Cooper Is Given a Fond Farewell
The Staples Center faithful took their last look Wednesday at Michael Cooper, cheering his every picture on the overhead scoreboard while trying to imagine life without the Spark coach. Cooper is headed to Denver on Sunday, having taken an assistant’s position with the Nuggets.
So it was fitting his goodbye present came from Lisa Leslie, who was celebrating her 32nd birthday. Leslie’s layup with 4.4 seconds remaining was the difference in the Sparks’ 73-71 victory over Phoenix in front of 11,140.
Leslie, with 13 points and 12 rebounds, was one of four Sparks in double figures.
Mwadi Mabika led the Sparks with 14. DeLisha Milton-Jones had 13 and Nikki Teasley added 10.
The victory moved the Sparks (12-6) into a first-place percentage tie in the Western Conference with Seattle (10-5), which lost at Washington.
“That was a nice send-off from the home fans,” said Cooper, who has two more games with the Sparks in San Antonio on Friday and Houston on Saturday.
“They went through our crying periods when we lost to Houston in the Forum, and now they get to reap the benefits of the joy of winning championships. And this can be another championship team.”
In staying perfect at home (7-0), Los Angeles survived a 25-point game from Diana Taurasi, who missed a three-point shot at the buzzer for Mercury (8-9).
“I thought it was good,” said Taurasi, who was six of 16 from the field and 11 of 13 from the free-throw line.
“You can’t get a better look. It left my hand and I thought it was in.”
Leslie’s winning basket was set up by a steal of a Phoenix inbound pass by Laura Macchi with 25.8 seconds to play.
After the Sparks called timeout, they took out the ball in the frontcourt. With Teasley dribbling as the seconds ticked away, Leslie found a gap in the defense, and caught Teasley’s pass alone under the basket.
“They were playing a lot of a triangle-and-two defense,” Leslie said. “Coop kept calling that play but for some reason we kept going away from it. We finally executed what he had drawn up.”
Of course the main topic of interest Wednesday is who will be the next Spark coach. Cooper said he was not planning to give any input to team President Johnny Buss and General Manager Penny Toler on his replacement.
“They have talked to me about it, but because of my vacancy this is something that the Sparks have to do,” Cooper said.
“Johnny and Penny will do a good job of selecting a new coach, if one is needed for the short time that’s left in the season. If you can find someone comparable or good, you don’t turn that down because you also have to look to the future, too.”
Toler said that she and Buss had contacted several candidates primarily within the Lakers family (including Magic Johnson, who declined having an interest), but they would not rush into a hire.
“We can be comfortable with [assistant coaches] Karleen Thompson and Ryan Weisenberg,” Toler said. “We’re not just going to put anyone on the bench.”
Mindful of how Taurasi nearly won the game against the Sparks in Phoenix, Los Angeles tried to give her variety of defensive looks, from the long-armed harassment of Milton-Jones with the occasional handoff to Mabika and Raffaella Masciadri. It worked reasonably well in the first half as Los Angeles built a 44-36 halftime lead
Nonetheless Taurasi had eight points during a 14-0 Mercury spurt in the second half. Her three-point basket gave the visitors their first lead, 56-55, with 9:21 to play.
Tamecka Dixon, recovering from the concussion sustained last week against San Antonio, was held out of Wednesday’s game. Dixon said she hoped to be cleared for Friday’s game against the Silver Stars.
“I really don’t want to miss Coop’s last two games,” Dixon said.
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Home Insecurity
Spark fans can’t complain of a lack of drama when the team plays at Staples Center. The results of the team’s last four games on its home court:
* June 14: Defeated Connecticut, 76-74, in overtime. Lisa Leslie blocked a shot with one second remaining to force the extra period, then scored five points in overtime.
* June 29: Defeated New York, 69-65, in overtime. Mwadi Mabika tied the score with a three-point basket at the buzzer, then clinched the victory with two free throws with three seconds left in overtime.
* July 2: Defeated San Antonio, 87-80, in overtime. After missing a free throw with 2.4 seconds left that could have won the game in regulation, Mabika scored 12 points in overtime.
* July 7: Defeated Phoenix, 73-71. After the Sparks blew an 11-point lead in the second half, Leslie’s basket with four seconds to play proved to be the game-winner.