It’s a Bad Start for Sparks
Until Saturday, the Sparks had never lost a game in May and had won their last six season openers.
That was the old (read: last year’s) WNBA.
On Saturday, the 2004 season started badly for Los Angeles. The Sparks were overpowered by the Seattle Storm, 93-67, before 9,686 in KeyArena. The Storm, equaling the team record for points, has its first 2-0 start in franchise history. The Sparks opened the season 0-1 for the first time since 1997, the inaugural WNBA season.
It was also the second consecutive lopsided loss that Seattle has handed the Sparks in this building; last year it was 92-56, the worst loss ever for the Sparks, home or road. But Los Angeles didn’t have Lisa Leslie or DeLisha Milton-Jones available because of injuries.
This night, everyone was sound for the Sparks. But it didn’t matter who played in purple and gold.
Betty Lennox, who came to Seattle from Cleveland in the dispersal draft, had her second consecutive big game for her new team with 20 points.
“It’s a new system for me; I’m just trying to fit in. I know I’m small, but I’ve got a bit heart,” Lennox said
Lauren Jackson chipped in 16 points, and Sheri Sam -- another key off-season acquisition, this time in a trade with Minnesota -- added 14. Janell Burse added 12 off the bench.
The Storm outshot the Sparks, 53.4% to 36.5%; outrebounded them, 31-23; had fewer turnovers, 17-14; and gleefully ran the visitors into the ground, outscoring them, 53-31, in the second half.
“This team feels a lot more complete in a lot of different ways than we ever have,” said the Storm’s Sue Bird, who had nine points and five assists. “And it’s good. You look at a team like L.A., they have a lot of great players. But now we have more options; that’s what you saw tonight.”
This was the kind of opening game Coach Michael Cooper, now in his fifth season, had never seen his team play. But it was not a night for extreme anger or biting responses to postgame questions.
“I think the one game they had already helped get [Seattle] in sync,” Cooper said. “Again, it’s the first game of the season; we have to learn from this loss.
“We have to fix our defense. We did a poor job of rotating, helping and recovering. And you’re not going to win many games if you get outrebounded.”
Los Angeles had 20 points from Leslie and 15 from Mwadi Mabika. Tamecka Dixon had 10 points and seven assists. But no one else had more than six.
Having already played one game, the Storm figured to look smoother early, and it did. Seattle canned eight of its first 12 shots to build a 17-11 lead in the first 6 minutes 22 seconds.
The Sparks came back to forge a few leads of their own, the last one, at 36-32, on Leslie’s two free throws with 2:17 left in the half. Seattle responded by scoring the last eight points of the half to take a 40-36 lead in the locker room.
The momentum stayed with Seattle. The Storm pulled away to a 50-38 lead on Kamila Vodichkova’s 18-footer at the 16:30 mark.
The Sparks made one last effort to get close, cutting their deficit to 50-44. But Seattle got rolling again and ended the suspense with a 22-2 run over a 5:20 span.
“It doesn’t feel good to lose, especially like that,” Leslie said. “But the good thing is, there are so many things we can improve on. We played hard, but we didn’t shoot the ball well. And they didn’t miss much.”
Two Italian League players, Laura Macchi and Rafaella Masciadri, appeared in the game for the Sparks. Macchi scored six points. Masciadri missed her only shot, a three-point attempt.
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Getting Keyed
The Seattle Storm’s KeyArena has been a house of horrors for the Sparks over the last several seasons, the site of some of their worst losses:
* June 13, 2000: Lost in overtime, 69-59, to expansion Storm in first-ever meeting.
* July 11, 2002: Lost, 79-60, the worst loss of the season, in a game featuring a brawl between the Sparks’ Latasha Byears and the Storm’s Michelle Marciniak.
* Aug. 6, 2003: Lost, 92-56, the worst loss in franchise history, while playing without injured starters Lisa Leslie and DeLisha Milton-Jones.
* May 22, 2004: Lost season opener, 93-67.