For nearly four magical minutes in the first quarter, an upset of the WNBA’s best team seemed scarily possible.
What seemed scarier, perhaps, was that the team doing the damage spent most of the season fighting to crawl out of the league’s cellar.
For those 3 minutes and 59 seconds, the Sparks rattled off 16 consecutive points as Crypto.com Arena transformed into both a basketball spectacle and animated musical. The children in nearly every section of the Sparks’ home smacked their thundersticks like war drums as tiny voices belted out lyrics to songs from “SpongeBob SquarePant,s” “Moana” and “Frozen.”
It was a mini-Disneyland inside the Sparks’ building on Kids Day, the entire bowl pulsating with shrieks, slaps and sugar highs. For a fleeting stretch, it felt like an exhilarating return to the mid-2010s.
Yet just as quickly as the magic appeared, it vanished. So suddenly, and so drastically, the newest “happiest place on earth” lost its shimmer, replaced by cross-court turnovers, limited looks at the rim and the deflation of momentum as the Lynx (18-3) steamrolled to a 91-82 victory over the Sparks (6-14) on Thursday afternoon.
“You give the best team in the league just easy run-out layups,” guard Kelsey Plum said, in regard to the Lynx gathering 22 more shot attempts than the Sparks, “It was tough. We dug ourselves a hole.”
What had been a 16-0 run to build an 18-7 lead in the first quarter turned out to be the only bright spot amid an otherwise sore 36 minutes. Not just for the players, but for the children with their thundersticks that had less and less reason to make noise.
Lynx guard Alanna Smith drifted into open space at the top of the key to score first with a three for the Lynx. Following a Napheesa Collier walk-in floater, Smith propelled her team to an early 7-2 lead after collecting a sharp entry pass and spinning into a floater on the block.
Smith’s early pace and precision hinted at why the Lynx have only three losses all season. But the control they held in those opening moments evaporated, the momentum being painted purple and yellow.
The 16-point show began in unexpected territory. Plum lit the fuse from beyond the arc. Guard Julie Allemand followed suit on the next trip down. Then forward Rickea Jackson made a wide-open baseline look. And it was threes in three straight possessions for a team that doesn’t make a living from distance.
“The ball was moving, it had some zip on it in that first quarter,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “Thirteen threes at 48% — Vanloo [guard Julie Vanloo] really helps with that. We’ve been missing that kind of shooter — the kickout and off the dribble,” she added, referring to Vanloo’s five three-pointers.
Yet the lopsided score halfway through the opening quarter had a short lifespan.
What looked like a cushion turned into a trap. After their 16-0 run, the Sparks eased up and the Lynx pounced. Minnesota feasted on sloppy cross-court passes, turning top-of-the-key giveaways into easy transition layups, and worked their way to get back to within four by quarter’s end.
The Lynx erased “deficit” from their dictionary — and just about everything from the Sparks’ playbook. Fueled by nine L.A. turnovers in the second quarter, Minnesota made 11 baskets — nearly as many as the Sparks had shot attempts for a 50-40 halftime lead.
“[Missing] shots that you’re normally not thinking about missing — it can just put a lot of pressure on your offense when you do get an execution,” Roberts said. “But we’ve got to be better defensively, giving up 91 — but they’re really good at whatever it is you do, making it wrong.”
Four minutes in the driver’s seat gave way to the wheels detaching entirely through the remaining two periods. Turnovers mounted, and layups followed as more than a quarter of Minnesota’s points came off miscues.
The Lynx ran away in the third quarter, piling up 30 points — 11 more than the Sparks — to stretch their lead to 80-59. The Sparks threw punches in the fourth and Vanloo caught fire, but the damage was too much for recovery.
Plum finished with 17 points and a game-high 12 assists to lead the Sparks. Jackson added 14 points while Dearica Hamby contributed 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Natisha Hiedeman came off the bench to lead the Lynx with 18 points, while Collier finished with 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Courtney Williams had 16 points and a team-high seven assists while Smith scored 15.