Sparks Feel Right at Home After Victory Over Mercury

Staples Center may be a state-of-the-art facility, but it would have been understandable if the Sparks never had wanted to leave the Forum.

After all, they played well there with a 74-48 record over four years, and a 15-1 mark last season.

But Thursday’s 73-50 romp over Phoenix, before 6,591--the smallest crowd of the season--was the Sparks’ third win in as many games on their homestand and showed they are taking to their new home just fine. It also improved their record to 7-0 at Staples. Only Cleveland (7-0) has won as many games at home without a loss this season.

It also was the third consecutive lopsided victory this week for the Sparks (13-3), who moved a half-game ahead of idle Houston in the Western Conference.

“[Staples] is a home-court advantage for us now,” said Spark guard Tamecka Dixon, who scored 12 points. “We’re getting more comfortable with the basketball floor and the lighting. Every game we play here, we get more comfortable.”

Lisa Leslie, who had her eighth double-double this season with 23 points and 15 rebounds, said one reason the team played hard at the Forum was because of the “high standard” set by the Lakers when they won NBA championships there.

“The Forum has a legacy and we wanted to keep it going,” Leslie said. “Whenever we lost it felt like we let so many people down.

“The Lakers have kept that standard, winning the [NBA] title in their two years here. That’s the challenge we have to take.”

In Thursday’s game, Coach Michael Cooper hoped to see some killer instinct in his team.

“An ideal situation,” he said, considering Phoenix had won at home against Miami on Wednesday, traveled to Los Angeles on Thursday morning, and had not defeated the Sparks at home since 1997.

The players took the message to heart in the first half. Leslie scored seven of the Sparks’ first nine points, took command of the rebounding with help from Rhonda Mapp and DeLisha Milton, who returned to the starting lineup after four games. . The trio also helped get the Sparks’ transition game into gear.

Defensively the Sparks had Phoenix (5-10) tied up. After 10 minutes the Mercury had made only three field goals and was down, 23-9. The deficit grew to 31-13 before the Sparks settled into a 37-20 halftime advantage. Phoenix shot 25% from the field (seven for 28), and reserve Illona Kostine (two baskets) was the only Mercury player with more than one.

The Mercury shot 35.5% for the game to the Sparks’ 45.6%.

Reserve forward Adrain Williams led Phoenix with 12 points.