Liberty Adds to Sparks’ Season-Long Struggle

The midway point of the season has arrived, but the Sparks are not going into the All-Star break feeling especially good about themselves.

Instead, they were reminded -- again -- with a 67-55 loss to the New York Liberty in front of an announced 8,543 in Staples Center, what a struggle 2005 has been.

Considering the injuries the Sparks have tried to work around and play through, perhaps a 9-7 record at this juncture isn’t that bad. They’re in third place in the Western Conference; the gaps between them, Houston (one game) and Sacramento (two games) are manageable. And they’ve yet to have anything resembling a hot streak.

But there are still nights and games when teams have to make their breaks and draw on their energy. Getting outrebounded, 31-20, and scoring only 23 second-half points does not suggest hunger or fire.

“I thought up until tonight we were taking some giant steps in improving in all areas,” Coach Henry Bibby said. “We’re covering everything in practice, and it’s a matter of carrying things out, insisting on doing the things we need to do to win.

“Games you should win you have got to win. And to have a home game like this where we come out flat ... we weren’t ready to play tonight. We just didn’t have it for some reason. They played tougher than we did.”

New York (6-7) ended a seven-game losing streak (including playoffs) to the Sparks, and won for the first time in Los Angeles since 1998, on the strength of 18 points from guard Vickie Johnson and 12 each from Becky Hammon and Ann Wauters. Hammon had a career-high 10 assists, and Wauters had a game-high eight rebounds.

The Sparks, who had a 24-13 lead and trailed, 35-32, at halftime, had only two players in double figures. Lisa Leslie had 17 points, and Chamique Holdsclaw had 10. It was the first really subpar game for Holdsclaw in a Spark uniform as she made only three of 15 shots.

Unfortunately, for the Sparks there wasn’t anyone else who could develop a hot hand. They shot 34.5% (compared with New York’s 47.1%) and only 27.6% (eight of 29) in the second half.

Asked what was needed to generate a second-half run, Tamika Whitmore said, “We’ve got to come ready to play. There will be nights when it’s us against everyone else, home or away, but you’ve got to be able to step on people’s throats when you have them down.”

Said Tamecka Dixon: “We’ve got to find some consistency. We play well for a game or two and then, for some reason, we don’t put it together for a long period of time. That’s definitely one of the things we need to work on.”

Is that something that can be gained from drills? “Not really,” said Dixon, with a small laugh.

Earlier in the day, Leslie and Holdsclaw were selected to the Western Conference All-Star team as reserves.

Holdsclaw will make the trip to Connecticut, but Spark officials would prefer that Leslie stay in Los Angeles and continue treatment for her right groin strain. If Leslie has to be at the game, it’s doubtful she would play.

Speaking of the injured, Laura Macchi ran for 25 minutes Monday and felt no pain in the area of her right foot where she suffered a broken bone.

Macchi said Tuesday she hoped to be ready to join the team in a couple of weeks.