In This Three-Peat Bid, Reflected Glory Is Goal
Pardon the Sparks for feeling as though they are looking into a mirror.
As they gear up to try to win a third consecutive WNBA title, they face an opponent like no Eastern Conference challenger the Sparks have faced.
Instead, the Detroit Shock looks like them.
“That’s the scary part,” Spark Coach Michael Cooper said.
The Shock had the league’s best regular-season record (25-9) and, because of some shrewd drafting and a little luck, appears capable of ending the West’s five-year stranglehold on the WNBA title. The Shock had the league’s worst record (9-23) in 2002, but got its first break by selecting ex-Miami center Ruth Riley with the first pick in the WNBA dispersal draft. In the regular college/free agent draft, the Shock selected Louisiana Tech forward Cheryl Ford with the third pick.
Those two, along with blossoming star Swin Cash, gave the Shock a potent frontcourt that can run, score, rebound and defend.
Another key move was sending 2003 first-round draft pick Kara Lawson to Sacramento for veteran Kedra Holland-Corn. Lawson had a solid rookie season, but Holland-Corn, who solidified a backcourt that already boasted Deanna Martin and Elaine Powell, gave Detroit its best chance to win now.
And here they are: a group of players who never lost more than two in a row, led the league in scoring (75.1) and rebounding (36.2) and, with a cumulative age of 23.7 -- the youngest roster in the league -- may not know or care that they weren’t supposed to be in the finals so soon.
“We’ve been talking about the WNBA finals for an entire year,” Coach Bill Laimbeer said. “That we believe we are a team of destiny, and what would it take, not only once we got there, but when we got there.”
To which the two-time defending champion Sparks say, bring it on.
“I feel we can play any kind of style,” Cooper said. “If they want to run, we’ll run and put some points on the board. If they want to go half court, I like our half-court execution, especially the last four games.”
The Sparks opened the season 9-0, six of those wins on the road. Then they endured a 4-7 stretch in the second half after center Lisa Leslie suffered a knee injury partly caused by a collision in the WNBA All-Star game with Cash.
They also survived the messy roster removals of Latasha Byears and Rhonda Mapp.
Yet it’s hard to tell if they are hitting their stride at the right time.
There weren’t many clues in the first two rounds of the playoffs against Minnesota and Sacramento. Both times, the Sparks lost Game 1 on the road and won the next two at home.
They won’t have that luxury this time. Detroit not only had the league’s best record, it defeated the Sparks, 87-78, in overtime on June 17 at Auburn Hills, Mich., in the only meeting between the teams. That win, Laimbeer has said, bolstered the Shock’s belief that it was a title contender.
“I definitely think we gave that game away,” Leslie said. “They have to use whatever they can to motivate themselves. They are a legitimate team because they are here.
“But we’re playing well at home now. And I believe we’re still the best team on the road. We know it will be a long flight to Detroit, and we don’t want to take that flight with our backs to the wall. So we’re definitely going to try and take care of Game 1.”
Cooper said the Sparks’ playoff experience should be a factor.
“It does take a certain mental toughness,” he said, “and it gets harder each year [to repeat] because everybody’s gearing up, all eyes are focused on you, and every game feels like a playoff game.”
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SPARKS TONIGHT
vs. Detroit, 5, ESPN 2
Site -- Staples Center.
Radio -- KPLS (830).
Record vs. Shock (regular season) -- 0-1.
Update -- The Sparks have dragged themselves through two tough Western Conference playoff rounds to get to the finals. They should expect the Shock to extract every ounce of energy they have left. Both teams like to run, have size and strength and have coaching staffs that will drive them through brick walls to succeed. Even though the Sparks lost the first game against both Minnesota and Sacramento, it seems imperative that they beat the Shock tonight and not be faced with having to win two in Detroit.
Tickets -- (877) 962-2849 or (213) 480-3232.
-- Mike Terry