Sparks Try to Land a One-Two Punch
High-profile jewelry presentations are nothing new for the Sparks.
They were the opponent in 2001 when the Houston Comets got their last championship rings. They were in Detroit last year when the Shock collected its rings for the 2003 WNBA title. And today in Seattle, they will endure another champion’s celebration.
Rest assured, however, both teams have more on their minds than the bling. They want to start finding out how good they can be in 2005.
The Sparks, two years removed from their last title run, begin the season with a new coaching staff and a revamped starting lineup that includes three-time all-star forward Chamique Holdsclaw.
Holdsclaw, who came to Los Angeles from Washington in a trade for DeLisha Milton-Jones, is expected to bolster a team that led the league in scoring last year at 73.4 points a game. The lineup already had two-time MVP Lisa Leslie, last year’s assist champion Nikki Teasley, and veteran standout Tamecka Dixon.
“I think everyone says L.A. is the team to beat, and after watching them on tape I don’t know that I disagree anymore,” Storm Coach Ann Donovan said. “The lethal one-two punch [Leslie and Holdsclaw] they have there, and the depth they have, they look pretty good, and we’re going to get an early test of how we match against them.”
No one knows yet how the Sparks will gel under new Coach Henry Bibby, who has put in new offensive and defensive schemes.
And Bibby still doesn’t have all his team available. Veteran starter Mwadi Mabika is sidelined by a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery this week. Laura Macchi and Rafaella Masciadr are completing their Italian league commitments.
Having Leslie and Holdsclaw, however, can eliminate a lot of stress.
“I hope they are Shaq and Kobe,” said Bibby, referring to Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, the Laker tandem that won three NBA championships. “If they are that good, then the WNBA is really in trouble. But I don’t know if we are that caliber yet.”
Seattle defeated Connecticut in the league finals last year, but the Storm underwent a makeover more radical than the Sparks’. There are six new players, four of them rookies, surrounding the returning group of Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, Betty Lennox, Simone Edwards and Janell Burse.
“As everyone is aware, through free agency, we lost three of our top six players,” Donovan said. “But we’re working hard to try to replace those players with some young kids that we feel we can develop.
TODAY
at Seattle, 1 p.m., Channel 7
Site -- KeyArena.
Records (2004) -- Sparks 25-9, Storm, 20-14.
Record vs. Storm (2004) -- 3-1.
Update -- Both teams will get an early sense of how new league rules will affect play. Defenders can no longer use the extended forearm against a player with the ball from the baseline in the backcourt to the free-throw line extended in the frontcourt. Also, defenders can have only one “tactile touch” on the player with the ball. After that a foul is called. The league is hoping for more offense but could be turning games into free-throw shooting contests.