Los Angeles Sparks’ guard woes lead to defeat against Chicago Sky

Another disappointing loss reveals the lack of guard depth the Sparks have dealt with all season.

LOS ANGELES — Entering the fourth quarter, the Los Angeles Sparks held a ten-point advantage against the Chicago Sky in front of a sold-out crowd at home.

It looked like they would waltz to victory, bounce back from their worst loss of the season against the New York Liberty and head to Las Vegas on a winning note.

Instead, they completely collapsed, unable to score points in the final frame and allowing Kamilla Cardoso, Lindsay Allen and Angel Reese to score half a dozen each in the fourth to lose 90-86.

You can point to plenty of reasons why the Sparks crumbled like a Nature Valley crunchy granola bar, but the biggest culprit has to be their lack of depth at the guard position.

Aari McDonald, the Sparks' starting guard, has missed the first two games post-Olympics with a right foot injury. Lexie Brown has been unavailable due to her Crohn's disease and Layshia Clarendon was added to the injury report for this game due to mental health reasons.

That left the Sparks with limited guard options, which meant they started Crystal Dangerfield, who is on her third seven-day contract with Los Angeles. The franchise also gave Odyssey Sims plenty of run despite only announcing her signing this morning.

She is so new to the team that her name wasn't even on the back of her jersey.

Sparks head coach Curt Miller addressed these issues after the game during his media availability.

“Our starting point guard and backup point guard are hardship players,” Miller said postgame. “Odyssey doesn’t know one play call that we have. We tried real quickly to get her up to speed, but she’s a pro. I knew she could defend and she could facilitate regardless of schematics. Obviously, we had to keep it very generic and very simple. I mean she arrived last night at 2 a.m. she’s only going to know so much, but she’s a pro and we knew what potentially she could give us.”

Miller was right. Sims did struggle but already gave the Sparks some much-needed speed, physicality and elite ball-handling around the perimeter.

She didn't have great stats, scoring just two points and going 1-6 from the field, but that will come with time. Before they let her go, she averaged 17.2 points for the Dallas Wings this season.

Dangerfield started and had her best game for the Sparks since joining the team. She ended the night with 11 points and six assists. It didn't result in a win, but she played as well as one could ask of her.

“Anytime we get out on the court I’m grateful for it, Dangerfield said after the loss. “This is a good group. We have an opportunity to bounce back and we had an opportunity today to bounce back from the showing the other night and I think that we’re on the right track for the rest of the second half of the season.”

Dangerfield and Sims are becoming feel-good stories for the Sparks, but the problem is, it's tough to feel good about anything with a 6-20 record. These stories are developing because key players are out and unable to play and the team continues to add losses to its record.

With guard depth being so shallow, it begs the question: Why didn't Zia Cooke get any minutes? She may not have gaudy numbers or stellar performances demonstrating her ability, but you have her on the roster, so why not play her?

I hypothesize that Miller would rather give Sims and Dangerfield those looks over Cooke for the time being.

This might be the right call, but if it is, it doesn't bold well for the two-year guards' future with this franchise.

In the meantime, Los Angeles will have to figure out how to win some games without their ideal guards available.

That won't be easy, as the Sparks' next opponent is the Las Vegas Aces, followed by the two-seed Connecticut Sun.

Injuries, youth and time are all against Los Angeles as we near the season's final stretch. At this point, they'll need a miracle to earn a playoff berth.

You know what this team is getting from their star, Dearica Hamby and can safely assume the production they'll get from Li Yueru and Rickea Jackson. The guards are the ex-factors. They need more from them in a league emphasizing excellent play from that position.

So, be it Dangerfield, Sims, Cooke, or reinforcements returning, someone on the perimeter has to step up if this team wants to win games in 2024.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.