Sparks Look Good in Loss
The Sparks, the WNBA’s best regular-season team last summer at 28-4, may be even better.
It looked that way for 31 minutes Saturday night, when they seemed on their way to a rout of the Eastern Conference champion New York Liberty in their exhibition opener. But after the Sparks built a 14-point lead midway through the second half, the team’s reserves couldn’t hold it and the Liberty made five free throws in the last 31 seconds to win, 71-68.
But there was a lot to the game that heightened expectations for the Sparks, not the least of which was the crowd at the Long Beach State Pyramid--4,407. Perhaps it bodes well for the club’s first Staples Center season.
And the team? How about Lisa Leslie as a Magic Johnson-style point guard?
The 6-5 Leslie didn’t play the point Saturday, but in Coach Michael Cooper’s revamped half-court set, she lined up almost like a perimeter shooting guard and tried out her slasher/driver game, with pull-up jumpers. She was two for 10 in her 19 minutes, scoring six points.
Cooper played veteran Tamecka Dixon at the point in place of Ukari Figgs and seemed happy about the switch.
“With Tamecka at the point, we can put five people on the floor who can score,” he said.
He played 13 players at least eight minutes and kept his reserves on the floor when New York’s starters wiped out the 14-point lead.
Today and Monday, the Sparks must make tough cuts off their 15-player training camp roster. Cooper grimaced at the mere thought.
“We’ve got to get our numbers down, maybe to 12, before we go on the road,” he said. The roster limit is 11.
“I could have put our starters back in tonight and maybe blown the game open, but we needed to see some of our newcomers under pressure.”
Some wondered if a trade is in the works. Figgs, who started every game last summer and who is known to be coveted by Orlando Coach Carolyn Peck (who coached her at Purdue), didn’t start and played only eight minutes.
The second of the Sparks’ three exhibition games is next Saturday at New York, the final one May 22 at Orlando. The regular-season opener will be played May 28 at Houston.