Ramona Shelburne: July 2009 Archives

Sparks center Lisa Leslie was selected by fans to start in the WNBA All-Star game for the fifth time in her career, on Tuesday.

Leslie has been injured for all but five of the Sparks 11 games this season and isn't sure yet whether she'll be able to play in the July 25th game at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. Before the season, she announced that this season would be her final year in the WNBA.

``It's just such an honor to be voted in by the fans,'' Leslie said. ``I'm pretty anxious to get back out there. It's obviously not my ideal finish, being injured in my last year. But I'm just trying to look at the positive side and staying hopeful that it'll be about how we finish the year, not how we started it.''

Leslie received 80,748 votes in the fan voting. Indiana's Tamika Catchings was the leading vote-getter with 94,316.

Leslie, the WNBA's leader in career points and rebounds, is no stranger to the WNBA All-Star game having been selected as a Western Conference All-Star eight times. In the inaugural WNBA All-Star game in 1999, Leslie led the Western Conference All-Stars to victory and won the first of three All-Star game MVP awards. She later won the award back to back, as a reserve in 2001 and as a starter in 2002.

Of Leslie's eight All-Star selections, she has been named to the starting lineup five times, (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009), and has career All-Star game averages of 14.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.

She will start for the Western Conference alongside Seattle's Swin Cash, Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson, and San Antonio's Becky Hammon.

The Eastern Conference starters are Indiana's Katie Douglas and Catchings, Washington's Alana Beard, and Chicago's Sylvia Fowles and Candice Dupree.

NEW YORK LIBERTY QUOTES

Head Coach Pat Coyle

On early in the game:

"You know it's only frustrating that we didn't continue to do what we needed to do, to keep that lead and to build on it. That's what's frustrating."

On tonight's loss:

"We shoot the ball a lot in practice. I would attribute some of it to their defense but you know, we were going off looking to get hit and we didn't get hit or we were looking for calls and we didn't get any calls. You know you can attribute it to a lot of things."

On the play of Betty Lennox & Tina Thompson:

"(Betty) Lennox coming off the bench scoring 20 is unacceptable, unacceptable. You know Tina Thompson, Tina Thompson is a great player in this league. You know you expect that is what she's going to do. You know the same thing with Lennox but we missed some assignments. You know they got two 3's. We were supposed to switch. You know to me, that's a difference in the ball game if it goes from six to twelve like that."

Shameka Christon

On playing against Betty Lennox:

"Betty is one of those players that when she gets going, she's going far, and I think she got going early. But if Patty (Coach Coyle) says that it's unacceptable, then it's unacceptable."

On losing the early lead:

"I mean I really have to see the video. Right now I'm upset that we lost and I don't know exactly what mistakes we made so I have to watch the video."

On tonight's loss:

"It all comes down to focus. We have to execute our assignments and we didn't. We made a lot of mistakes. It's frustrating, but we got to keep fighting. Somehow or another we got to keep fighting and get things off the ground."

On playing Candace Parker:

"In one of her interviews she said it's all about timing and I agree with that. So we don't know what she's capable of. In time I'm sure she'll be back, she's only 6 or 7 weeks out of giving birth."

LOS ANGELES SPARKS QUOTES

Head Coach Michael Cooper

On improving game by game:

"We played well starting in Phoenix four games ago and came up a little bit short on that one. Then the next night after that we went up to Seattle and I thought we played extremely well and lost that game by two. So I saw it coming and then we go home and lost a tough one to Phoenix, so yes this was a great game for us to win especially after letting New York get off to an 11-0 start."

On getting contributions from other people:

"This team wasn't built on just two or three or four players. Obviously having four Olympians helped, that's not going to get it done if you're not playing together and I thought our bench came in, Betty came in off the bench and did a superb job. We had been lacking some energy coming off the bench and she supplied that immensely tonight. We're still in that stage of trying to find each other. With silk back and playing the way she is, we still need to get smooth back."

Candace Parker

On being close to 100%:

"I'm not trying to estimate that. I just know that I can take a step forward every game and I feel like I did take a step forward this game from last game. My legs are getting a little bit under me and things are working out that way. I'll probably start to measure that maybe in two or three weeks."

On the team coming together despite Parker and Leslie missing time:

"I think so. We're learning where everyone wants the ball. We're learning what it takes to be a team. One person can play great defense and have some other people not playing well. We're learning how to play team defense. We got killed on the boards in Phoenix, but we came out here and dominated the boards."

Tina Thompson

On when the Sparks took control of the game

"New York is a talented team and they have a lot of weapons. We anticipated them coming out quickly, but we didn't anticipate coming out so slowly. I think we just weathered the storm in the first quarter and I think the second quarter was a lot better and we gained a little momentum. New York is a tough team and they always play hard for forty minutes but if we can stay close then in the third and fourth quarter we can kind of get a lead."

Sparks forward Candace Parker, the reigning WNBA MVP, will return to the court on Sunday, July 5th at STAPLES Center as the Sparks take on the Phoenix Mercury at 6:30pm, it was announced today.

Parker has missed the season until this point after giving birth to her first child, Lailaa Nicole Williams, on May 13th. She was cleared by doctors to begin practicing on Tuesday, June 30th, and Parker has continually said that she will play when she feels ready.

"I feel like I'm really beginning to get my rhythm back," said Parker. "This was a great week of practice, and it felt good to be with my teammates on the court. I'm not expecting to play 30 minutes but I definitely can't wait to get back out on the floor."

In 2008, Parker became the first WNBA player to win both the WNBA MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season and just the third player between the WNBA and NBA to receive both honors in the same year. She started all 33 games she played in, led the league in rebounding and led all rookies in scoring and rebounding.

"We're extremely happy to have her back," said Head Coach Michael Cooper. "After watching her practice this week, it looks like she can play some minutes. It's a huge addition for us and a big game for her to come back. She made her rookie debut against Phoenix and now she will come back against them. Obviously she isn't 100% and we will take things slowly but clearly Candace, even at less than 100%, is an incredible player."

In honor of #3's return, the first 50 fans to purchase tickets online will have the opportunity to buy $10 seats for just $3.