Sparks Get a Leg Up on a Major Hurdle

The Houston Comets are still the four-time defending WNBA champions. But they are one game away from being former champions after the Sparks took the opener of the teams’ Western Conference first-round playoff series, 64-59, before 9,756 at the Compaq Center on Saturday.

Lisa Leslie scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the second half, and Mwadi Mabika added 15 to help Los Angeles move close to clearing a huge hurdle.

The Sparks have been eliminated by Houston in the playoffs the last two years. Now they can return the favor with a victory in Game 2 of the best-of-three series Monday night at Staples Center. A third game, if necessary, would be played Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Spark Coach Michael Cooper almost sounded as if he was counting on a three-game series.

“We’ve won just one game,” Cooper said. “A playoff really starts when you win on the road and we’ve done that. Houston still has the heart of a champion and will do its best to get one on Monday. This will be a tough series.”

Maybe so. But the Comets, who lost a playoff game here for the first time since 1999, have lost six of their last nine games and realize they are not playing the Spark team they have dominated in the past.

The Sparks know it too.

“A total team effort today,” said Tamecka Dixon, who had 14 points and four steals. “And we got one. We’ve put them at a disadvantage. And we’re very comfortable in our house.

“I’d like to think we took their best shot. They play off emotion, especially in front of their crowd, and a lot of their players came out and stepped up. But it’s going to be our crowd now.”

The Spark defense stepped up Saturday.

Although they were outrebounded, 36-34, and gave up a few runs that kept the game close in the second half, the Sparks still held Houston to 40.6% shooting (26 of 64). Their long arms and quick hands accounted for nine steals among Houston’s 15 turnovers. The Comets’ all-star duo of Tina Thompson and Janeth Arcain had 11 turnovers between them.

What L.A. could not do was put the Comets away. The Sparks led by 14 in the first half, 29-15, but the Comets reduced their deficit to 33-31 by halftime.

In the second half the Sparks led, 53-42, with 9:49 to play, and by 59-53 with 4:24 left. Each time the Comets came back to tie the score.

But that was part of Houston’s problem--all day it was playing uphill. The Comets led only once, 36-35, on a three-pointer by Thompson 1:40 into the second half.

“We were very into the game mentally,” Dixon said. “We just have to find a way not to let them extinguish those leads. We’re gonna have to go back and watch film and see what we did [wrong].”

Arcain (11 points), who before the game was announced as winner of the league’s most-improved-player award, had a particularly rough day, missing 11 of 15 shots and having many of her passes in the lane broken up by the Sparks.

Her last, critical miscue came with just under two minutes to play and the score tied at 59. Arcain angled into the lane, jumped and threw a pass that was intercepted by Spark guard Ukari Figgs, who drove for a layup with 1:49 to play.

Houston did not score again. The Sparks got their final points from Figgs and Leslie at the free-throw line.

And although the Comets are 6-0 in playoff elimination games, there’s no question the task before them is daunting. The Sparks are 16-0 at Staples Center this season and have won their last 22 home games.

“We’re up against it, no doubt,” Houston Coach Van Chancellor said. “But we’ve been up against it before. We played tough against a really good team today, and we’ll play them tough on Monday.”

Houston got 17 points from Amanda Lassiter, 16 from Thompson and a career-high 13 from center Tiffani Johnson, and the Sparks aren’t convinced the Comets can play much better. But they also know not to count Houston out.

“Did we chase any ghosts away today? No, not quite,” DeLisha Milton said. “We still have at least one more game to go. And the Western Conference playoff champion has not been decided yet. But to come here and win is a big thing, because it’s so hard to play this team on their home court.”