No Place Like Home for Sparks

Home cooking, home court, home uniforms. The Sparks had seen this combination only once in seven games this season. So it wouldn’t have been a surprise if they had needed directions to find Staples Center.

But it was apparent that being at home was the one thing the Sparks needed. And on Wednesday night they played like the confident-minded team they say they are in defeating the Charlotte Sting, 82-68, in front of 8,433.

In squaring their record at 4-4, the Sparks did more than show flashes of good basketball. Four players scored in double figures, led by Mwadi Mabika with 19 points. The Sparks had a 26-15 edge in rebounding, and once they took control with a 20-5 run early in the second half, they never let the Sting back into the game.

“I really think our defense showed tonight what kind of team we can be,” said Nikki Teasley, who made five of eight three-point shots and finished with 17 points. “We had a slow start, but we got after it so much on defense in the second half it helped our offense, and that’s the one thing we’ve been missing.”

Said Tamika Whitmore, who had her best game as a Spark with 12 points off the bench: “Being in front of the home crowd, everyone showed up relaxed and ready to play tonight. But the most important thing was we improved on our second half, where in the games we’ve lost we’ve come out real lackadaisical. Tonight we played hard from the jump in the second half.”

Before the game Coach Michael Cooper decided to shake up the starting lineup, inserting Laura Macchi in place of Tamecka Dixon. Macchi started at small forward, and Mabika moved to shooting guard for Dixon, who had started every game she had played in since the 2000 season.

Cooper said he was not only looking for offense in the starting lineup and the bench but also trying to improve the team’s rebounding.

“We want a bigger person in there and she’s the most athletic,” said Cooper, who wants Whitmore to stay in a reserve role for now. “And we have not won a rebounding battle since the exhibition season.”

Macchi, who was told of the lineup change Tuesday, made the game’s first basket, a three-pointer. She finished with nine points in 14 minutes.

“There were nerves,” Macchi said through interpreter and fellow Italian teammate Raffaella Masciadri. “But it didn’t feel strange after the first half.”

The Sparks, playing for the first time since Saturday’s loss at Houston looked sharp and in rhythm. But so did Charlotte. The Sting shot a sizzling 63.6% from the field in the first half and did damage from the inside and outside.

But the Sting only led 40-36 at the half, and in the second half, the Sparks used full-court pressure to disrupt the Sting’s timing.

“We rushed a lot of shots in second half,” said Charlotte Smith-Taylor, who led the Sting with 17 points. “Their defensive pressure intensified in the second half and caused us to take quick shots. And we didn’t do a good job with our transition defense in the second half.”

Indeed, the Sparks were just as hot in the second half as the Sting was in the first. The Sparks shot 64% in the second half and 51.8% for the game.

“It’s good to be home,” Cooper said.