{"id":635956,"date":"2026-05-11T04:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T04:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635956\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T04:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T04:54:14","slug":"sparks-cant-keep-pace-with-defending-champion-aces-in-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635956\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparks can’t keep pace with defending champion Aces in loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Before the Sparks opening day loss to the Las Vegas Aces, coach Lynne Roberts<\/a> said that this year \u201cfelt different.\u201d<\/p>\n

After one game, though, it feels a lot like the same.<\/p>\n

During their season opener, the Sparks<\/a> couldn\u2019t get momentum against the defending champion Aces and fell 105-78<\/a> behind a remarkably efficient shooting day from the visitors at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

After posting the worst defense in the WNBA last season (88.2 points per game), the Sparks made a flurry of offseason moves prioritizing stopping opponents. It\u2019s why they brought in Nneka Ogwumike<\/a>, Ariel Atkins<\/a> and Erica Wheeler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the Aces shot 63% from the floor and the Sparks had few answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was on us,\u201d Ogwumike said. \u201cDefense is not something that gels. You either want to do it or you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reigning WNBA MVP A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a> led the Aces with 19 points, Jackie Young<\/a> had 20 points and nine assists and Chennedy Carter<\/a> added 22 points in her first WNBA game since 2024.<\/p>\n

The Aces, who were coming off a 33-point blowout opening day loss to Phoenix on Saturday, scored 33 of their points in the third quarter and that\u2019s when the wheels fell off for the Sparks. Las Vegas shot 73.7% during the quarter.<\/p>\n

\"Sparks <\/p>\n

Sparks coach Lynne Roberts reacts during a 105-78 loss to the Las Vegas Aces at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Luiza Moraes \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was probably one of my worst one-on-one defending nights,\u201d Ogwumike said. \u201cBut defense is definitely not something that you guys should be sitting here watching and hoping we get it down by the end of the month. You should see it on Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelsey Plum<\/a> scored 11 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter, but by then the Aces had opened a 20-plus point lead.<\/p>\n

The Sparks narrowed the deficit to one by halftime following an Ogwumike (19 points, 10 rebounds) three-pointer and backhand layup late in the second. But mostly, the Sparks\u2019 defense activated, forcing 10 Las Vegas turnovers, led by two steals apiece from Atkins and Wheeler to fuel the comeback.<\/p>\n

That energy was gone by the third quarter after the Aces started doubling Ogwumike, and aside from Plum, the Sparks\u2019 offense had no answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey punched us in the face,\u201d Plum said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t respond. And obviously, they\u2019re a great team, right? When someone is shooting 63% it\u2019s going to be hard to win that game. … I\u2019m disappointed in our effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the Sparks\u2019 19 turnovers, 10 came in the second half. The Aces scored 26 points off those giveaways, which made things even more difficult on the defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurnovers are, you\u2019re just leading the other team to a fast break,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd so we were giving them the turnovers, then there are two individual players who are expected to get a defensive stop after the turnover.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also need more from reserve center Cameron Brink<\/a> (0 points, 0-for-0 shooting, three rebounds, three fouls in eight minutes) and Wheeler (two points, 1-for-11 in 20 minutes) going forward. Once Brink got in foul trouble, the Aces could continue blitzing Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby<\/a> (12 points, five rebounds) without worry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need Cam to produce,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe need Cam to bring that defensive energy. We have so much confidence and belief in her. She\u2019s got to get out on the floor with some confidence and do what she\u2019s capable of doing, but we\u2019re going to need her.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Sparks have turned a corner from last season, they will need to find consistency on the defensive end of the floor. It won\u2019t get easier with Caitlin Clark<\/a> and Indiana (0-1) coming to town on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

But the reason the Sparks built the roster that they did was to stop opponents after falling short of the postseason with the league\u2019s third-best scoring team in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good thing about this league is that we play in a day or two,\u201d Plum said. \u201cSo, we\u2019ll fix things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the Sparks opening day loss to the Las Vegas Aces, coach Lynne Roberts said that this year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[9209,274679,274680,6052,14401,274682,10504,13544,274681,17589,14795,31878,23629,99,41606,434,79168],"class_list":["post-635956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ariel-atkins","tag-champion-aces","tag-champion-las-vegas","tag-defense","tag-erica-wheeler","tag-few-answer","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-point","tag-point-lead","tag-rebound","tag-second-quarter","tag-spark","tag-sparks","tag-sports","tag-turnover","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-mvp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}