Sparks Christen Their New Home Tonight
The Sparks celebrate their fifth birthday tonight in new digs--Staples Center.
After four summers in the aging Forum, the WNBA team launches its new era against the Cleveland Rockers at 7:30.
The Sparks, off to a 3-0 start, seem bigger, stronger and certainly deeper than the 28-4 team of last season. They have three core players who began with the 1997 Sparks, Lisa Leslie, Tamecka Dixon and Mwadi Mabika; a major 1999 acquisition from the defunct ABL, DeLisha Milton, and two new players Coach Michael Cooper and General Manager Penny Toler added to the mix in November.
Latasha Byears, a 5-foot-11, 205-pound post player, came from Sacramento in exchange for La’Keshia Frett. She has started two games and is already a force inside.
Another new “big,” as Cooper calls his inside players, is 6-2, 190-pound Rhonda Mapp, acquired from Charlotte for Clarisse Machanguana and Allison Feaster.
One result of the added bulk is that the 6-5 Leslie is no longer strictly an inside player. Since her USC days, she has perceived herself as a swing player. Cooper’s new offense has expanded her game out to the perimeter.
Don’t be surprised tonight to see her bring the ball upcourt at times.
In an exhibition game against New York last month, she brought the ball upcourt and dribbled through the Liberty defense for a layup.
The common thread running through the Sparks’ 3-0 start is that opponents haven’t yet figured out whom to guard. The leading scorer, Leslie, stands 19th in the league at 15 points a game, and Dixon, Byears, Mabika and Milton each is averaging 7.7 or better.
Tonight’s debut doesn’t exactly open a homestand. The Sparks go on the road for games at Minnesota and Houston Saturday and Monday before returning home for a game June 14 with Orlando.
With nine of the first 13 games on the road, the schedule doesn’t become home-friendly until late July when the Sparks play eight of 11 at Staples.
They opened with road wins at Houston, Orlando and Charlotte, and they hope to reach 4-0 before a five-digit crowd, one that might launch them out of a four-season decline in attendance.
The Sparks averaged 8,931 in their inaugural 1997 season but haven’t approached that number since. Attendance has declined each year, to 6,563 last season.
Joe McCormack, vice president for finance for both the Lakers and Sparks, said recently that season-ticket sales were running ahead of last season’s preseason pace.
The Sparks don’t want to fall behind the league trend. One week into last season, the WNBA attendance average was 10,635. This season, it was 11,137, a jump of nearly 5%.
Tonight’s opponent, Cleveland (1-1), has stumbled a bit at the starting line. Two Rocker veterans, 6-2 Rushia Brown and 6-4 Ann Wauters, missed all of training camp, and Wauters, the league’s first overall draft pick last season, isn’t expected until June 15 at the earliest. Her Belgian team is in the finals of the European championship tournament.
Brown reported only days ago from her Italian team and played in Cleveland’s 70-65 loss at Sacramento Saturday.
Cleveland is getting double-digit minutes from nine players. Three of those--Australian rookie Penny Taylor and veterans Merlakia Jones and Chasity Melvin--are scoring more than 14 points a game.
The Rockers opened Thursday with a 69-34 thumping of Washington.
TONIGHT
vs. Cleveland, 7:30 p.m.
Site--Staples Center.
Radio--KPLS (830).
Records--Sparks 3-0, Rockers 1-1.
Sparks vs. Cleveland--(2000) 1-0.
Update--If they win tonight’s home opener, the Sparks will match their 4-0 start of last season. Cleveland regular Eva Nemcova has a sore knee and may not play.