LOS ANGELES — The Sparks are 0-2 in their current home stand. And one of the teams that is responsible for one of the losses is back after getting trounced in Las Vegas. The Minnesota Lynx have had their number this season as two of their three wins have been against the Sparks.

The first one was in Minnesota when they led by 11 with under four minutes to go. And that’s when the Lynx took the game away with a 17-0 run. The second game happened last Friday when Napheesa Collier had a late three-point play that put away the Sparks.

Napheesa Collier has been the main reason why the Sparks seem to have trouble against the Lynx. She’s scored 24 and 25 in those two games. And the Sparks just can’t seem to get it done in the fourth quarter.

They packed the paint against the Sparks on Friday. Nneka Ogwumike had her worst offensive game of the season with 8 points but she was able to get most of her teammates involved with her team-high 7 assists. It was definitely difficult for the Sparks to get anything done in the paint because they didn’t have their floor spacer, Lexie Brown, on Friday. And Lexie will continue to be out as she’s not playing in Tuesday’s game as of this writing.

Jordin Canada played every second of Friday’s game and scored a career-best 22 points. But expect Jasmine Thomas and Destanni Henderson to come in and change the pace a little bit.

Meanwhile, the Lynx are supplemented with players like sniper Kayla McBride, scorer Tiffany Mitchell, and Nikolina Milic, who did a lot of damage in the first half of Friday’s game that helped them keep up with the Sparks. And remember that Rachel Banham and Bridget Carleton made huge shots in their first match-up.

So it’s just really about the Sparks finishing games now. They’ve been in every game (except against Vegas in their Ring Night) this season. They can play with every team in the W.

Of course, what matters is the result. And the Sparks hope that they can get a win to snap their two-game losing streak.