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The Sparks need a win in tonight’s lone WNBA game to remain tied with the Storm in the loss column as they battle for the last playoff spot (Photo credit: Chris Poss)

There’s just one game on the WNBA schedule tonight after five last night, but it’s an important one as the Sparks look to pull back within a half-game of No. 8 seed Seattle after the Storm won last night. Tied in the loss column and currently up 2-1 in the season series, Los Angeles is essentially in control of the outcome of its race against the Storm despite being behind in the standings. That’s only the case as long as Los Angeles can match Seattle win-for-win, though. The Sparks will look to keep the pace with the Storm against a team on the verge of being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, though any realistic chance of the Wings making the postseason has long since gone out the window.

Los Angeles has dropped three of five since winning eight of nine, although not a whole lot has changed from the glory days of Sparksmentum other than the final scores. The Sparks have had offensive ratings of 108.9 points per 100 possessions or better in each of their last four games (since getting dominated by the Valkyries in Ballhalla), with three of the four in the 110+ territory. They’ve also allowed each of their last four opponents to post a rating of at least 108.3, which is also pretty similar to what was happening in July and earlier this month. The Sparks have the WNBA’s fourth-best offensive rating this season (104.3) and — this is a new development — the league’s worst defensive rating (107.2) after spending most of the season in the 10th through 12th range. When you put those two ratings together, you get games that tend to be close and high-scoring (and a ton of fun to watch). The Sparks just couldn’t quite outscore their defense in losses to the Liberty (105-97) and Mystics (95-86) last week.

The Wings have dropped two in a row, seven of their last eight games, and 13 of 16 since their one genuinely encouraging stretch of basketball this season when they won five of seven in late June and early July. Their only win so far in August, by a one-point margin last Tuesday at Indiana, was somewhat dampened by the Wings letting a 17-point lead slip away before managing to hold on and snap a five-game skid. Dallas would have to go 4-5 the rest of the way to avoid setting a franchise record for losses in a season, although the WNBA schedule’s significant growth is the biggest reason for that. The 2011 Tulsa Shock set the mark with 31 losses in a 34-game season (3-31), then it was matched last year during a 40-game season (9-31). One more win would guarantee the Wings a better winning percentage than they had last year despite the likelihood they’ll end up with more losses.

Among the Sparks’ close and high-scoring games lately was a 97-96 win over the Wings five days ago in Dallas which gave them a 2-0 lead in the season series. Kelsey Plum led the way for LA with 28 points on 9-for-17 from the field while dishing out 5 assists, Dearica Hamby added 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Julie Allemand also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists. Paige Bueckers one-upped Plum with 29 points on 12-for-21 from the field and Dallas outshot LA by a margin of 50.7% to 44.0% from the field, but couldn’t overcome a major free throw disparity (LA was 20-for-25 while Dallas was 11-for-11) and minus-11 margin on the boards. The first meeting, also in Dallas, was way back in early June and saw LA improve to 3-6 while Dallas fell to 1-8. The teams will meet one more time in LA on the final Sunday of the regular season.

Late August isn’t a time of year and Dallas isn’t a place I generally associate with Big East hoops supremacy, but that’s exactly where my head is as I spotlight the Wings’ two best players at the moment. They are, of course, a UConn legend (Paige Bueckers) and one from Villanova (Maddy Siegrist).

Bueckers is coming off of an 18-point outing on 8-for-18 from the field in the Wings’ loss at Las Vegas on Sunday, her third time being held under 20 points in her last four games immediately after having four 20-point games in a row. She’s scored at least 20 points in exactly half (14) of her 28 career games, tied with Sabrina Ionescu (in 34 games) and Skylar Diggins (in 35) for the seventh-most 20-point games in the WNBA this season. Only Napheesa Collier (18 of 26, 69.2%), Kelsey Plum (21 of 33, 63.6%), A’ja Wilson (20 of 32, 62.5%) and Kelsey Mitchell (19 of 35, 54.%) join Bueckers in having scored 20 in at least half of their games so far. She’d need to score 20 six more times to tie the WNBA record for 20-point games by a rookie, which is appropriately 20 as set by Seimone Augustus in 2006 (in 34 games).

Siegrist is a bucket. Next question. Kidding aside, Siegrist has emerged alongside Bueckers as one of the few bright spots in Dallas’ season despite having her season chopped up by an injury for the second year in a row. She’s scored at least 13 points in five of six games since returning from a 17-game absence a couple weeks ago in Brooklyn (Bestie was annoyed each of the six times I clapped for one of her buckets), most recently putting up a career-high 23 points on 11-for-15 from the field in the loss at Las Vegas. That came two games after tying her previous career-high with 22 points in the Wings’ win at Indiana last week. Curiously, all four of her 20-point games and all six of her games with at least 17 points in the WNBA have come on the road. As an Eagles fan, I have some thoughts about why a Villanova alum from Poughkeepsie might thrive everywhere except Dallas, but I digress. Go Birds, ‘Cats and Maddy.

The Sparks’ two best players are a constant reminder of the Aces’ former supremacy (although they’re looking pretty supreme lately) as Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby sport a combined three WNBA championship rings from their time in Sin City.

Plum has scored at least 20 points and hit at least half of her shots from the field in each of her last four games, one game shy of tying her longest 20-point streak of the season, which ended two games before this one started. It’s the second time this season that anyone in the WNBA has had a streak of four 20-point games on at least 50% shooting. The first time was when Napheesa Collier did it in the first four games of the season and everyone jumped on the MVPhee bandwagon I got on in the preseason (when I also picked the Aces to win the title and missed badly on the Wings). Plum joins former Aces teammate A’ja Wilson (five such streaks since 2023), Collier (two) and Brittney Griner (one) as the only players with such a streak over the last three WNBA seasons.

Hamby’s had three straight 20-point games while hitting at least 50% in each of them as well, most recently scoring 20 points on 12-for-17 (70.6%) from the field in the Sparks’ loss at Washington on Sunday. She’s made at least half of her shots in seven straight games and scored at least 20 points four times in that span. The only time Hamby has failed to make at least 50% from the field since late June was in the Sparks’ grueling double-overtime win at Seattle to open this month, and she finished 8-for-17 from the field in that game. She’s fourth in the WNBA making 57.3% from the field for the season and has made at least half of her shots in 27 of 34 games (79.4%) so far. Hamby (18.0 points, 7.7 rebounds per game) and teammate Azurá Stevens (14.4 points, 7.9 rebounds per game, 50.6% from the field) areon pace to become the fourth set of WNBA teammates to put up 14/7/50% in a season. They’d be the first to do it since Connecticut’s Brionna Jones and Jonquel Jones in 2021.