Bizarre Game at Staples Center [R]

The Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA won another home game, the third straight
in overtime; this time defeating the San Antonio Silver Stars.

It was a truly BIZARRE game. Maybe SURREAL would be a better word.

Late in the second half, Shannon Johnson stole the ball from Tamecka Dixon.
Ms. Dixon thought PeeWee fouled her when she swipped the ball away from her
and took extreme exception to the referee's noncall. As it is a no-no to
say anything of a negative nature to the referees or about the referees in
the WNBA, Tamecka resorted to "the stare". Be careful when using this
method of protesting a referee's noncall. Tamecka was still staring at the
ref when she started to run back up court. She wasn't looking where she was
going and ran right into Margo Dydek. Both of them fell over during the
collision. Dydek was ok but Ms. Dixon was laid out on the court for a while
and had to be helped back to the dressing area. She never returned to the
game.

The WNBA must be trying to save money by resorting to cutrate referees and
officials. Where are they getting these people?
The Sparks called timeout near the conclusion of regulation time when all
their timeouts were used up. Play was stopped. Isn't this a technical foul?
No technical was called. The Sparks retained possession of the ball and got
to inbound it on their half of the court.

During the overtime period, Latoya Thomas picked up her sixth personal foul.
Somehow, inexplicably, she remained in the game.
Isn't this another technical? To compound the error, Lisa Leslie picked up
her sixth personal foul and fouled out of the game when she fouled Latoya
Thomas; an ineligible, disqualified player at that point during the game.
The Silver Stars were in the bonus at that time,
but Latoya couldn't shoot the free throws because she was a disqualified
player and her replacement couldn't because she wasn't the player fouled.
The solution? The Silver Stars inbounded the ball.

What a mess!

To quote Lisa Leslie after the game: "I'm staying in the game as long as
they let me."

On top of that, Marie Ferdinand dislocated her elbow during the game. She
will be out for the remainder of the season.