Sparks’ Win Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

Lately it seems as if the Sparks are trying their best to spoil their great achievements.

Two home games ago, Lisa Leslie’s shining moment with the first dunk in WNBA history was tarnished by a loss to Miami. Then on Sunday against Utah, they set a league record for points in a first half but managed to let the Starzz threaten to continue their losing streak at Staples Center.

Latasha Byears’ putback with 11 seconds left helped the Sparks end their two-game home drought and escape with a 90-86 victory Sunday night after blowing a 17-point lead. The win enabled them to pull one game ahead of idle Houston heading into a first-place showdown against the Comets Thursday night at home. It also sent the 12,306 home with smiles on their faces. But did it please the Sparks? Not at all.

“We got the win,” Spark Coach Michael Cooper said. “There’s nothing we can be happy about other than that.”

After 20 minutes, the Sparks (22-6) looked as if they were about to repeat their July 7 performance against the Starzz in which they tied their club record of 102 points in a 27-point rout. They scored a league-best 55 points in the first half, making 58.1% of their shots.

Everything seemed to come easy. Lisa Leslie passed her four-point output Saturday against Sacramento in the first minute and had a game-high 26. Point guard Nikki Teasley left Starzz defenders stumbling on the court with dazzling moves. Even little-used reserve Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca had eight points, including a three-point shot that gave them a 55-38 lead late in the half.

They were speeding past Utah. Then they let up off the pedal.

“People got comfortable,” said Mwadi Mabika, who had 25 points. “We thought it was going to come easy.”

Instead, Utah (18-10) charged back with a 20-5 run to open the second half. Reserve Semeka Randall had 12 of her 16 points after intermission, two coming on a jumper that gave the Starzz their first lead with 13:01 left. The Starzz, who needed a victory to stay in the race for the Western Conference title, pushed the lead to six on Marie Ferdinand’s layup with 6:01 left.

“Our first half was perfect, but Utah kept fighting back,” Leslie said. “I looked over and saw [their players] dancing on the sideline. We got motivated, we had to get this game.”

Mabika sensed the urgency. She had a spinning layup, a three-pointer and a baseline jumper in a 10-2 run that put the Sparks back ahead.

Randall tied the score, 83-83, with two free throws, but Leslie made four free throws for a four-point lead with 49 seconds remaining.

Jennifer Azzi sank a three-pointer to trim the lead. The Sparks then struggled to get into their offense at the other end, and Mabika was forced into a bad three-point try with the shot clock running down. Byears caught the ball under the basket and laid it in as the shot clock sounded for an 89-86 lead.

The Sparks’ defense finally showed up at the end. Their forced a jump ball, which Leslie easily tapped to Mabika. Utah had to foul, and Mabika made the second shot to secure a less-than-satisfying victory.

“We get complacent when we get a big lead like that,” Cooper said. “We get into bad habits. We need to get that killer instinct and put teams away.

“We had a 16-point lead against Houston earlier in the year and let them come back. The good teams aren’t going to let that happen.”

Ferdinand led Utah with 25 points, and Adrienne Goodson and Natalie Williams each added 13. But Starzz Coach Candi Harvey wasn’t thrilled with her team.

“They’ve got to make up their minds that they want to play,” Harvey said.

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WNBA West Race

The standings and remaining games for teams in playoff contention in the WNBA’s Western Conference (top four finishers qualify):

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