2008 WNBA Playoffs Recap – September 23 – No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 71, No. 2 Seattle Storm 64
Posted by Dan on September 24, 2008
2008 WNBA Playoffs Recap – September 23 – No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 71, No. 2 Seattle Storm 64
Western Conference
No. 3 Los Angeles Sparks 71, No. 2 Seattle Storm 64
SEATTLE – Not even the best home record in the WNBA could help the Seattle Storm. Rookie Candace Parker reminded Los Angeles fans of another spectacular rookie during the playoffs as she scored 20 points to help the No. 3 Sparks beat the No. 2 Storm, 71-64, in the opening round of the playoffs.
This was the third time the two teams have met in the playoffs with LA winning all three. In 2006 the Sparks won game three on their home court. Los Angeles swept the series in 2002. Seattle has been bounced out of the playoffs in the first round for the fourth year in a row.
The Sparks have won three of the four game three contests in their history, but this was the first time that they prevailed on the road. For the second time in four years Seattle lost a game three on its home court and they have lost all three of the game threes.
The Sparks advance to their second Western Conference Finals in the last three years. They are trying to make their first WNBA Finals since the 2003 seasons.
Los Angles will face the number one seed in the West, the San Antonio Silver Stars with the series starting on Thursday. This will be the first meeting between the two in the playoffs since the Silver Stars moved to San Antonio from Utah.
The home team won all four games of the regular season series. While the series starts in LA, it will shift back to the Lone Star State for the final two games.
Throughout the game Los Angeles kept building its lead. Seattle was only down three after Camille Little hit a pair of free throws with 1:04 left in the half. The Sparks answered with a pair of baskets, including a bucket by Temeka Johnson with seven seconds left, to send the visitors into the locker room up 42-35.
Los Angeles held Seattle to just 10 points in the third quarter to push their margin up to 59-45 with just 10 minutes left. The lead was down to 10, 61-51, at the 5:43 mark when the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Lisa Leslie had to go to the bench with her fifth foul
This allowed Seattle to get back into the game as they went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 61-58 on a pair of baskets by Sue Bird. Another Bird jumper got the Storm back within three, 65-62, but a pair of turnovers on Seattle’s next two possessions forced the Storm to foul. Los Angeles hit all six of its free throws in final 30 seconds and Seattle could only muster a pair of points the rest of the way.
After scoring 21 points in the first two WNBA playoff games of her career, Parker scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. She also grabbed five rebounds and had four assists. Before she fouled out, Leslie had 15 points and seven rebounds. Marie Ferdinand-Harris added 12 points and DeLisha Milton-Jones grabbed a tied for the game high at eight rebounds.
Tanisha Wright had her best playoff game of the series, tying Parker for the game-high with 20 points to go along with six rebounds. Little was next with 17 points and Bird added 16 plus five assists.
Neither team was particularly accurate with the Sparks holding a slim 41.9 percent (26-of-62) to the Storm’s 38.1 percent (24-of-63). The difference was the foul line as Los Angeles made more free throws, 18-of-25, than Seattle took, 13-of-15.
