Rockers at Sparks: July 7, 2003

It was too bad The Rockers lost this game. Rarely have I seen a team come
in and play as hard as they did against the Sparks.

In 2001, for example, teams would show up for games against the Sparks in
Los Angeles already beaten mentally and just go through the ordeal of losing
to the Sparks in Los Angeles. No longer.

Looking at the rosters before the game, I thought there was no way The
Rockers were going to beat the Sparks. The stats and numbers all pointed to
a Sparks walkover. Player for player, the Rockers don't match up. Yet there
they were late in the second half beating the Sparks by eight points. A
perfect example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, of
fanatical defense overcoming height and talent deficiencies. The Rockers
have no "name" players: no Sue Bird or Tamika Catchings. Name players can
be an asset and they can also be a terrible liability. The Rockers clearly
have no primadonna players, no players with
reputations and names to protect and they look like a group that love to
beat teams with players that do have reputations and names to protect, like,
for instance, the Los Angeles Sparks, the two time defending WNBA champions.

Lisa Leslie sure had a reputation to protect, also a promise that the Sparks
weren't going to lose another game at Staples Arena this year. That promise
came perilously close to being broken. Leslie played about as hard as I
seen her play in order the pull the game out for the Sparks. She definitely
had to go to her "A" game when the Sparks were trailing late in the second
half. I think that's the best I've seen her play, ever. I hope it's on
tape somewhere. Well, after all, it was her birthday...