California and the West
The Sparks’ nine-game winning streak began 17 days ago at Portland, but the real spark that ignited it was a shoe-throwing, purple-faced locker room outburst four days earlier by assistant coach Marianne Stanley.
Background: The Sparks, after a 4-0 start, played decently but lost at Sacramento on June 11. Two days later, in losing, 69-59, at Seattle, they played as if blindfolded. It possibly was the worst effort in team history, and the locker room was closed to the media afterward for 20 minutes.
How bad was it? How about two Sparks running into each other on a pick and knocking each other down? Moreover, Seattle is an expansion team that since has lost seven in a row.
If that had been the only Spark game you had seen, you might have guessed it was the start of a nine-game losing streak.
Angry Coach Michael Cooper was blunt but brief when addressing his team afterward. So was assistant Glenn McDonald. Then it was Stanley’s turn.
According to those present, Stanley first said: “Coach Cooper is nice. Coach McDonald is nice.
“I AM NOT NICE!
“That was the worst [bleeping] exhibition of basketball I’ve ever seen!”
She threw her shoes. At whom, no one can recall. She went on, increasing in volume and intensity. Paint nearly peeled off the walls.
But the desired affect was achieved.
The Sparks are on the same page. In the last nine games, it’s difficult to find even a few minutes of bad basketball such as was produced for 40 minutes that night in Seattle.
Not even the Houston Comets, the only champions the young league has known, could stand up to the Sparks. They were victim No. 3 in the streak.
The team’s defensive intensity is the rope tying together the streak. It’s there, every night, for 40 minutes, a reflection of the way their coach played the game.
“Coach Cooper sees basketball primarily from a defensive point of view,” said DeLisha Milton, arguably the team’s best defender.
“He teaches us that there will be nights when your shots won’t fall, but that not playing defense as hard as you can, every game, is just not acceptable. He says if we do that, we can win the championship and I believe it.”
Under Cooper, playing back-to-back games is not an excuse to slack off defensively. In the streak, the Sparks have won back-to-back games three times, the toughest being the 72-67 win at New York June 25 and the 74-72 win at Washington 27 hours later.
Back-to-backers are commonplace this season. Due to the Olympics, the WNBA reduced its 32-game schedule to 10 weeks. There are 103 back-to-back games this year, up 62 over last summer. The Sparks have three more.
The most visible display of the Sparks’ defense is inside, where 6-foot-5 Lisa Leslie and 6-3 Milton are busy, fast and high-leaping. In the Saturday win over Cleveland, those two altered about 15 shots, when the Rockers dared to try close-range jumpers.
The only category the Sparks lead the league in is opponent field-goal percentage at 38.1%.
If the streak is to reach 10, it will have to be achieved Wednesday at Sacramento. The Sparks are 2-5 in four seasons at Arco Arena. Lately, the roadblock there has been 6-4 Yolanda Griffith, a major defender in her own right.
NEW NEST NEEDED
According to reports, the WNBA could land in Louisville or New Orleans if a political logjam doesn’t end in Charlotte over a proposed new downtown arena.
George Shinn, owner of the Charlotte Hornets and WNBA Sting, is unhappy with the dated Charlotte Coliseum (not enough suites) and negotiations for a new facility are entering their second year. Louisville and New Orleans have been named as possible alternatives if the Hornets relocate.
Shinn’s Coliseum lease expires Dec. 31.
CROWD COUNT
Five WNBA teams are averaging five-digit home crowds, but the league’s attendance is down from last summer’s totals.
Through Sunday, the league’s average was 8,536 compared to 10,207 for last year. But attendance in each of the league’s first three seasons increased late in the summer.
Washington, the attendance leader last summer at 15,306, is averaging 14,313.
The other four leaders are New York (13,124), Houston (12,035), Indiana (10,820) and Phoenix (10,117). The Sparks (7,625) are 14th. The worst is Charlotte (7,081).
LAYUPS
The July 14 Houston-Sparks rematch at the Forum is a 6 p.m. game, televised by Lifetime. The Sparks defeated the Comets June 20 at the Forum, 90-84, and neither has lost since. The third and final meeting of the two is at Houston on July 29, an NBC game. . . . With eight of the WNBA’s 16 teams entering the playoffs this season, there are no byes and each of the three rounds is best-of-three. Round one, beginning Aug. 11, matches the two conference winners against the fourth-place finishers in their conferences, and the second- and third-place finishers. Then come the conference finals, beginning Aug. 17, followed by the championship series, starting Aug. 24.
