Laimbeer still Smirking

AP Wire | 09/10/2003 | Cooper, Laimbeer Renew Rivalry in Finals:
Bill Laimbeer, Detroit's Bad Boy #1 in the late '80s early '90s, was named WNBA coach of the year this season. "We believe we're going to win," he said of his team, the Detroit Shock, that went from the worst record in the league last season to this year's best. "I've been talking about playing for the championship since the beginning of training camp."

Laimbeer isn't going so far as to predict a sweep of the two-time champion Los Angeles Sparks by the Shock when the best-of-three series opens Friday night at Staples Center.

Laimbeer was a four-time All-Star who scored nearly 14,000 points and grabbed more than 10,000 rebounds in his 14-year career. Outside Detroit, he was reviled as one of the dirtiest players in the NBA. "One of the most hated, I would say," Cooper recalled. Their prickly connection dates to the late 1980s when Laimbeer was one of the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys" and Cooper was a defensive standout for the "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers.

Cooper helped the Lakers beat Laimbeer and the Pistons for the NBA title in 1988. The next year, Detroit and Laimbeer beat Cooper and the Lakers for the first of its two straight titles.

Until Laimbeer became coach of the Shock last season, Cooper hadn't seen his old nemesis since he was doing commentary at a Lakers game five years ago and Laimbeer walked by. "I almost punched him then and I'm pretty sure he was about to punch me, that's why I turned around," Cooper said.

Cooper compared 6-foot-5 Ruth Riley of the Shock to Laimbeer in his heyday. And he sees some of Laimbeer's toughness in WNBA rookie of the year Cheryl Ford, daughter of current Laker Karl Malone.

"Laimbeer probably sat her down and showed her some old film of Rick Mahorn pushing people around and she's getting away with it now," Cooper said.

Television ratings for the finals on ESPN and ABC figure to be helped by the presence of Laimbeer and Cooper.