Sparks Still Can’t Blink

Just who has the momentum going into tonight’s deciding WNBA playoff game between the Sparks and Minnesota Lynx at Staples Center?

Because the Sparks have been ahead most of the time in the two previous first-round games, Spark Coach Michael Cooper doesn’t think his team has lost the momentum.

“I thought we did a good job of getting prepared for a win in Minnesota; we just came up short,” he said. “Fortunately we didn’t lose the series then. We did a better job in the second game, but we still can play better.”

Cooper said the Lynx haven’t done anything the Sparks haven’t expected. Yet Minnesota has created problems when Coach Suzie McConnell Serio has removed her post player Janelle Burse and guard-forward Svetlana Abrosimova, and gone with a smaller lineup that rotates guards Sheri Sam, Kristi Harrower and Teresa Edwards around Katie Smith and Tamika Williams.

“For their ballclub it’s an ideal lineup,” Cooper said. “When they surround Tamika and Katie with those other players, they’ve done such a great job of driving the basket, [passing the ball] out and creating open shots.

“And defensively they’re not that worried about Williams; she just has to keep Lisa [Leslie] out of her spot deep in the low post. Then when Lisa gets the ball they send 3-4 people at her.”

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Williams is the Lynx player who has done the most to raise her profile in the playoffs.

The second-year forward from Connecticut, the sixth pick of the 2002 draft, wasn’t as celebrated as teammates Sue Bird and Swin Cash. But she has averaged 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds while playing every minute of both games

She rarely strays from underneath the basket nor does she have a bevy of signature post moves to get free inside. Still, Williams set a record this year for field-goal percentage (66.8%) and was the only WNBA player this season to shoot better than 50% from the field.

In the series, Williams has made 62.5% of her shots (10 of 16) and 72% of her free throws (13 of 18).

Williams’ increased scoring -- she averaged 8.9 points during the regular season -- has caught the Sparks by surprise.

“She has been in the right place at the right time for them,” said Spark forward DeLisha Milton, who has the primary responsibility for guarding Williams. “The little things she has been doing, as far as getting her hands on passes, have led to easy baskets that normally don’t happen during the course of a game against us.

“I’m not going to take anything away from her, because she’s been out there playing hard. She’s the silent assassin type, the kind where you look at the stat sheet after the game and wonder, ‘How did she get those points?’ We’re going to have to keep more of an eye on her, because she has been hurting us.”

McConnell Serio could not be more pleased by Williams.

“We’ve always had confidence in her as a scorer, and we’ve spent most of this year trying to get her to shoot more,” McConnell said.

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SPARKS TONIGHT

vs. Minnesota, 7, NBATV

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- KPLS (830).

Update -- In their playoff history, dating to 1999, the Sparks have a 2-2 record in the four elimination games they have played. Both losses were to Houston. Those defeats came when the Comets owned the WNBA, winning four consecutive championships from 1997-2000. The Sparks, who have won the last two championships, have found the Lynx to be a bigger hurdle than they might have anticipated. Minnesota, on the other hand, expected the Sparks to be a formidable challenge, but Coach Suzie McConnell Serio wants her team -- which has had only four leads in two games -- to stop making things so hard on themselves. “We don’t want to keep putting ourselves in a situation where we’re playing catch-up the entire game,” McConnell Serio said Sunday. “We must start strong and stay strong. We’ve talked about our decision-making and executing. We have to stay focused for 40 minutes. Most of our turnovers (34 in two games) are unforced, either passes you should not throw or being careless.”

Tickets -- (877) 962-2849 or (213) 480-3232.