Preparing for Playoff, Sparks Fall to Starzz

The Sparks, who had nine players logging double-digit minutes, could not stop the Utah Starzz, a team that confined nearly all its time to six players Saturday night at the Delta Center.

But did it mean anything?

Before the game, the Sparks had secured home-court advantage in their playoff game against Sacramento and already assured themselves of the franchise’s best record in its three-year WNBA history. So this L.A. loss, 89-81, had little consequence for a team that finished 20-12 and second place in the Western Conference.

But does it have any useful application to the Sparks’ chances against Sacramento Tuesday night at the Forum?

“No, we’ll feel a lot more comfortable at home, with a lot of our fans helping us,” Lisa Leslie said.

Fans are something the Starzz (15-17) had in abundance on this night. A crowd of 14,116 cheered a parade of Spark turnovers, Starzz steals and Utah fastbreak points that produced a 50-33 edge for the Starzz in second-half scoring.

Without being asked, Spark Coach Orlando Woolridge called it an emotional letdown after Friday’s 68-64 victory over Houston at the Forum.

“It’s only natural,” he said, “to have a letdown of some kind, after a game like we had with Houston.”

Yes, some kind of letdown. And it set in during halftime.

The Sparks twice had 15-point leads in the first half, seemed to be in cruise control and were up, 48-39, at the break.

But that disappeared in three minutes after halftime. Utah’s Margo Dydek (15 points overall), Natalie Williams (17), LaTonya Johnson (19) and Adrienne Goodson (20) put together a 9-0 run to start the second half and while the Sparks led briefly at times after that, the Starzz were in command to stay.

After Johnson’s three-point shot gave Utah a 66-65 lead with 7:36 to go, the Sparks never led. This was from a Utah team that had two starters, Cindy Brown and Elena Baranova, sitting out because of injuries.

You waited for the Starzz to run out of fuel . . . and they never did.

“In terms of it having anything to do with our game with Sacramento, I’m not troubled by it,” Woolridge said.

“I thought of this as a prep game for us, to get a lot of minutes for our bench people. We feel good about 20-12, it’s the best record in franchise history.

“But I’m not happy that we let them pick up the defensive intensity and take control of the game away from us.”

So the Sparks finish behind Houston (26-6) in the Western Conference and just ahead of Sacramento (19-13), which lost at home to Houston Saturday night.

For Utah Coach Fred Williams, the former USC women’s coach, winning the last two games meant fulfilling a promise he made to his players--a tattoo.

“It’ll be a Tweety-bird, something like that,” Williams said.

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Tickets for Tuesday’s Western Conference playoff game at the Forum between Sacramento and the Sparks are on sale at the Forum box office and all Ticketmaster locations. Prices, the same as for the regular season, range from $7.50 to $35.