2008 WNBA Playoffs Recap – September 27 – No. 1 San Antonio Silver Stars 67, No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 66

Posted by Dan on September 29, 2008

2008 WNBA Playoffs Recap – September 27 – No. 1 San Antonio Silver Stars 67, No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 66

Western Conference

No. 1 San Antonio Silver Stars 67, No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 66

SAN ANTONIO – There are only a handful of things that you can do in less than a second. Win a WNBA playoff game is one of them. Sophia Young hit a jumper as time expired to keep the San Antonio Silver Stars’ season alive as the top seed in the Western Conference beat the Los Angeles Sparks, 67-66.

The third and deciding game will be played on Sunday at the AT&T Center. San Antonio, who has won a league-best 27 games this year, had the second-best home record in the league and is 16-3 at home. Los Angeles hasn’t won in San Antonio since the middle of the 2006 season.

Los Angeles, which has been to more conference finals, seven, than any other team in the WNBA, is 2-1 in game three during the Western finals. However, that one loss did come on the road versus Houston in 1999. The Sparks two victories came at the Staples Center.

This was the first Western Conference finals that the franchise has won. They were swept last season by Phoenix and their only other appearance came in 2002 when the team was located in Utah. That year they were swept by Los Angeles and the following season the franchise moved to San Antonio.

After only scoring 24 points in the second and third quarters, the Sparks found themselves down nine points and their margin was actually 14 at one point. Los Angeles quickly turned the tide in the fourth quarter and took the lead.

The Sparks opened the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run with Candace Parker and DeLisha Milton Jones scoring all 12 points. A pair of Parker free throws at the 5:08 mark gave the Sparks their first lead since the second quarter when they squandered the seven point lead they had after the first quarter.

Parker nailed two more from the charity strip to stake LA to a three-point lead, but Becky Hammon hit a three-pointer a minute later to tie the game at 60-60. Parker and Milton-Jones – who scored all 20 of Los Angeles’ fourth-quarter points – each hit a pair of baskets to put the Sparks out in front, 64-60 with 1:33 to play.

Hammon hit another three-pointer and Young canned a pair of free throws with only 11 seconds remaining give San Antonio a one-point lead, 65-64. Tameka Johnson missed the potential go ahead basket with just over a second-left to play, but Milton-Jones was there for the put back. After a San Antonio time-out put the ball at half court, Young took the inbounds and put up a prayer that banked off the glass and won the game.

Young led all scorers with 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the double-double. Two other players reached double digits for San Antonio with Hammon tossing in 19 and Ann Wauters adding 11.

Fifty of Los Angeles points came from three players, headed up by Parker as she scored 19 points and pulled in 17 rebounds. Lisa Leslie also had a double-double with 17 points and 12 boards. The duo also combined for seven blocks. Milton-Jones was next at 14 points.

The two teams were very close with San Antonio holding a slight advantage in all the shooting categories: FG (40%-35.6%), 3PT FG (38.5%-31.6%) and FT (82.4%-72.7%). Los Angeles kept it close with rebounding advantage, 39-31, including 12 offensive boards.