Mabika’s 24 Help Sparks Feel at Home
The home court won’t solve all the challenges facing the Sparks. But after spending the past two weeks on the road to open the 2006 season, Staples Center may have seemed like an oasis.
Despite some dicey moments late in the fourth quarter, the Sparks (4-3) looked revitalized in breaking their two-game losing streak with an 86-78 victory over the Detroit Shock on Wednesday.
Nobody enjoyed the home court more than Mwadi Mabika, who had scored only 10 points in her last four games and was scoreless in the last two. Firing early and often, the veteran guard scored a season-high 24 points, making seven of nine shots, three of four from three-point range, and seven of eight free throws.
“I just play well at home,” Mabika said. “I’m so used to the court, the rims ... a lot of things help. I guess I was warm.”
Lisa Leslie added 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Temeka Johnson, playing her first game in front of the home fans after the off-season trade that brought her from Washington for Nikki Teasley, scored 19.
Mabika, Leslie and Johnson more than offset the five Shock starters in double figures, led by Ruth Riley with 19 points. The loss dropped Detroit to 4-3.
Chamique Holdsclaw, who had missed the first weeks of the season with permission while spending time with her ailing father and stepfather, played almost 30 minutes on Wednesday. She wasn’t sharp, making four of 12 shots and scoring 13 points, but her presence had a ripple effect because the Shock always had to account for her defensively. That provided better looks at the basket for the Sparks, who shot 45.6%.
In part because of Holdsclaw’s return, “Mwadi and I lined up on the same side tonight, which is a little unusual,” Leslie said. “Before tonight we hadn’t been getting good looks from the three-point line; our percentage was really low. But I never worry about Mwadi at home because she does shoot the ball well.”
Coach Joe Bryant was pleased by his team’s stiffer defense, especially after it gave up 114 and 89 points to Minnesota and New York in its last two games.
The Sparks did their best work in the third quarter when the Shock made only five of 17 shots, enabling the Sparks to stretch their 44-38 halftime lead to 65-54. The gap was too big for Detroit; the closest the Shock got in the fourth quarter was 79-75 with 1:38 to play.
“I think we have been playing good defense despite that Minnesota game and the overtime loss to New York,” Bryant said. “Statistically you can look at what’s good and what’s bad. But there’s a certain moment in the game when you need stops. We got some big stops in the third quarter. For us, that was huge.”