Sparks Step Closer to Conference Title
The Sparks had no wild postgame celebration this time, not even a war whoop by the almost-always celebratory DeLisha Milton.
Their 73-66 win Monday over Minnesota was a blue-collar special. It came against the team WNBA clubs least like to play, the Lynx, who bring more toughness and physical strength than veteran talent.
So the Sparks were obliged to trade elbows, forearms and knockdowns before their typical driving finish carried them to their ninth consecutive victory.
Coming two days after a celebration touched off by the team’s emotion-charged, first win at Houston, some wondered if the Sparks (25-3) were ripe for a fall.
Maybe so, but not by Minnesota (13-14).
Before 7,313 at Target Center, the Sparks fell behind quickly, rallied in the final minute-and-a-half of the first half, then again in that part of the game when the Sparks have been at their best--the final three minutes.
The victory reduced the Sparks’ magic number to win the Western Conference regular-season title to two. Any combination of two Spark victories or Comet losses will clinch a first-place tie, with the tiebreaker advantage going to the Sparks because they won the season series with Houston.
More Spark numbers realized on Monday:
* Ninth consecutive road victory, tying a WNBA record.
* A 21-1 record since a loss at Seattle June 13.
* Sixth consecutive victory over the Lynx over two seasons.
Major Minnesota miscues and big offensive plays by the Sparks near the finish spelled the difference.
The Sparks, down 32-31 at the break, jumped to a 46-41 lead with a 6-0 burst early in the second half, but Katie Smith (16 points) and Betty Lennox (20 points) drove the Lynx to leads of 53-51 and 57-55, with 6:16 to go.
Then the Sparks picked up the pace and Minnesota faltered.
“Our whole training camp and all our practices this season have been designed so that we hit our peak of conditioning during this road trip,” Spark Coach Michael Cooper said.
“We did come out a little flat early tonight, but we were fresh at the finish again.”
Milton had a near season-best game, 18 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, a steal and three blocks in 34 minutes.
With 2:16 to go, she gave the Sparks a 65-62 lead with a putback over Kristin Folkl.
Lisa Leslie (16 points, six rebounds) added free throws in the closing minutes to help seal the victory.
“You have to be mentally prepared to play this team because they’re so physical,” Leslie said. “We were prepared, so we got physical with them too.”
Cooper was pleased with the way his team contained Minnesota’s three-point shooters to four-for-13 shooting.
Smith and Lennox had been nine for 15 from beyond the arc Saturday against Washington.
“They got no good looks from out there, none,” Cooper said, by way of praising Tamecka Dixon, who was assigned to Lennox much of the night.
Dixon fell hard on her right knee and had to come out for nine minutes of the first half, but returned.
“Minnesota is so tough to play, they’re so physical and they force you to play at their tempo,” Dixon said.