The Los Angeles Sparks built a 21-point lead in the first half, then waited for Detroit to catch up.
The Shock never erased their double-digit deficit, and the two-time champion Sparks won 75-63 Friday night in the opening game of the best-of-three WNBA finals at Los Angeles.
Lisa Leslie, last year's finals MVP, scored 14 of her 23 points in the first half and had 12 rebounds. DeLisha Milton added 19 points, Tamecka Dixon had 15 and Nikki Teasley had 11 assists for the Sparks.
Detroit's Swin Cash scored 16 points and Deanna Nolan had 15 despite a back bruise. WNBA rookie of the year Cheryl Ford had 11 points and 12 rebounds playing in front of her father Karl Malone, one of the new members of the Los Angeles Lakers. Center Ruth Riley was held to six points as Leslie repeatedly scored over her.
It was like 1988 all over again for Shock coach Bill Laimbeer, formerly one of the "Bad Boys" on the Detroit Pistons, who lost to Sparks coach Michael Cooper and the Lakers in seven games of that year's NBA Finals.
Cooper and the Sparks within one victory of a championship three-peat, something the Houston Comets did when they won four consecutive titles from 1997-2000. Game 2 is Sunday in Detroit.
http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0309/13/sbriefs.html
The Shock never erased their double-digit deficit, and the two-time champion Sparks won 75-63 Friday night in the opening game of the best-of-three WNBA finals at Los Angeles.
Lisa Leslie, last year's finals MVP, scored 14 of her 23 points in the first half and had 12 rebounds. DeLisha Milton added 19 points, Tamecka Dixon had 15 and Nikki Teasley had 11 assists for the Sparks.
Detroit's Swin Cash scored 16 points and Deanna Nolan had 15 despite a back bruise. WNBA rookie of the year Cheryl Ford had 11 points and 12 rebounds playing in front of her father Karl Malone, one of the new members of the Los Angeles Lakers. Center Ruth Riley was held to six points as Leslie repeatedly scored over her.
It was like 1988 all over again for Shock coach Bill Laimbeer, formerly one of the "Bad Boys" on the Detroit Pistons, who lost to Sparks coach Michael Cooper and the Lakers in seven games of that year's NBA Finals.
Cooper and the Sparks within one victory of a championship three-peat, something the Houston Comets did when they won four consecutive titles from 1997-2000. Game 2 is Sunday in Detroit.
http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0309/13/sbriefs.html
