Sparks’ Trip Goes From Bad to Worse in New York

The long and winding trip that took them to eight cities in 17 days finally ended for the Sparks on Wednesday night in New York.

As they fly home today, they have to wonder whether their string of six consecutive playoff appearances is ending as well.

A 74-69 loss to the New York Liberty in Madison Square Garden, the third straight and sixth in the past seven games, dropped the Sparks to 12-15 and deeper in the Western Conference. The Sparks are in sixth place, two slots out of the playoffs, with seven games left after a 2-8 trip.

Chamique Holdsclaw, who had scored only 11 points in her last two games combined, bounced back with 21 points and eight rebounds Wednesday. Lisa Leslie had 18 points and seven rebounds, and Doneeka Hodges added 11 points.

Holdsclaw said the Sparks have not quit, especially with five of their last seven games at home.

“We are going to have play with our heart at home and we have been going out there every game hard and playing team basketball,” Holdsclaw said. “All we have to do is play better defense and cut down some of our turnovers.”

But one of the reasons the Sparks have struggled since the All-Star break (3-8) is their lack of balanced as well as timely scoring. After Holdsclaw, Leslie and Hodges, the remaining eight Sparks combined for 14 points.

That wasn’t enough to hold off the Liberty (14-13), which trailed, 32-29, at halftime but rallied behind 22 points and six assists from Becky Hammon, 18 points from Ann Wauters, and 15 points and nine rebounds from Elena Baranova.

“They have veterans and Olympians over there,” said Hammon of the Sparks. “Had we let up for one or two minutes, this game could have been another story. That’s a quality team. You look at them on paper, and they look like monsters.”

For the second straight night, however, the Sparks could look at one glaring difference -- free throws. New York attempted 31, making 25. The Sparks had 22 attempts, making only 13.

But Spark Coach Henry Bibby, wanting to get his team home in the best mind-set possible, remained upbeat.

“I thought we played well,” said Bibby, who added he had a “good talk’ with the team before the game. “We are more than halfway through the season, we have a lot of injuries and we haven’t had our point guard [Nikki Teasley, on the injured list], but I’m proud of the way we played. We played against a very good team tonight, but we were able to do some of the things we wanted to do.”

With the victory, the Liberty also swept a season series from the Sparks for the first time, and won the season series between the teams for the first time since 1998.

Terry reported from Los Angeles.