Sparks Can’t Find Many in Setback

The Sparks keep stressing patience and time. Get everyone healthy. It’s still early, even in a short season.

So far, though the Sparks have yet to put together a two-game winning streak. But they do have their first two-game losing streak after falling, 66-63, to the Phoenix Mercury in front of 7,585 at Staples Center.

There are several ways the Sparks, now 3-4, can view their latest setback. The Sparks never got Mercury guard Diana Taurasi under control as last season’s rookie of the year scored a game-high 26 points. They were outrebounded by the Mercury and, for several stretches in both halves, outplayed by the Mercury. And the Sparks were horrid from the free-throw line, making 14 of 25.

“That’s one place you can lose a game, the free-throw line,” said Lisa Leslie, who had 17 points, two rebounds, five assists and a season-high six blocked shots. “That’s a lot of free points we missed.

Or perhaps Phoenix (2-5) was just due. The Mercury not only broke a three-game losing streak, they won in Los Angeles for only the second time. Before Wednesday, their last win on the Sparks’ floor was on July 13, 1997. Between that game and in Wednesday’s game, Phoenix had lost 15 in a row in Los Angeles.

“I don’t care too much for history,” said Phoenix Coach Carrie Graf. “I know that stuff’s good for the media, but for us anytime you can beat L.A., it’s good. Our backs were to the wall, being 1-5 and in desperate need. To come on the road and get a win against a very good L.A. team is huge for us.”

Spark Coach Henry Bibby did not meet with the media afterward. But he talked about the Sparks continued early struggles beforehand.

“We’re still looking to build chemistry,” Bibby said. “We do have some new people in the starting lineup, so we’re trying to get the chemistry back to where it was.”

Among the problems the Sparks have been trying to fix is their tendency for slow starts.

“We’ve been working on having more energy coming out the gate,” Bibby said. “That has been our downfall in the regular and preseason games. I think in only one of the previous nine games we’ve come out and been ahead of teams early. We’ve got to start jumping on teams early. That’s been my concern.”

They came out differently defensively, eschewing the myriad zone defenses the Sparks have employed for straight-up man-to-man. It did speed up the tempo. But the Sparks were struggling enough from the outside that Phoenix built a pair of seven-point leads and an eight-point lead, 33-25, before settling for a 33-28 edge lat halftime.

Taurasi already was in high gear with 16 points.

Leslie and Chamique Holdsclaw, with nine and 10 points respectively, kept Los Angeles close. Even though the Mercury led, 42-32, with 17:05 left, the Sparks were only a key spurt away from getting back into it.

The Sparks found that spurt, outscoring Phoenix, 13-3, over the next seven minutes to tie the game at 45-45. They would tie the score again at 47. But they could never get in front of Phoenix, which eventually got the lead back up to 62-55 with 3:55 left, and the Mercury was able to hold off the Sparks from there.

“It’s tough and different,” said Leslie, when asked to assess the current state of Sparks. “We haven’t been in this situation in years. We just have to keep fighting, keep getting better. No excuses, every year it’s getting tougher. We just have to find a way to win.”