Sparks Head for Playoffs With Upbeat Approach

In June, after the Sparks returned home from a season-opening 3-3 trip, Coach Joe Bryant was finishing up a practice when he said to a visitor, “I think this can be a very good team, a special team.”

As with just about everything else in the 2006 season, Bryant was right on the mark.

With Sunday’s 78-59 victory over Minnesota, the Sparks (25-9) have won eight more games than last year and finished atop the Western Conference.

Along with a most-valuable-player-caliber season by Lisa Leslie -- who finished with 24 points Sunday and averaged 20 points a game for the first time in her 10-year WNBA career -- and the solid, steady contribution of Chamique Holdsclaw, Bryant fused several new faces into a team with the league’s second-best record.

And a team that expects to make more than a token appearance in the playoffs.

“What makes this team special is that everyone accepts their role and adjusts as needed,” Bryant said. “They trust what I’m saying, and the game plan, and those kind of things.

“This year we had no in-fighting, no one counting shots, no one counting minutes. You go into the locker room and everyone is pretty much happy -- there’s no major drama. That’s what makes it special also.”

Cristi Thomas (knee), who like Holdsclaw (foot) was rested Sunday, agreed with Bryant’s assessment of this year’s team after a rocky summer last year under Henry Bibby.

“Everybody pretty much has had the same goal and everybody’s been willing to accept their roles,” Thomas said. “We’re excited and happy to be playing with each other, and to be playing well. We feel a championship is a reality for us, and that’s pushed us all to come to work every day.”

Of course, the playoffs, which for the Sparks begin Friday in Seattle, are more than just the “second season.” They’re where the greatness of teams is defined, primarily by winning a WNBA title.

Even though Leslie and Mwadi Mabika are the only players left from the Sparks’ 2002 league championship team, Bryant is confident the players will step up in the playoffs, although the team has been eliminated in the first round the last two seasons.

“We talk about it all the time. No matter what we’ve done during the course of the regular season, the playoffs is a new season,” Bryant said. “There are some things I may do differently -- certain players may have bigger pieces of the puzzle during the playoffs -- so I will adjust that during the week.”

Leslie said one thing should not change -- the Sparks’ lack of haughtiness about what they have accomplished this season.

“I like our hunger. Even though we’re in first place we don’t have that swagger,” Leslie said. “This team is still a little unsure, and that’s good because we come out and play hard.

“There may be a couple who get a little nervous that first game and it will be interesting to see how we respond.”

Seimone Augustus led Minnesota (10-24) with 11 points.