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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Leslie expected to return to action Thursday
Monday August 11, 2003
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) Lisa Leslie is expected to return to
the Los Angeles Sparks' lineup on Thursday, just over four weeks
after injuring her right knee in the WNBA All-Star game.
Leslie practiced with the Sparks for the first time since
bruising a bone in her right knee in a collision with Detroit's
Swin Cash on July 12. She is expected to play Thursday at
Minnesota.
The two-time defending champion Sparks have gone 4-7 without
Leslie, falling a half-game behind Western Conference-leading
Houston.
``It feels good,'' Leslie said. ``I'm excited about playing
it's like the first day of training camp. I'm really pushing
through and going hard. Conditioning will definitely be a factor,
but my knee felt really good.
``I never saw myself as the heart of our team but our team
looked like it was playing without our heart. And in turn I
realized that they're my heart and I work hard for them. I think
once we put the body back together, things will be fine.''
All-Star forward DeLisha Milton also practiced for the first
time since being placed on the injured reserve list Tuesday with a
left-ankle injury. Milton is also expected to play Thursday.
``It's a blessing to have them back,'' Sparks coach Michael
Cooper said. ``With their return, we're the championship team we're
supposed to be. They are two key players and if you take two of the
best players off of any team in this league, they will struggle
just like we did.''
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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