Sparks Are Ringmasters Again
For 32 regular-season games and five playoff games, Spark rookie Nikki Teasley did everything asked of her--except shoot.
Teasley, the fifth player taken in the WNBA’s April draft by Portland and traded to Los Angeles for veteran guard Ukari Figgs, was determined to fit in with the defending WNBA champions. She always made sure everyone got shots before she did.
But on Saturday, with Game 2 of the WNBA Finals tied and less than three seconds to play, the ball was in Teasley’s hands. Her teammates and 13,493 in Staples Center were imploring her to shoot.
And Teasley, who had missed her previous four three-point attempts, sank a three-pointer from 21 feet away with 2.4 seconds left to give Los Angeles a rousing 69-66 title-clinching win over the New York Liberty.
The basket secured the Sparks’ second consecutive WNBA championship. They join Houston as the only multiple titleholders in the league’s six-year history, and equaled the 2000 Comets’ WNBA record of sweeping all six playoff games. Include the final three regular-season games and Los Angeles won its last nine, equaling its longest winning streak of the season.
Teasley could not have picked a better way to vindicate the faith Coach Michael Cooper and General Manager Penny Toler showed in trading for her. The final shot, she said, “was just instinct. I looked for the play [under the basket to Lisa Leslie] and it wasn’t there. The second option was for me to shoot. This time I had an open look and thank God I knocked it down.
“I could never have imagined taking the last shot, not in a million years,” said Teasley, who had 11 points and 11 assists. “I know the trade was devastating to the fans because Ukari is a wonderful person. But this is a business; you have to take what you get and move on. I wish her the best but I’m gonna try and keep my job and keep trying to do what I do best.”
Getting swept in the best-of-three series was yet another bitter Finals finish for the Liberty. This was the fourth time in six years New York has tried to win the WNBA title, and the fourth time New York has failed.
“It was a heartbreaking loss for us,” Liberty Coach Richie Adubato said. “I am very proud of my team. They had a great year. They won the Eastern Conference, coming on late in the season. They beat a lot of great teams to get here. I really thought we were going to do it the hard way. I thought we were going to win today, and I thought it would have been a tremendous championship game tomorrow.”
Said Tamika Whitmore, who along with teammate Vickie Johnson led New York with 17 points. “I’m sick of coming up short. Some things you just don’t have an answer for. All things happen for a reason, but I guess it’s just not meant for us to win yet.”
Teresa Weatherspoon, who darted back and forth between Teasley and Leslie in the final seconds before Teasley launched the game winner, could only shake her head.
“I happened to be the one defending it,” Weatherspoon said. “I was kind of trying to pick my poison, playing in between. If I could do it all over again I would do it differently. But she made a good shot.”
For the other Sparks, it was an incredible finish to a season--and a game--that tested them in ways they had not imagined.
“I cried on this,” said Latasha Byears, who contributed 10 points and 11 rebounds Saturday. “This year was so hard.... And Nikki ... I can’t even describe that shot. I had to let some tears out.”
Leslie, who had 17 points and was named Finals MVP for a second straight year, said, “This game was like our year. We’ve been in situations where we’ve been up, teams have come back, teams have gone ahead, we have to do it with our defense, and we have to hit big shots. [The last shot] was evidence [of] how much faith we had in Nikki, who’s been a great addition to our team.”
If the Sparks had lost Saturday, they could have blamed themselves.
They broke out to an 18-4 lead, but New York closed to within 26-24 with 3:14 left in the first half.
The Sparks led, 31-24, at the half, then scored seven straight points to begin the second half and waited for the Liberty to go away. Instead, New York responded with an 18-3 run to take its only lead, 42-41. Los Angeles built its lead back to nine, 66-57, but the Liberty scored nine in a row to tie the score, the last two coming on a 15-footer by Tari Phillips with 18.2 seconds to play.
It was left to Teasley to take a shot at victory. She made it her best shot.
A victory rally for the Sparks will be staged Tuesday at the Hollywood-Highland mall, starting at 11:30 a.m.
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WNBA Champions
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