Better Doesn’t Mean Victory for Sparks

SALT LAKE CITY — The Los Angeles Sparks made across-the-board improvements from their opening game loss to New York but still dropped to 0-2 Monday night at the Delta Center, victims of a Utah Starzz free-throw shooting blitz in a 102-89 loss.

Before 8,036, Utah made 42 of 56 free throws--28 of 33 in the second half--on a night when it seemed the Sparks were shooting well enough to beat anyone in the WNBA.

The WNBA, like almost all sports leagues, bars coaches from knocking officials to the media, or face fines. Spark Coach Linda Sharp, however, came close.

Fuming, she read the box score in the Sparks locker room afterward, while her quiet players limped around with ice packs taped around knees and ankles, and Lisa Lelie did radio interviews.

Outside, small girls pleaded for Leslie to come out and sign autographs.

“Look at this,” Sharp said, slapping the box score, “They shot 56 free throws. We had one player out on fouls [Penny Toler] and six others in trouble at the end. I’ve never coached a game in my life with seven players in foul trouble.”

Los Angeles started out like it wanted to pin a big one on the Starzz.

The Sparks jumped to 5-0, 14-5, 22-7 and 35-18 leads before the run came apart when Utah Coach Denise Taylor put in her small lineup and had them play a full-court press.

Suddenly, instead of powering the ball inside to 6-foot-8 Zheng Haixia and 6-5 Lisa Leslie--who had 25 between them in the run to 35-18--Utah’s press induced hair-trigger jump shots that weren’t falling.

“We were getting over the top of their press OK, but then we were giving up 15 seconds off the shot clock, taking jumpers too early instead of making the extra pass or two, or going to the basket,” Sharp said.

Haixia, excited about her first Los Angeles starting assignment, was the first player on the court, shooting around at 3:52 p.m.

She finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes--and four fouls. Leslie had 22 points and 10 rebounds. She finished with five fouls, four of them by halftime. The Sparks shot 47% from the floor, up from 31% in the loss to New York.

After the Sparks inexplicably abandoned their inside game, Utah began a long, sure surge, led by powerful 6-2 Wendy Palmer from Virginia (28 points) and 6-5 Russian center Elena Baranova (16 points and 10 rebounds).

Utah cut it from a 40-31 deficit to a 44-42 lead when Dana Head made a three-point basket with 2:58 to go in the first half.

Los Angeles actually made five more field goals than did Utah, and outshot the winners. The Starzz shot 41%, but Utah had more than twice as many free throws.

WNBA Notes

League President Val Ackerman shared some of her vision of the league’s future before the game, saying she envisions a 16-team league within five years, playing a 36- to 44-game schedule (it’s 28 now). And that’s NBA-sponsored teams, not merged ABL teams. And no, she sees no move to a traditional fall season. “We like the summer, I don’t see that changing,” she said. But she said longer seasons would have to back up at the front end, meaning the league would have to begin playing during the NBA playoffs. “We can’t back up at the back end, because the TV window dries up, with the football seasons starting,” she said.