LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Sparks already know they will not be making the playoffs for a sixth straight season, but they are not giving up on the remainder of the regular season.<\/p>\n
Success has been fleeting for the Sparks this season. However, if they\u2019re going to stack wins during the final seven games, they must start games fast so they don\u2019t have to claw back from double-digit deficits in the first half.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been our Achilles heel this season,\u201d Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said before Saturday\u2019s 77-68 win against Connecticut, which broke the team\u2019s six-game losing streak. \u201cSometimes we come out great. Sometimes we come out a little lukewarm, and in this league you just get punched in the face when that happens, and that\u2019s been happening. It\u2019s a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guard Rae Burrell led the way with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting against the Sun. Burrell, who is averaging a career-high 14.4 points, said she will continue to focus on improving and playing the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just being comfortable, honestly,\u201d Burrell said. \u201cIt just makes it so much easier when you\u2019re comfortable out there. When you know your teammates and coaches, and they\u2019ve got your back. Just being able to play with that confidence. I think that\u2019s helped me play more freely and put me in great positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the Sparks did commit 24 turnovers to just 19 assists. That\u2019s something veteran point guard Erica Wheeler wants to see corrected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think sometimes we get a little bit too greedy in moments versus just sticking to what works,\u201d said Wheeler, who finished with 11 points and a team-high five assists against Connecticut. \u201cThat just comes with getting better each game, but when we share the ball, typically, we win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sparks (13-24, 11th place) will host the Atlanta Dream (24-13, 4th place) at Crypto.com Arena Monday night. It will be a prime opportunity for redemption against Atlanta, who were up by 42 points in the fourth quarter of a recent 124-88 defeat on Aug. 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time we play, we want to win,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cCoach to win. Sub to win. Compete to win, but there is also, you have to balance that with building and the future, the young players, so it\u2019s kind of a tightrope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atlanta clinched a postseason berth with a 99-89 victory at Phoenix on Saturday night. All-Star center Angel Reese led the way with a career-high 31 points and 14 rebounds for her 25th double-double of the season. Reese nearly had a triple-double when she had 20 points (on 9-of-9 shooting), 10 rebounds and eight assists against the Sparks a few days ago, which officially ended the L.A.\u2019s slim postseason hopes.<\/p>\n
ATLANTA (24-13) AT SPARKS (13-24)<\/p>\n
When: Monday, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Where: Crypto.com Arena<\/p>\n
TV: Peacock, NBCSN, Spectrum SportsNet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Sparks already know they will not be making the playoffs for a sixth straight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2356,23758,3031,13489,3029,99,434],"class_list":["post-823560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-california","tag-la-sparks","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823560","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=823560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}