After Breakthrough Win,
Monarchs Move On to Storm
For the third time in four seasons, the Los Angeles Sparks and Sacramento Monarchs played a deciding Game 3 Tuesday night. Only two things were different - a berth in the WNBA Finals was not on the line, and the Monarchs emerged victorious.
 Lisa Leslie and Yolanda Griffith speak after Tuesday's game. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty |
By the time the teams met again this year, the Sparks had emerged as Sacramento's white whale. Despite a 72-52 blowout at ARCO Arena in Game 1, that didn't change when the Sparks overcame foul trouble for several key players to earn a 71-57 victory back home for Game 2. Tuesday night was different. Despite the home crowd, despite getting back their two Italian players, the Sparks were thoroughly outplayed by a Sacramento team Griffith said played its best basketball during her six years with the Monarchs.
It would be impossible to overstate how big Tuesday's win was for the Monarchs, who advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the third time in four years, but their job is far from over. Now, Sacramento faces a Storm team that was the only WNBA opponent to win the 2004 regular-season series from the Monarchs. If Sacramento views beating L.A. as the big hurdle of the playoffs, the Monarchs could be in trouble.
From the sounds of the team's comments Tuesday night, that won't be the case.
Coach John Whisenant: "We've got to get our feet back on the ground right away and prepare for Seattle. Offensively, they may be the Sparks' equal."
Lawson: "Basketball is all about matchups, and we matched up better against L.A. We're going to have to work even harder to beat Seattle."
Tangela Smith: "We got over that hump. We're done with that jinx. But we also know we've never made it past the Western Conference finals. Now we have to get past Seattle. We'll celebrate tonight, but that's it."
There was celebration in Seattle, where the Storm's business staff, including Chief Operating Officer Karen Bryant, watched the game in a viewing party at Jillian's with fans, as well. The Monarchs win means the Storm won't have to play Friday at Bank of America Arena on the University of Washington's campus because of a scheduling conflict at KeyArena. Game 2 Sunday and Game 3 Tuesday (if necessary) will be played in the friendly confines of the Key, a relief for the Storm.
The Storm also gets the benefit of home-court advantage and avoids the one team, the Sparks, that it lost the regular-season series against. But there is no shortage of respect for the Monarchs on the other side.
"I think Yolanda’s one that came back from the Olympics like Sue (Bird), just completely refocused," said Storm Coach Anne Donovan before Game 3, explaining why the Monarchs have been on a roll recently. "She didn’t start, was a sub off our bench (for the U.S. team), played some minutes, not enough minutes. I think she came back really energized."
Griffith averaged 16.4 points per game on 58.2% shooting - well above her season mark of 51.9%, which was already good for second in the WNBA - during the month of September, though her rebounding slipped. Griffith outplayed long-time foe Lisa Leslie in the series with Los Angeles, averaging 14.0 points and 9.7 rebounds while holding Leslie to 11.3 points per game - 6.3 below her season average.
Through Tuesday, only two players had seen larger drops in their scoring averages in the postseason, one of them the Storm's Bird, who played just 3 minutes in Game 2 against Minnesota after suffering a broken nose.
Donovan called Griffith the WNBA's best rebounder, and her near-double-double performance led Sacramento's impressive performance on the boards. The Monarchs outrebounded Los Angeles 101-93. For the season, Sacramento was fourth in the WNBA in rebounding percentage, a rebound or two behind the third-place Storm. Head-to-head, however, Sacramento owned the glass, outrebounding the Storm 161-132.
Donovan was pleased with her team's rebounding effort against the Lynx - they outrebounded Minnesota 61-54 - and the Storm will need to deliver that same effort again in this series.
Monarchs forwards DeMya Walker and Tangela Smith were absolutely critical to their win against Los Angeles. Smith led the team with 17.7 points per game in the series, bouncing back from an uneven regular season. Walker won her key matchup with L.A.'s Mwadi Mabika in Games 1 and 3, going down low for 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting last night. Walker struggled against the Storm in the regular season, averaging 6.5 points and 3.0 rebounds and shooting a dismal 28.6% from the field. Whether the Walker of the regular season against the Storm or of the playoffs shows up in this series will be something important to watch.
