Storm Is Brewing in Seattle

The Sparks acknowledge there were times in a 32-game schedule that their attention wandered and that they couldn’t wait to get to the playoffs.

“I think I have an idea what the Lakers went through,” said one player last week.

But there is a difference.

The Lakers have shown they can ratchet up their game in the postseason, winning the last three NBA titles.

The Sparks are trying to repeat as WNBA champions for the first time. And, at least to their opponents, they look less imposing than they did last year.

Seattle gets the first chance tonight to test Los Angeles’ championship mettle. And the Storm, like the rest of the WNBA, wants to see if the Sparks turn on a different switch when the playoffs start. Or if, after a 25-7 record this season and consecutive 28-4 marks before that, Los Angeles is coming back to the pack.

“Everyone expects L.A. to win and all the pressure is on them,” Sue Bird, the Storm’s standout rookie guard, said after Seattle lost to Sacramento on Tuesday in the regular-season finale.

No one feels pressure more than Spark Coach Michael Cooper, who has tinkered with the team’s chemistry in an effort to keep the Sparks from being robotic and redundant.

It started with the draft-day trade that sent Ukari Figgs, last season’s point guard, to Portland for the draft rights to rookie Nikki Teasley. It continued last week when Cooper pulled DeLisha Milton out of the starting lineup for a second time. In Milton’s place he has used Latasha Byears and, currently, Marlies Askamp.

In between, he has rarely let Byears, Sophia Witherspoon and Nicky McCrimmon keep their seats warm behind regulars Lisa Leslie, Mwadi Mabika, Tamecka Dixon and Teasley.

“I feel comfortable where we are,” Cooper said. “Marlies gives us a different look. Every now and then you have to put a good role player in with the starters. Plus we can use all of her six fouls if we need to. And with DeLisha, we needed someone who could give us more point production off the bench.”

Even if the Sparks are not the same team they were last year, they don’t feel as vulnerable as opponents think they are.

“We lost games earlier last year and this time we lost them late,” Leslie said. “So it can give other teams the belief the Sparks are beatable. But the playoffs are a different matter and that’s the best part about being champions--you know there is another level to reach. And we’re ready to go to that next level.”

The Storm won two of the three games between the teams and handed the Sparks their worst loss, 79-60, on July 11 in Seattle.

“They probably have some confidence and I’m glad they do,” Dixon said. “But this is a brand new season. And we know what it takes to win in the playoffs. It didn’t matter who we played in the first round, but I’m glad we’re playing Seattle. They want us. So we’re coming.”

There is some bad blood lingering. And it goes beyond the infamous hair-pulling incident between Leslie and Lauren Jackson during the 2000 Olympic Games.

Late during the Storm’s 79-60 victory, Byears and the Seattle guard Michelle Marchiniak got into a fight that resulted in Byears getting a two-game suspension and Marchiniak a one-game suspension. Byears was fined $1,000 and Marchiniak $500.

Byears said she will behave in the series but expects the Storm--in particular Marchiniak--to try and rile her.

“Tell them to come on,” said a smiling but defiant Byears. “Tell them all to come on. We know the whole world’s eager to beat the champs. Well, it’s time to put up or shut up.”

If Seattle is going to spring the upset, several things have to happen.

The Storm is primarily a perimeter shooting team, but its collective field-goal percentage (40.8%) does not suggest dependence on outside shots. Jackson (17.2 points) and Bird (14.4) are the primary scorers. Seattle needs center Kamila Vodichkova (9.2) and forward Amanda Lassiter (7.0) to keep the Spark defense from concentrating on Jackson and Bird.

Los Angeles is the WNBA’s highest-scoring team at 76.6 points and it tries to force the pace. Seattle has to control the tempo and choose the right times to run.

The Storm can’t allow the Sparks’ rebounders to dominate. If Los Angeles has a rebounding edge of seven or greater, Seattle’s chances of winning are dim.

For the Sparks to advance, they can’t slip into the mind-set that Seattle is happy to be in the playoffs for the first time and will roll over at the first sign of adversity.

Seattle is 11-5 overall and 8-1 at home when leading at the half, and 6-10 overall when trailing.

Numbers aside, the winner of the series can expect Houston, winner of four WNBA championships, to be waiting in the next round.