Kathy Goodman: We need a complete game

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I was studying the stat sheet after our 98-89 loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday night. Three of our starters scored in double figures, with Kristi Toliver leading the bench, scoring with 16. Same for Phoenix, with DeWanna Bonner leading their bench with 16. The third quarter has usually been the graveyard for the Sparks, giving up a big lead or digging a big hole we can’t climb out of, but not in this game. We came out of the locker room at halftime ready to play, shooting over 50% in the third quarter, out-rebounding Phoenix and limiting them to just two 2 fast-break points. It definitely was not a third-quarter problem. It was the same problem that plagued us in our game Saturday against Seattle: We started slow and couldn’t overcome the deficit we created for ourselves.

The first two minutes of the game were fine. We were a little slow to score, but Phoenix wasn’t setting any records either. Then, as everyone settled into the game, Phoenix went on a 14-2 run over the next five minutes that rattled us. Diana Taurasi put on a shooting clinic, and by the time the first 10 minutes had expired, she had singlehandedly outscored the Sparks. We shot poorly, rebounded poorly and fell behind by a terrifying 20 points.

If I erased the first-quarter stats, and we just start the game in the second quarter, the Sparks look great. For the next three quarters, we dominated the game. Noelle Quinn, who couldn’t score a point in the first, went on to score 18, shooting just under 64%, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Delisha Milton-Jones’ first-quarter stats showed 4 points, one assist and one rebound. She ended the game leading all Sparks’ scorers with 20 points on seven of 15 shooting, with eight rebounds and six assists. In the last three quarters, we outscored Phoenix 79-68, out-rebounded them 28-20 (and led 8-3 in offensive rebounds.) We shot 50% over those three quarters (compared to just under 28% in the first quarter.)

We have definitely been going through different phases this season. For a while we were definitely stuck in the “come out strong, but lose the lead in the third-quarter” phase. Now, we have had two games in a row (and I would also throw in our June 5 game against Seattle with a similar pattern), where we start too slow and can’t quite recover what we gave up. We need to figure out how to keep it all together for the full 40 minutes. Every game, we seem to get a little bit closer.

We’re heading into the All-Star break now, and then our team has two very long road trips ahead. We only play once at home (our weekday matinee Camp Day on July 20) between now and Aug. 4. The road can be a good place for team bonding and solidarity. The road may be a very good place for us to figure out how to put together a full 40 minutes of great basketball that we have usually only seen in stretches so far. The Western Conference is still far from set — with all teams except Seattle sporting a losing record. We are definitely still in the hunt.

We just need to find a way to play a complete game.

-- Kathy Goodman, co-owner of the Sparks