Kathy Goodman: I like our chances

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The Sparks have definitely had an up and down season and it has seemed to me that after each win, I would be thinking, and often writing, “THAT was the Sparks team we thought we would see all season,” only to have them disappear in the next game. We beat the best team in the East and then we lost to the worst team in the East followed by a loss to the worst team in the West. Maybe now, though, after our game against the Atlanta Dream on Sunday afternoon, the real Sparks have finally arrived.

Our win against San Antonio on Friday night was huge, placing us alone in third place in the West and giving us confidence against a team that we have to play twice more before the season is over. But we never seemed to build on our wins, instead resting on our laurels to slide into the next game. We need to win all our games to put us where we want to be on September 15, which is healthy, playing together and in the playoffs. I have to admit that I was worried going into today’s game that...

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there would be too many distractions to get the job done. Now, I like our chances. Friday night’s game may have been a defensive struggle, but today’s game against the Dream started as an offensive shoot-out. By the end of the first quarter, we had scored 30 points, shooting 55% from the field and 50% from behind the arc. With only three turnovers and nine assists (on 11 baskets), it looked like the team was focused and determined. Betty Lennox definitely had something to show her old Atlanta fans, scoring seven points, with three rebounds and one assist in just under three minutes on the floor. I was feeling good, but I knew there was a lot more basketball to come.

We played Atlanta pretty close in the second. We kept a solid lead, until about halfway through the quarter. Then Atlanta started their run. They outscored us 11-4 as Jennifer Lacy made her presence felt off the bench and the Dream started hitting from outside. A late basket by Tina Thompson helped, but we still saw our 11-point first quarter lead dwindle to six. And the third quarter was next. The usually ugly third quarter. (What do the Sparks do during halftime? I suppose I could actually find out, but whatever it is, they should start doing the opposite.)

Third quarter of this game was like so many third quarters in games past. Atlanta picked up where they left off, scoring four quick points to make it a two-point game. We were out of rhythm and there was a period in the middle when I think the refs saw more action than the players. Starting with Noelle Quinn fouling Angel McCoughtry on a made basket, the Sparks were called for four more fouls in a row, one of each variety: loose-ball foul on Lisa Leslie, followed by two consecutive fouls on Kristi Harrower (one away from the ball and one shooting foul) and then another one (this time an offensive foul) against Lisa. Not surprisingly, Atlanta took the lead. But timing is everything. With four minutes left in the period and Atlanta now leading by five, Noelle Quinn went to work. Quinn, who has averaged 11.6 points over the last five games, had been held scoreless, but at the end of the third, she found the basket. In the last three minutes, she scored seven points and assisted on Parker’s final basket of the quarter to tie the score.

Now it was like we were starting over. The score might as well have been 0-0. We had 10 minutes to decide if we were seriously making a playoff run or if we were tired. The fourth quarter opened with a made jumper by Betty Lennox and it was on. Candace, Betty, Noelle, Tina and Delisha shared the ball, going on a 12-4 run in the first four minutes. We had once again awakened from the nightmare of the third quarter. Atlanta fought back, forcing Lisa to the bench with her fifth foul halfway through the quarter, and narrowing the Sparks lead to four, but Noelle made consecutive baskets to stretch the lead back to nine with three and a half minutes left. Then it was pretty much all over but the fouling. We made our free throws to end the game and came out with another win.

We started the season slowly, but we’re definitely playing well now. There was a poll on Rebkell a couple of weeks ago as to which Western conference team was most likely to miss the playoffs, and LA was in the definite majority. We haven’t clinched our playoff spot yet and there are still eight games left in the regular season. But we’re on a five-game winning streak and coming home to play Chicago on Tuesday night. I like our chances.

-- Kathy Goodman

Goodman is a co-owner of the Sparks.