LOS ANGELES -- The Sparks are back home on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles (6-24) has lost seven straight games. Their last win goes back before the Olympic break against the Dallas Wings on July 13th. For their last win at home, it goes back further when they defeated the Las Vegas Aces on July 5th.
Wins have been hard to come by. And it will be a test again when they face the team with the best record in the league, the New York Liberty (26-5).
The Liberty have won 9 of their last 10 games. One of those wins came against the Sparks last August 15th when they waxed them, 103-68.
“That was a fun ass-whoopin’,” Coach Curt Miller said sarcastically after that game.
But not winning games has not been fun for the Sparks. Even when they had a 22-point lead in the second half, they found a way to lose that. For the Sparks to break this hex, it has to come from within.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games and we have to find ways to really lock in at the end,” forward Azura Stevens said. “We have a lot of newer players who haven’t necessarily played this amount of minutes before.
“So it’s just a lot of growing pains. We’re trying to build the right culture here. We’re trying to do the right things even though the results aren’t necessarily coming out as wins. But I know it’s important to build good habits, championship habits. And we’re trying to build that every day.”
A team that has built good habits is the New York Liberty, who went to the Finals last season. Breanna Stewart scored 27 for the Libs nearly two weeks ago against the Sparks while Sabrina Ionescu put in 18. New York got off to a 10-0 start and never looked in the rear view mirror. The Sparks will try to avoid that on Wednesday.
The task will get more difficult. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton returned to the New York line-up on Monday so their team will have a clean injury report. This hasn’t been the case for the Sparks in the last two seasons. Lexie Brown will continue to be out because of Crohn’s while Aari McDonald (foot) and Layshia Clarendon (mental health) will also sit out.
Rickea Jackson has gotten off to great starts as of late. Against the Wings, she scored a career-best 25 points. Odyssey Sims, who is on her second 7-day hardship deal, put up 26 points and 10 dimes against her old team. If these two can help out vets Dearica Hamby and Stevens, they can put up a good fight.
The Sparks have shown great bruising defense against the Sun and explosive scoring against the Wings on the road. Now it’s all about putting it together against the best team in the league. If the Sparks can do that, it doesn’t matter who they’re playing; anything is possible on the WNBA court.