Shannon Bobbitt, Temeka Johnson turn it around for Sparks

Shannon Bobbitt, a 5-foot-2 starter for the Sparks, and Temeka Johnson, a 5-3 reserve, have been labeled a weak link ever since the team drafted Candace Parker last spring, traded for DeLisha Milton-Jones and welcomed back Lisa Leslie after she sat out last season to have a baby.

Considering the frontcourt trio of Parker, Milton-Jones and Leslie won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in the summer, opposing defenses didn't have much choice but to target Bobbitt and Johnson, pack the interior and force the point guards to lob risky passes into the middle or shoot from the perimeter.

Bobbitt and Johnson have struggled with their roles at times, to the point that they took turns sitting out several games.

The two were at their best Tuesday night, however, combining for 16 points, five assists, six rebounds and three steals in a series-clinching 71-64 victory over the host Seattle Storm at KeyArena.

On the defensive end, Bobbitt and Johnson systematically shadowed point guard Sue Bird, a most-valuable-player candidate who finished with 16 points, five assists, two rebounds and a steal.

"I thought their defensive pressure finally took its toll on Sue Bird," Sparks Coach Michael Cooper said. "She looked like she was a little fatigued and she wasn't as active as in the last game."

Bird said she felt as if Bobbitt and Johnson were coming at her in waves.

"They really pressure you," she said. "Every sub is just a fresh body coming in to hound me."

Bobbitt, a rookie from Tennessee, and Johnson, a fourth-year player from Louisiana State, will be matched against another point guard with similar offensive skills when the Sparks open the best-of-three Western Conference final series tonight against the San Antonio Silver Stars at the Galen Center at USC. Becky Hammon averaged 17.6 points and 4.9 assists during the regular season, both among the top six in the league.

Johnson, the WNBA's 2005 rookie of the year, began the season as a starter, but her play began to falter after a handful of games and she was replaced by Kiesha Brown. Unknown to most outside the team, Johnson was dealing with the news that her grandmother, Jewel Johnson, who helped raise her, had become paralyzed from a tumor that was pressing against her spine.