Sparks Fly Once Again in Victory

The Sparks are the WNBA’s only unbeaten team today--but you have to wonder how many people in Los Angeles care.

Michael Cooper’s team achieved its easiest victory yet, beating the expansion Portland Fire, 70-57, making the Sparks’ 3-0 start their best in franchise history.

Tuesday night’s crowd at the Great Western Forum was announced at 4,639--one of the smallest in franchise history--but it looked more like 3,000. The team’s attendance has declined in its first three seasons.

The Fire, along with Miami thought to be the best of the league’s four expansion teams, dropped to 1-2. Portland played a two-overtime game against three-time WNBA champion Houston last week, losing by two points.

The Sparks deployed a tight, in-your-face defense for the third consecutive game, shutting down Portland inside and outside. They also forced Portland into two shot-clock violations.

Los Angeles forced 21 turnovers, registered 11 steals and had five blocks.

DeLisha Milton had three of the blocks, two of which were sent far back into the seats.

“The blocks they had against us were powerful blocks and when a team can do that against you it means they’re playing great help defense,” Portland guard Michelle Marciniak said.

“They never let us get into our offense. Their defense is better than Houston’s.”

The Sparks opened with victories over Utah and Minnesota but this was the easiest of the three. The Sparks’ first major test comes Saturday afternoon when they play Western Conference rival Phoenix (2-1) at the Forum.

Cooper’s team parlayed two first-half surges into a 36-24 halftime lead and maintained a 12-15 point lead for most of the second half.

Lisa Leslie was dominant inside, scoring a game-high 19 points. She finished with a flourish, swatting a shot by Portland’s Michelle VanGorp into the seats with 1:07 to play. Cooper at that point took her out to an ovation from the crowd.

“They double-teamed us in the backcourt all through the first half and that hurt us because we weren’t reading it well,” Portland Coach Linda Hargrove said.

“L.A. is extremely athletic and very quick defensively. They make it very hard to get that entry pass.”

She was asked to compare the Sparks to the Comets.

“I’d say L.A. is more athletic from the point guard position to the [center] spot,” she said. They have great perimeter players.”

Cooper advised everyone to get used to the kind of defense his team played Tuesday.

“The defense we played tonight, that’s something to build on,” he said.

“That’s the best 40 minutes of defense we’ve played. This is how it’s going to be, from here on out, when we play these teams, here or on the road.”

Portland actually shot better than Los Angeles, 37% to 36%, but the Sparks had 59 shots to the Fire’s 51.

Before Cooper began pulling his starters with 11:45 remaining, the Sparks were pounding Portland, 48-31.