Sparks Ready Their Defense

SALT LAKE CITY — If the Sparks are surprised to be in Utah instead of Houston to start the WNBA Western Conference finals, they are doing their best to hide it.

The Sparks understand that every team is after what they have--the WNBA title. And if Utah was good enough to upset the Comets, winning the decisive game in Houston on Tuesday, the Starzz are good enough to dethrone them, starting with Game 1 here tonight.

“I’m not looking back at the [regular season],” Lisa Leslie said. “We beat Seattle when it counted. We’ve beaten Utah, but at the same time they are very strong. But if we stay focused we can beat them too.... These are the biggest games of our lives, starting with this one on the road.”

Utah, making its first appearance in the conference finals, has a 6-15 record against the Sparks. But five of those victories have come in the Delta Center, including last year when the Starzz ended the Sparks’ league-record 18-game winning streak.

The Starzz have not had much luck against Houston or Los Angeles, but upsetting the Comets gives Utah a surge of confidence it hasn’t had before.

Veteran forward Natalie Williams, second-year guard Marie Ferdinand and veteran guard Adrienne Goodson are pacing Utah’s playoff surge. Goodson and Williams each averaged 16.3 points against Houston. Ferdinand led the Starzz in the series with a 17.3 average and made the important free throws in the final two minutes that secured Tuesday’s victory.

“The biggest challenge facing us would be to control Marie Ferdinand and Adrienne Goodson,” Spark forward DeLisha Milton said. “They’re also a better team when [center] Margo Dydek comes to play.

“We can’t play individual defense on them; we have to play good team defense to beat them.”

Coach Michael Cooper, knowing any loss in a short series is a big loss, is concerned with how sharp the Sparks will be tonight.

“In the past, going from experience, when we have a layoff you don’t have that ‘game’ conditioning,” Cooper said. “Our practices have been good, and mentally I don’t worry about us. But we haven’t played in three days.

“Against Utah we have been able to put points on the board, so it’s gonna have to be our defense against them. We have to come after them with good, sound defense.”

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Mwadi Mabika practiced with the Sparks for the first time since spraining her left ankle during Saturday’s victory over Seattle. She pronounced herself fit to play tonight.

“The time off [after the Seattle series] really helped her,” Cooper said.

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WNBA referee Bill Stokes, who collapsed during Tuesday night’s playoff game between Utah and Houston and was hospitalized in Houston, was upgraded from critical to serious Wednesday, according to WNBA officials.

Officials from the Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital in Houston would not comment on Stokes’ illness.

Just after halftime, Stokes, 56, fell to the floor near the scorer’s table. The game resumed after a 25-minute delay and Utah won, 75-72, to win the series.

On Wednesday, WNBA officials stood behind their decision to resume the game.

WNBA president Val Ackerman “had a very difficult decision. She consulted with the proper people--officials, the teams--and made a decision she thought was best for the situation,” league spokesman Tim Frank said.