Comets Concede Little to Sparks
Now that the Western Conference is through beating on the Eastern Conference in the All-Star game for the third consecutive year, the second half of the 2001 WNBA season can begin.
But the season’s first half has left plenty to chew on:
* The Houston Comets may have lost two of their best players when Cynthia Cooper retired (moving on to coach the Phoenix Mercury) and Sheryl Swoopes suffered a season-ending knee injury. But the only champion the WNBA has known will not simply hand over its crown.
The Sparks opened the season with nine consecutive victories. After a season-opening loss to Los Angeles, the Comets had their own nine-game winning streak. They have stayed right behind the Sparks in the chase for the league’s best record and home-court advantage in the playoffs. With Tina Thompson (22.6 points) having another superb season and first-time all-star Janeth Arcain (18.9) having the breakout year Coach Van Chancellor predicted, don’t expect the Comets to fade.
* The New York Liberty, which has lost three championship finals to the Comets, is certain its time has come. “It’s very difficult to come home and think about [not winning] the entire off-season,” said Liberty all-star guard Teresa Weatherspoon. “We feel as if we have the ingredients to get it done. We know what it takes.”
But New York (as well as the Western Conference) better pay attention to the Cleveland Rockers. The Rockers are tied with the Liberty for the East’s best record, have the league’s best home record at 9-0 and have won 13 consecutive home games over the last two seasons. They beat New York by 18 points on June 7 at Cleveland and face them again Thursday at Cleveland. A victory would give them a tiebreaker--and home-court advantage--in a playoff between the two.
Cleveland is solid, if not flashy, and a legitimate contender.
* The Mercury, Washington Mystics and Orlando Miracle made the playoffs last year. None is playing well this season. Of the three, Orlando (6-12) has the best chance of returning.
The Mystics (5-13) have been disappointing and are weakened further by Chamique Holdsclaw’s foot injury. Phoenix (7-12) is buried under six other West teams and doesn’t seem capable of making a second-half run.
The Charlotte Sting used a six-game winning streak before the break to surge into the fourth and final Eastern playoff slot. But beyond New York and Cleveland, there doesn’t appear to be another dominant Eastern team. The Miami Sol, currently third, Charlotte and Orlando will be playing musical chairs with the two remaining playoff berths the rest of the regular season.
* In the Western Conference, the Sacramento Monarchs, Portland Fire and Utah Starzz should slug it out for the two slots behind the Sparks and Houston. Of the three, Sacramento poses the most first-round danger.
* The first-half most valuable player is Lisa Leslie.
She’s not merely the best player on the league’s winningest team. She’s the best all-around player in the league. Leslie is third in the league in scoring (19.1), rebounds (9.9) and blocked shots (2.05). She can shoot the three-pointer with confidence (41.7%) and, at 6 feet 5 and 170 pounds, is agile enough to drive to the basket.
Leslie may not be the WNBA’s most popular player, but right now she’s the best.
Intentionally or not, WNBA President Val Ackerman has painted a bull’s-eye on Portland’s Jackie Stiles.
During her address at Monday’s All-Star game at Orlando, Ackerman couldn’t help but gush over Stiles, one of two rookies to make the Western Conference all-star team, and the economic impact she is having.
“Jackie was the subject of the largest player product order that we’ve had to date in the WNBA,” Ackerman said of the rookie from Southwest Missouri State. “Springfield [Mo.] Kmart stores put in an order for 10,000 Jackie Stiles T-shirts and then had to reorder because they had to accommodate the demands in her home territory.”
Stiles had a good first half, averaging 16.2 points and shooting a respectable 44% from the floor. But she is struggling defensively with the quickness of the league’s best guards. She can be frustrated into taking bad shots; in her last six games before the break she was three for 10 or worse four times.
And as the battle for playoff spots get more intense, Stiles will find more defenses concentrating on stopping her--with better athletes than she faced in college.
Even though the Sparks defeated the Minnesota Lynx twice, Lynx guard and WNBA leading scorer Katie Smith sounds more impressed with Sacramento.
When asked during an on-line interview which was the toughest team she has faced this season, Smith said it was the Monarchs. “They were hitting on all cylinders when we faced them and it seemed like they could do whatever they wanted,” she said, referring to a 91-52 loss on July 3.