Make No Mistake, Leslie Makes the Sparks Go

Marianne Stanley, the coach who knows Lisa Leslie’s game better than anyone else, says that Leslie, at 27, has reached “a higher maturity level.”

That was the response after the Sparks’ assistant coach was asked to account for the recent quantum jump in Leslie’s production. Leslie has been the driving engine behind the Sparks’ recent five-game winning streak.

Stanley coached Leslie at USC for three seasons in the early 1990s.

The only knock on the 6-foot-5 Leslie’s WNBA game to date has been her tendency to think of herself as a perimeter jump shooter instead of the low-post player who, with a high-speed, high-energy effort, by herself virtually produced two victories in the recent Spark surge.

In the wins over Houston and Miami, for example, she had 27 rebounds. At New York Sunday, she had five blocked shots. And Leslie, who had no free throws in the first half of the 72-67 Spark win, made 12 of 16 in the second.

“Right now, Lisa is making great decisions, and quick decisions,” Stanley said after the Liberty game.

“In any given situation, she knows exactly which skill to go to. She’ll think, ‘How do I adjust to this?’ and make a very fast decision. And her leadership has never been better.”

Leslie, after fouling out of Sunday’s Madison Square Garden game with 46 seconds to go, huddled with the starters during two subsequent timeouts, imploring them to hold together.

Coach Michael Cooper pointedly told Leslie at halftime Sunday to “stop settling for the jump shot,” to get down low. Result: She scored 20 of her 22 points and made 12 free throws after halftime.

“We ask a lot of Lisa,” Cooper said. “We put a lot of responsibility on her shoulders.

“Lately, she’s been great. She’s taking advantage of every little thing defenses are giving her. Her moves are great and she’s also distributing the basketball well.”

There’s another reason Leslie has never played better. She and teammate DeLisha Milton played six months with the U.S. Olympic team before the Sparks’ training camp opened.

Do did Katie Smith of Minnesota, second in WNBA scoring; Natalie Williams of Utah, who has 40 more rebounds than anyone else in the league; Yolanda Griffith of Sacramento, third in rebounds and first in steals, and Nikki McCray of Washington, second in three-point shooting at 43.5% among those who have taken more than 60 shots.

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Schedule note: Even though the Sparks are even with Houston in the games-lost column, the schedule favors Houston for two reasons:

* The Comets won’t have to play Utah after the Starzz get point guard Jennifer Azzi back next month. As Comet Coach Van Chancellor put it: “When Utah gets Azzi back, look out.”

* The Sparks finish the regular season with the longest trip in franchise history. From July 29 through August 9, Los Angeles must play at Houston, Minnesota, Detroit, Phoenix, then Seattle and Utah on consecutive nights.

So, if some other teams don’t start beating Houston, the Comets will have home-court playoff advantage for the fourth consecutive season.