Best things are free for the Sparks
The Sparks put their pride on the line Wednesday night, the free-throw line to be exact.
Los Angeles made 24 of 24 free-throw attempts and was carried by a balanced offense after rookie Candace Parker fell into early foul trouble, enabling the Sparks to hold off the Detroit Shock, 80-73, at Staples Center.
“We’ve been practicing our free throws and we do that because there will be games where we’re not going to get any,” Coach Michael Cooper said. “It’s important to hit the ones you get.”
The victory helped put behind their fourth-quarter collapse five days earlier, when the Sparks blew an 18-point lead in their home debut against the Phoenix Mercury, getting out-rebounded, 17-4, in the process.
The Sparks (5-2) also watched their double-digit lead trimmed to one midway through the final quarter against Detroit (7-3), but DeLisha Milton-Jones scored off an offensive rebound on the next possession and Detroit never came any closer.
“We had a good practice the last couple days and I think it really took effect,” Cooper said. “We have to understand that, in order to be the team we want to be, we’ve got to get in there and rebound. What a game to be played, especially after the last home game, where we let a smaller team outrebound us down the stretch.”
Five players scored in double figures for the Sparks, led by center Lisa Leslie, who had 17 points to go along with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Milton-Jones and Kiesha Brown, who made the first start of her eight-year WNBA career, scored 13 points each, Marie Ferdinand-Harris had 12 and Parker had 10, the lowest point total of her young professional career.
Former WNBA rookie of the year Temeka Johnson, a 5-3 point guard who had started every game for the Sparks this season, did not dress after a zero-point, no-assist, four-turnover performance in the 85-79 loss to Phoenix. Brown teamed with 5-foot-3 rookie Shannon Bobbitt to give the Sparks better production at the position.
Bobbitt, who played with Parker at Tennessee last season, replaced Brown midway through the opening quarter and contributed seven points, three assists and two rebounds the remainder of the quarter.
Brown replaced Bobbitt at the 7:36 mark of the second quarter and quickly made two jump shots to give the Sparks their biggest lead, 43-30, with 6:44 remaining in the half. “I thought we needed a bigger guard in there,” Cooper said of his decision to insert Brown into the starting lineup.
Detroit guard Katie Smith, who had averaged 27 points the last three games, scored a team-high 16 on six-for-14 shooting.
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