Sparks’ Second-Half Rally Ends Losing Streak
The Sparks, back home Saturday after an eight-game trip that took 17 days, brought some angst, another injury and a shrinking league schedule into Staples Center.
They also, on this night at least, brought a pulse. Their playoff chances aren’t strong, but they’re still alive after a 69-59 victory against Indiana.
The win ended a three-game losing streak and moved the Sparks (13-15) past Minnesota into fifth place in the Western Conference, and to within a game of fourth-place Phoenix.
And the Sparks worked hard for it, outrebounding the visitors, 30-22, and holding them to 33.9% shooting from the field. Still, it took a Mwadi Mabika three-pointer to tie the score at halftime, 31-31, and an 11-2 run midway in the second half to put some space between them and Indiana at 54-46. Then they held off the Fever (16-12) in the final six minutes of the game.
Chamique Holdsclaw led all scorers with 18 points and Lisa Leslie had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Mabika and Tamika Whitmore, who sustained a partially dislocated right thumb on Friday, each had nine.
Tamika Catchings and Kelly Miller each had 10 points for Indiana.
“I felt the ladies did play well on the road,” said Spark Coach Henry Bibby, even though the team went 2-6 on the trip. “At least three or four of those games we didn’t get some bounces to go our way. Tonight we got some of those bounces to go our way, had a great effort from our bench, and you know what the starters can do.”
With six games left on the regular-season schedule, however, the Sparks realize there is little room for error. And they may have to run the table to reach the postseason.
“We’ve not been in this situation, like, forever,” Leslie said. “It’s definitely different for us but we’ve won seven and nine straight in other years. So it’s not that we can’t do it. It’s a matter of us pulling together, trying to get chemistry, and I just feel it’s something we lack. And I don’t know why.
“Is it the coaching? No. We have a lot of plays but in basketball you run plays. We have a lot of defenses but we had a lot of defenses” under former coach Michael Cooper. “Is it one player in particular? No, it’s not one player making us have this record. Are we all playing our best basketball ever? Probably not.
“Overall we have a good team. Are we on the same page all the time? Absolutely not. And why, I have no answers for you.”
Said veteran Fever forward Natalie Williams: “I think that teams are getting better, but every year it just depends.
“Like this year, the Sparks aren’t the team that they’ve been in the past, and I don’t think they have the same chemistry for whatever reason.”
When a team is struggling the way the Sparks have this season, all eyes usually turn toward the coach. But Bibby said he was not feeling any more than the usual pressure there is to succeed in Los Angeles.
“It may appear I’m in the hot seat but I don’t care anything about that,” Bibby said. “I’m going to coach basketball, and coach the way I’ve always coached. I’m 55 years old; I’m not worried about jobs. I’m going to coach basketball, I love coaching basketball, I have fun coaching basketball.”