Slow first half dooms Sparks in loss to Lynx

The Sparks struggled to defend the Minnesota Lynx and drop their second game in a row Tuesday night.

Sparks struggled to contain the red-hot Minnesota Lynx, losing 82-67 on Tuesday night.

Dearica Hamby reached a major career milestone, entering the 3,000-point club. She scored 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists.

Layshia Clarendon also reached a career milestone with 900 assists. They scored eight points, one steal, two rebounds and four assists. Rickea Jackson scored six points.

Azurá Stevens was put in the starting lineup, in her second game back from injury and scored nine points with six rebounds and four assists. Li Yueru pitched in with four points.

The Sparks started slowly, but Stevens scored the first two points to get them going. They fell behind by six as Minnesota built a lead on a 10-3 scoring run. The Lynx dominated with their bench in double digits, while the Sparks were already up to four turnovers.

LA was losing the points off turnovers battle as the Lynx had scored six to LA’s two. Minnesota continued to pour on the offense and upped their lead to 13 at the end of the first.

The Sparks began the second quarter better and cut the deficit to nine. Clarendon went on a 4-0 run to help the team be more energized. Each time Los Angeles started to cut the deficit, Minnesota had the answers to snatch the momentum right back.

Cecilia Zandalasini’s instant offense was huge for the Lynx. She was perfect from behind the arc and only had one missed shot from the field. As we’ve seen from the Sparks for most of the season, they were clawing their way back from being down big.

The Lynx were shooting the lights out from behind the arc up to 54% while the Sparks struggled at 25%. A 10-1 run had the Lynx up 51-35 at halftime.

Both teams started the second half slow before Aari McDonald kicked it off for the Sparks with a layup. Jackson, who was having a tough time finding the basket, was able to knock down a midrange shot.

The Sparks could not figure out how to contain the Lynx defensively, often leaving them wide open to drain threes. Bridget Carleton was perfect from behind the arc with most of her makes being wide open.

The Lynx led by as much as 25, but the Sparks cut the deficit to 19 heading into the fourth. In the final frame, Los Angeles looked more energized as they dove for loose balls, grabbed rebounds and tried to capitalize on turnovers.

This young Sparks team often shows grit in spurts, and tonight, they did that quite a few times, but the Lynx kept shooting the lights out to stop any momentum buildup for LA. Both teams were careless with the ball throughout the game, and the Sparks struggled to capitalize on the Lynx’s turnovers.

Although LA had cut the deficit to 16, with 1:01 left in the game, a win was too far to grab and they eventually lost what is now their second game in a row.

Key Takeaways:

It’s a season of growth for the Sparks, they show a lot of it, but their mistakes are still consistent. Turnovers have been an issue all season and they had 20 in this game.

Kia Nurse has been struggling to find consistent offense and it’s become something to worry about. She started the season off as one of the most reliable scorers on the team, but it’s been a rollercoaster since then. Her offensive improvement will be hugely beneficial for this team.

The Sparks left many of the Lynx’s players wide open from behind the arc throughout the game. Always make the right switches in the game to keep a body on the opposing team’s sharpshooters.

LA does a great job fighting back when they’re down big, but they need to come out the gate strong each game to give themselves a chance at wins.

They’ll try to bounce back on Saturday against the Dallas Wings at 12:30 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.