Sting Gradually Got Stronger as Season Wore On

When the Sparks finished running Sacramento out of the Western Conference playoffs Monday, they already knew who their Eastern Conference foe would be for the WNBA championship.

It was the Charlotte Sting--not regular-season powers Cleveland or New York--that survived the East playoffs and will host the Sparks Thursday. To earn its title shot, the Sting beat the Rockers and Liberty in succession. More impressively, the Sting won each series on the road.

“I am so proud of them and of the effort,” Coach Anne Donovan said after Charlotte’s 48-44 clincher over New York on Monday. “So many people didn’t give us a chance. People stopped believing in us there, except for the people within our franchise and in our organization. I tell you, we showed a lot of heart all season long, and just now, people are finding out about it.” Despite Donovan’s confident talk, there was no reason to believe the Sting would get this far.

On June 24, the Sting’s season appeared to be over before it started. A three-point loss at Sacramento had dropped its record to1-10. The team held a 45-minute closed-door meeting to thrash out what it was doing wrong and correct it.

The Sting won its next six games, finding its stride. It split the next eight games but finished out the season by winning seven in a row to claim the fourth and final East playoff berth.

“I don’t know if I can point to any one game,” Donovan said Tuesday when asked about her team’s recovery. “It was a process of recognizing that seven of our first 11 games were on the road, and eight of them were against Western teams. We had two West Coast swings in the first two weeks. And we were competitive; so we did not lose confidence or think we couldn’t get it done.”

Statistics yield few clues to Charlotte’s turnaround.

Guard Andrea Stinson--who has started all 157 regular-season games played by the franchise--was the leading scorer with a 14.1-point average, 11th in the league.

You won’t find a Sting player among the WNBA’s top 20 rebounders. But guards Allison Feaster (.921) and Dawn Staley (.895) were among the top five in free-throw percentage. And Staley was third in assists (5.6).

Even as Charlotte’s individual parts meshed, it did just enough to get by. The Sting averaged 64.2 points and made 41.9% of its shots. Opponents averaged 62.8 points and made 39.7% of their shots.

Yet Charlotte kept winning.

“With every win we got better,” Donovan said. “The first win streak made us want to keep on playing. But the last three wins of the season [against Cleveland, New York and Miami] were huge because they were against three playoff teams.”

Still, the conventional wisdom said Charlotte spent so much energy to make the playoffs that Cleveland would wear down the Sting in the first round, especially since the Rockers were the league’s most bruising defensive team.

Cleveland was not a great offensive team, though, averaging 62.6 points, and facing a hot team like Charlotte was the last thing it needed. The Sting won the opener at home, 53-46. Then the Rockers rolled, 69-51, but Charlotte completed the first-round shocker with a 72-64 victory in the third game.

The series against New York gave Charlotte the perfect out for ending its season, after the Sting blew a nine-point lead in the last three minutes while the Liberty scored the last 13 points to steal the conference finals opener, 61-57. Now the Sting had to win two at Madison Square Garden to advance against a team looking to reach its fourth WNBA final in the past five years.

Instead of sitting around feeling devastated--”We let this game get away but we don’t think the series is over,” Staley said--the Sting rallied once again.

Stinson scored 12 of her 18 points in the final nine minutes of Game 2 to push Charlotte to a 62-53 victory.

And on Monday, Feaster knocked down consecutive three-pointers in the final three minutes of Game 3 that brought Charlotte the 48-44 victory.

Those who still think that while Charlotte has won the Eastern Conference title it is not the East’s best team should consider this: Over the last 24 games, including playoffs, only the Sparks (21-3) have a better record than the Sting (19-5).

“I saw something in the paper today where [New York] center Tari Phillips said we got lucky,” said Donovan. “That’s fine. We’ll continue to play that underdog role against Los Angeles.”

Charlotte played the Sparks twice in that 1-10 start. But the close game at Staples Center, won by the Sparks, 73-69, also made Donovan think her team was going to be all right during that rough stretch.

Not that she doesn’t think the Sparks are formidable.

“They are a darn good team,” Donovan said. “And every one of their top six players can hurt you.”

But nothing has kept the Sting from getting stronger this season.

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WNBA FINALS

Sparks vs. Charlotte

Game 1: at Charlotte

Thursday, 5 p.m., ESPN2

Game 2: at Staples

Saturday, 12:30 p.m., Ch. 4

Game 3: at Staples-x

Sunday, 12:30 p.m., Ch. 4

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x-if necessary