was looking forward to some time off at the
All-Star Game. Instead, she took home the game's Most Valuable
Player award.
Ford is nursing a bone bruise in her left knee and was only supposed
to play 12 minutes in tonight's game after discussing her status
with East coach Bill Laimbeer.

"Bill told me if I got the hot hand that he would continue to play
me and if not he would sit me down the rest of the game," Ford
said. "I was actually looking forward to getting some rest, but it
didn't happen."

Ford played a total of 27 minutes and tallied 16 points, 13 rebounds
and five assists to lead the East to a 103-99 win over the West.

"I think I'm still in shock," Ford said about raising the MVP trophy
over her head. "It's a great award; it's a great achievement for me
and for the Detroit Shock organization. It's a great feeling. I
guess I just had the hot hand today and coach kept giving me the
ball."

Ford realized that she had the hot hand at the 5:09 mark of the
second quarter.

"I think I had it going after I made a 3-pointer," Ford said with a
laugh. It was the first three-point attempt and make in her WNBA
career. "I surprised myself and I know my mom was out of her seat."

Laimbeer, who also coaches Ford with the Shock, could not decide
which was more of a surprise, Ford hitting the three or dishing out
five assists. What did not surprise Laimbeer was the effort that
Ford put forth to lead the East to its second straight All-Star Game
victory.

"Cheryl plays that way every game," he said. "She's always double-
digit rebounding, she's becoming a better offensive player every
game, every season. Nobody really expected her to jack up a 3-
pointer and make it, but it was her day. It's great for her because
she's such a great person."

Laimbeer and Ford both said the East's focus on rebounding in the
second half was a key to the squad's victory.

"The All-Star Game is all about fun, but in the second half we
wanted to win and we knew we had to pick up our energy and our
intensity," Ford said. "In the first half we were getting
outrebounded so we had to stop that. Even the fans knew we were
getting outrebounded; I heard them all yelling out `Get some
rebounds!' We knew we had to get more rebounds and stop letting them
get second chance shots."

Unlike many All-Star games, this year's contest was highly
contested, which suits Ford's competitive personality to a tee.

"We come here to play and have fun, but I like to win," she said. "I
don't care if I'm racing my little niece around the corner, I want
to win. I'm a competitor and I love to win. Today we wanted to come
out and defend our title and we had to come and work extra hard to
do that."