Sparks Win on Instinct
The Sparks may have found another direction Thursday on the map that could lead them to the WNBA title.
Make that a directive, as in get a team down, and keep them down.
The message came through in the second half of the Sparks’ 83-68 victory over the Sacramento Monarchs before 8,364 at Arco Arena.
After frittering away a nine-point lead in the first half and trailing, 35-30, at intermission, the Sparks got a 9-0 run to open the second half and never looked back.
It started with an airtight 1-3-1 zone that took away the aggressiveness of Sacramento, forcing the Monarchs to settle for long jump shots when they weren’t turning the ball over. The Sparks hauled in the misses and broke loose for a 27-15 spurt, punctuated by Lisa Leslie’s eight-foot shot that raised the Sparks’ lead to 66-50 with 7:21 to play.
It was the ninth consecutive victory for the Western Conference leaders (18-3), and a blow to the Monarchs (12-9), who were looking to show the Sparks and a national television audience they were ready to rise to the Sparks’ level.
“Earlier when we had the nine-game winning streak, we were playing pretty good basketball,” Spark Coach Michael Cooper said of a 9-0 season-opening run. “But now we’re developing what championship teams need, and that’s a killer instinct. I think tonight was evidence of that.
“The ladies have bought into that concept, but it’s a matter of putting it to work on the court. This was a big win, in that we took another step to where we want to go as a team. We want to go to the championship, but we have to become a team that has to be reckoned with.”
As long as Leslie continues her high level of play, the Sparks can pursue Cooper’s ideals. The MVP of Monday’s All-Star game had 23 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots against the Monarchs. She also threw a defensive blanket around Sacramento center Yolanda Griffith, who was voted ahead of Leslie to start the All-Star game.
Griffith had 16 points, but eight came from the free-throw line and she was only one of four from the field in the second half.
“We played a good first half, but we really played a good second half,” Leslie said. “We knew they like to run and that they’re a tough team at home. Even when we were down at halftime, we knew we could get on a run. But defense was the key.”
Leslie didn’t have to dominate by herself. Tamecka Dixon had 16 and Latasha Byears, playing against her former team for the first time, added 14. DeLisha Milton had 13.
But perhaps the key contribution came from reserve guard Nicky McCrimmon, who gave Cooper 18 minutes, scoring six points and handing out four assists.
“This was a game we got stuff from everybody,” Cooper said. “Nicky came in with a big game, not having played much.”
In other WNBA games, Ann Wauters scored a career-high 19 points as the Cleveland Rockers (16-5) won their 14th consecutive home game and moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference with a 65-60 victory over the New York Liberty. . . . Trisha Fallon made a layup in the final second, giving the Phoenix Mercury a 60-58 victory over the visiting Portland Fire. Jennifer Gillom, who scored 18 points, left the court in a wheelchair after taking an elbow from Fire center Sylvia Crawley in the face on the final play.