Sparks Enjoy Sunshine State by Beating Sol
No one in the Sparks’ organization has mentioned the word “championship,” but someone did it for them Friday night.
It was Ron Rothstein, coach of the Miami Sol.
He stood outside his team’s locker room at American Airlines Arena Friday night, chewing on a 68-54 loss to the Sparks, whose win streak had just reached four.
Obvious question: How good are the Sparks?
“They’re good enough to be competitive with Houston, all the way,” he said.
“They do everything a team needs to do to win a championship, including that outstanding defense.”
The Sparks had a season-high 23 turnovers, but defensively they limited Miami to 27% shooting, had 15 steals and forced 13 Sol turnovers.
To win this one, the Sparks (8-2) needed just one strong run, and it startedlate in the first half and ended eight minutes into the second.
Playing before 8,151, Miami (4-7)--the best of the WNBA’s four expansion teams--led, 30-25, with 2:46 left in the half.
Then the Spark went to work. Lisa Leslie made an eight-foot jump shot and then a three-pointer, Paige Sauer scored inside, and Allison Feaster scored a three-point shot just before halftime, and the Sparks led, 35-30.
The Sparks started the second half with another 10-5 run to take a 45-35 lead, and by the time Nicky McCrimmon scored on a drive with 4:45 left in the game, it was 62-44.
The Sparks eased off in the late going and the Sol went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 62-51 with 2:08 left to play, but got no closer.
“Our defense was outstanding, and what I like most about tonight is we have some new players who are still trying to find each other,” Spark Coach Michael Cooper said.
“Our entire team played outstanding defense, particularly Mach [Clarisse Machanguana] and Paige [Sauer] off the bench.
“The turnovers, I think they were trying to do too much. We knew Miami wanted a low-scoring game, so our perimeter people were trying to push it.”
Leslie, who finished with a game-high 17 points and 13 rebounds, said, “This coaching staff has shown it can coach on a championship level. I’m seeing this now in every practice and in every game.”
Cooper played all 11 players at least four minutes. The Sparks shot 54%. Feaster and Leslie were two for two from three-point range.
Rothstein said the Sparks’ defensive tenacity at times set his players back on their heels.
“This team has a lot of weapons and they really come after you, they challenge your shots,” he said.
“When we did get open looks, we didn’t knock the shots down. They played us so tough defensively I felt like we were a little intimidated, especially inside.”
Miami made an off-season deal to acquire Marlies Askamp, the 6-5 German veteran from Minnesota. But in 21 minutes of being guarded by Leslie and Delisha Milton inside, she had only two points.
Sheri Sam led Miami with 19 points, and no other Sol had more than seven.
The Sparks’ four-game win streak, which began in Portland last weekend, can be attributed to a re-energizing project after a June 13 loss at Seattle.
“After we lost at Seattle, it shook us up some,” said Machanguana. “We all did some soul-searching and through that we got our self-confidence back. And the fact we’ve won four in a row because of our defense, that’s what I’m most proud of. I’m not worried about the offense--that will come around.”
WNBA Notes
Sheri Sam, the ABL and Orlando Miracle veteran, came to Miami when the Sol won a four-way coin flip with the three other expansion teams after she was waived by Orlando. . . . Elena Baranova, who averaged 10 points per season at Utah for three seasons, came to Miami in a trade but is out for the year after preseason knee surgery.