Sparks Find No Reprieve From Sun
The Sparks can continue to believe there is time to make a run at the playoffs, which they haven’t missed since 1998, when they had their only losing season.
But the 2005 season is running out and the Sparks lost another chance to make progress with a 64-51 loss to Connecticut at Uncasville, Conn.
The Eastern Conference-leading Sun (21-6) already clinched a playoff spot, just as Western Conference-leading Sacramento did. The Sun is chasing the league’s best record and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Connecticut is 11-1 at home.
The Sparks (12-14), who trailed, 32-24, at halftime and never caught up in the second half, have lost eight of 11 and are 2-5 on the eight-game trip.
“We have to get the games [back] at home,” Coach Henry Bibby said. “It’s up to the girls now, what they want to do. They have to come together and say that [not making the playoffs] is not going to happen. That’s what they have to say to themselves.
“We played good defense tonight, we stuck to the game plan. We just couldn’t make enough shots.”
Lisa Leslie was the only Spark in double figures. The veteran center had 20 points and 14 rebounds, plus two steals and two blocked shots. But Leslie, like her teammates, had a hard time scoring. She was seven for 20 from the field. The other Sparks were 13 for 46, including three for 15 from three-point range. The Sparks shot 30.3% and were held to a season low in points.
Chamique Holdsclaw, the league’s third-leading scorer, had five points, 13 below her average. She played point guard for the Sparks instead of shooting guard because Bibby shuffled the lineup.
Asked whether the Sparks were being worn down by the long road stretch, Leslie replied, “It doesn’t feel like it. We came out and I thought we played really good defense, holding them to 64 points. I just thought we didn’t shoot the ball really well.
“I don’t know if that’s due to fatigue or not, but it’s nothing anybody else hasn’t experienced, even though I think this is the first time in league history that a team has eight straight road games. But what can you do about it? We just have to go out and play.”
Forty-two fouls were called, and Bibby and Leslie were whistled for technicals.
The Sun wasn’t much hotter from the field than the Sparks, shooting 32.8% (19 for 58). But Connecticut made 20 of 24 free throws. Katie Douglas, who led Connecticut with a season-high 22 points, made a career-high 12 free throws in 14 tries.
The Sparks made eight of 10 free throws.
Terry reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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SPARKS TONIGHT
at New York, 4:30 PDT
Site -- Madison Square Garden.
Radio -- 690.
Records -- Sparks 12-14, Liberty 13-13.
Record vs. Liberty -- 0-1.
Update -- Liberty guard Becky Hammond leads the WNBA in free-throw shooting (89.8%). The Sparks are wrapping up an eight-game trip and will play five of their last seven regular-season games in Staples Center.