Los Angeles, CA- The Los Angeles Sparks returned to play their final game of Commissioner Cup in front of a home crowd at Crypto.com Arena despite coming up short to a tough Minnesota Lynx led by their rookie point guard superstar, Olivia Miles breaking a WNBA record with a 24 points half to help her team win, 99-83 on Wednesday night.
Sparks finish the in-season tournament 3-4 after finding a way to score more against one of best league players “Naphessa Collier”-less Lynx team while missing their leading scorer and league MVP frontrunner Kelsey Plum whom surprised many by being out for the second time this season due to an injury.
“I mean we don’t have a choice, right?… We’ve got to learn what we need to and move forward,” Sparks Head Coach Lynne Roberts said to fi360News during postgame presser. “Just keep grinding and you got to have the grit to just, not focus on what’s not going well in terms of mentally and you got to focus on what we can do to be better that’s on all of us. Coaches, players, everybody.”
LA came in the season with an emphasis on improving defense, yet in still have not been able to figure it out as they had no answer for Miles’ moves downhill or cohesive offense after having their lowest points game of the season since 2021.
“I think every team at some point in the season is going to hit adversity,” coach Roberts said to fi360News. “And how you respond determines how your season goes and we’re hitting ours now…I believe in this group and… we’re going to figure it out. I promise you that.”
Sparks did find some bright spots from their bench production even though Cameron Brink sidelined for this game is one of their key figures whom primarily brings that scoring energy and defensive presence off the bench.
“Truthfully, it was a very difficult game for me because, you know, the WNBA is such a high level,” Jihyun Park said via Korean translator. “She wants to make a more of an impact when she’s on the on the court and be a more dependable for her teammates and to the coach.”
Sparks made 41% from the field and 26% from deep while shooting 26 of them. As their defense is still of concern being third worst team in defensive rating, their limited or inconsistent offensive playmaking did not help their cause in tonight’s game as much as Lynx helped with 20 turnovers that led to 25 points for Los Angeles.
Sparks’ Rae Burrell’s started the game aggressive with a 10-point first quarter off 80 percent field goal shooting and perfect from three, stepping up in her role as longest tenured veteran on this squad to finish with 19 points and three assists in 26 minutes.
Burrell’s last three games has produced an 18.7 points average, 2.0 blocks while shooting over 50% overall, and close to 45% from behind the arc along with an impressive 90.0% (18-for-20) from the charity stripe.
Veteran teammates, Dearica Hamby and Nneka Ogumike, added 12 and 10 points, respectively but could not score consistently to put together momentum runs to counter or overcome Lynx high intensity style of play.
Hamby grabbed a team-high nine rebounds while shooting 83.3% from the field (5-for-6) and knocking down her only three-point attempt. She passed Chamique Holdsclaw for 32nd in WNBA history in career offensive rebounds plus collected three steals for the 48th time of her career, ranking her 38th all-time.
“Me and Dearica [Hamby] had really good chemistry there in the beginning. They just put me in good positions [and I was trying] to get to the free-throw line,” Burell said. “Just doing whatever we needed. We knew we were down ‘KP’ [Kelsey Plum], so we needed to be more aggressive on offense. I was just trying to bring that.”
Sparks bench came out aggressive as well, producing 32 points led by Park’s career-high night 13 points in 22 minutes. Fellow Sparks draft picks, rookies Chance Gray and Ta’Niya Latson scored career highs with eight and six points, respectively while getting a lot more minutes to indoctrinate them in this league against a tough trio backcourt with Miles, Courtney Williams, and Kayla McBride.
Minnesota went on a 14-2 to close the first period and open the second after battling back and forth with LA including five lead changes and two ties to start the game.
Burrell scored a team-high 14 points in the first half but not enough to counter rookie Miles 24 points a WNBA rookie record for most points in the half putting her team up by 15 points to enter halftime, 52-37.
The Sparks went on a 10-0 run after Lynx open the third quarter with a triple to cut down their lead to 10 around the 4:36 minute mark, 61-51 Lynx’s advantage. Los Angeles took advantage of capitalizing at the free throw line by making 100% on 10-of-10.
Sparks hung around double digits deficit most of the game while utilizing their bench as coach Roberts forewarned during pregame, but were unable to get over the hump despite going on a 13-3 run midway through the fourth quarter.
“We’re going to get to see these guys, and I think they know it’s different to get a go,” Coach Roberts said during pregame presser. “It’s one thing to get put in, it’s another thing to be needed. That’s a different level of being ready to go.”
Prior to that run, Park had just hit her first career three-pointer assisted by Ta’Niya Latson. Then Emma Cannon came off the bench and immediately got into the action scoring all of her season-high five points in nearly four minutes to get her team within 12, 91-79.
“Two bright spots I pointed out with the team was Emma [Cannon] and ‘JP’ [Jihyun Park],” Coach Roberts said. “I thought Emma came in ready. She talks on defense, she’ll set hard screens, she executes. I think she earned opportunity. That’s what you do when you get a chance. You make it count and that’s what she did.”
Los Angeles couldn’t sustain or build upon their last desperate end of the game run, missing a couple of wide open baskets and possibly taking some ill-advised shots that led to Minnesota seizing the rebound and going the other way alongside the scoreboard as the lead jumped back up for the Lynx. Minnesota shot 33.3% (4-for-12) from long distance in the second half though Los Angeles was able to slow down Miles by making her play more defense and drawing fouls on her plus having her shoot outside her comfort midrange game as well as keeping her out of the paint.
“It’s the ‘W’ [WNBA]. People are gonna get hurt. You gotta adjust. You just gotta make sure we stay together and keep communicating, keep trying to work on things that we need to work on,” Burell said. “We all have the same goal. We all want to win and just [keep] our tunnel vision on the main goal. Good thing about the ‘W’ is we have another game in a few days, so it’s another opportunity to get better.”
Through Sparks organizational fundraising efforts within 2026 Commissioner’s Cup’s seven-games slate, the Sparks raised $13,000 for Brotherhood Crusade, a Los Angeles grassroots organization with a mission of removing and/or helping individuals overcome the barriers that deter their pursuit of success in life and facilitate opportunities for a better quality of life.
The Sparks will host next the New York Liberty on Sunday evening (5 p.m. PT) at Crypto.com Arena in the WNBA 30 Seasons Celebration game.
