Sparks Ready for Real Season
For nine weeks, the Sparks’ season grew steadily in brilliance, victory after victory, at one point reaching 24 wins in 25 games.
Almost shockingly, the Sparks defeated the WNBA’s only champion in three seasons, the Houston Comets, all three times this season.
Now, their 28-4 regular season is history.
Michael Cooper’s team is 0-0, as is Phoenix, its opponent in the best-of-three first-round Western Conference playoff series, starting tonight at America West Arena.
In the regular season, the Sparks swept Phoenix (20-12) in three games, but forward DeLisha Milton put an up-to-date spin on that Wednesday.
“What we did in the regular season doesn’t mean Jack Squat now,” she said. “We’re starting all over. So is Phoenix and everyone else. Everyone is driven now to get that ring.”
To Milton, the brand of basketball that produced a 28-4 record won’t be good enough in the playoffs.
“We have to be better,” she said. “We can’t make a lot of the little mistakes we made in the regular season--all the missed free throws, unforced errors, poor shot selection.”
Some important points as the Sparks launch their drive to unseat Houston:
* Cooper has maintained all season, with no small degree of pride, that his is the most physically fit team in the league. The Sparks have certainly played like it, winning a majority of their games in the final minutes. Of nine games decided by six or fewer points, the Sparks won eight.
* The Sparks are nearly invulnerable to injury. Most teams have lost dozens of games to players who sat out because of illness or injury. Seattle players, for example, missed a combined 63 games. Cooper’s players missed one game, when Tamecka Dixon sprained her ankle a month ago.
* Although her role has changed in four seasons, don’t minimize the impact Lisa Leslie has on this team.
At 28, she is finishing her best pro season, one that could earn her the most-valuable-player award.
In the Sparks’ first two seasons, Leslie carried a heavy burden, while the team was slowly matured. Mwadi Mabika and Dixon, both from the original roster, have become premier players. And last year’s addition of Milton, an ABL forward, has enabled Leslie to broaden her involvement.
“Other teams have to play us straight up now,” Leslie said recently.
“The first two years, they knew it was me who would have to take the winning shot. Now it could be just about anyone. Our core players have matured, and sometimes that gives you just enough of a tempo change to make you a different team.”
It seems as if it’s Phoenix that now needs a tempo change.
Two of the Mercury’s losses to the Sparks were at America West Arena. Coach Cheryl Miller hasn’t come up with a plan to stop Leslie, who registered a double-double in each victory over Phoenix.
Miller said Thursday the 6-foot-5 Leslie has turned up her intensity.
“The last couple of seasons, I think she was almost too unselfish, almost deferring to others,” Miller said. “This year, she’s looking to affect the outcome of games.
“We’ve been in all three L.A. games, we just haven’t turned the corner yet. We’ll mix in some new things. I like our chances.”
When these teams met here last Saturday, Leslie had 22 points and 14 rebounds in 38 minutes. But Miller’s most productive offensive player, Brandy Reed, had 25 points, despite the best efforts of Dixon, Mabika and Milton.
Reed isn’t the only key Mercury player.
“To me, Lisa Harrison is their X factor,” Cooper said. “You tend to pay a lot of attention to Reed and [Jennifer Gillom], and the next thing you know Harrison is drilling a jumper.”
Cooper used part of his time on a Thursday conference call with the seven other playoff coaches to pitch Leslie for the league’s MVP award, then added:
“To me, Cheryl Miller is the coach of the year. Look at all the injuries they’ve had--and here they are, in the playoffs.”
Phoenix finished the regular season efficiently. The Mercury won six of its last nine, finishing with a victory at Portland on Wednesday. The Sparks finished with a six-game trip, won the first five but fell short at Utah on Wednesday, 89-77. The loss ended a second 12-game winning streak.
What does it mean? Nothing, Houston Coach Van Chancellor said Thursday.
“L.A. losing that game positively, absolutely means nothing,” he said. “If anything, it woke L.A. up. Phoenix is 0-3 against L.A., and that is their psychological disadvantage. Phoenix’s problem is that L.A. is bigger, stronger and more athletic.”
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WNBA
PLAYOFFS
Sparks at
Phoenix
GAME 1
Tonight, 6
ESPN