Los Angeles, CA – Rickea Jackson saw 12 minutes of action in her return on Tuesday night, then appeared emotional after her team’s 88-82 loss in spite of the LA Sparks late rally in the game led by her teammates, Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum, 28 and 27 points, respectively.
“It’s a dose of perspective, right?” Coach Lynne Roberts said. “[Kelsey Plum]’s been amazing and there’s a lot of pressure on her, but she’s done a great job handling it.” Coach Roberts added about Hamby, “[Dearica] just been having unbelievable stat lines.”
As for the Atlanta Dream, Allisha Gray led her team with 25 points despite her team almost squandering a 17-point lead before taking down the Sparks with Gray’s four clutch free throws to end the game.
“They [Dream] play in transition and they banged really timely threes,” Plum said. “This league is extremely tough and if you take your foot off the gas for a second…people make you pay.”
The Sparks continue to move the ball better within coach Roberts “not so new anymore” structured offense. Hamby dished eight assists and four steals, refusing to let her team go down without a fight, reading the defense and hustling down loose balls.
“We talked about the versatility and the way the offense is set up,” Hamby said. “I’m usually the first person to touch the ball, so…it helps having Kelsey here and just making the right reads.”
Both Plum and Hamby sparked an early fourth quarter 12-0 run to cut down the lead to single digits, 66-63.
“I don’t think we were able to execute our game plan defensively at the level we wanted, particularly in second half,” coach Karl Smesko said. “You just have to give them credit, we had a big lead and they refused to quit.”
The Dream’s Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and starting guard Rhyne Howard hit back to back triples, keeping Atlanta ahead after the Sparks’ Plum nailed a three-pointer of her own to cut the lead, 71-70, a little passed the midway point in the final quarter.
Azura Stevens hit a triple for the Sparks to make it 81-77 with less than a minute left in the game, but Naz Hillmon’s answered with a dagger from the top of the key to put Atlanta back up by seven.
Five Dream players including two off the bench scored in double figures. Howard had 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Brionna Jones scored 13 points, Hillmon 11 and Walker-Kimbrough 10.
“We have a lot of good players and anyone can step up any day,” coach Smesko said.
Hamby had six rebounds and another game with stats full across the board. Plum finished also with five assists and tied Hamby with four steals. Stevens scrapped for a double double 10 points and 11 rebounds after experiencing her first game of the season where she struggled in the first half.
Both teams started the game scoring within a minute from tip-off. Gray drove clear pass Sarah Ashlee Barker for a left handed layup, followed by Hamby’s drive pass Nia Coffey to the basket, drawing a quick foul and nailing both free-throws.
After several lead changes and three score ties, Maya Caldwell sinked a 3-pointer for Atlanta to go up 16-15 at the end of the first quarter. Hamby and Plum would keep their team in the game, with eight points apiece to close the half, 40-31.
The Sparks came close within six, 51-45, halfway through the third quarter after a three-point play by Plum, but the Dream’s next three possessions was a sequence of a layup and short jumper by Gray then a step back 3-pointer from Howard for a 58-45 lead. Even though the Sparks shot 47 percent in the third, Hamby and Plum combined for 35 of those 53 points entering the fourth quarter.
LA Sparks played most of their roster’s active players except rookie Sania Feagan as well as still playing without Rae Burrell and Cameron Brink, whom are still rehabbing their way back onto the team’s active roster.
“My message to the group was, we’ve got to be able to put 40 minutes together, not get down and then play with urgency,” coach Roberts said. “You can’t let a missed shot, a bad shot, a turnover, affect how you play defensively and I think we could get better at that.”
While Jackson missed a couple of shot attempts on limited action, a total of 12 minutes, as expected from Coach Roberts pregame press conference comments that she would play off the bench, gradually into the fold in compliance with the concussion protocol. Yet, Jackson, a crowd favorite and rising, versatile 2-way player, coming off a remarkable first team all- rookie season, expected to carry that momentum into this season as she continues to look for her breakthrough moment with the new coach’s system and roster improvements.
When avid Sparks supporter and former Saturday Night Live (SNL) Comedian Leslie Jones saw the usually bubbly Jackson after the game on the court, a more somber Jackson fell into her arms for a nurturing embrace that Jones would later share during her arena departure, the context of their private exchange though seen in public for which even compelled Atlanta’s Howard to interject with words of encouragement.
“Rickea is like my little sister, ever since college we’ve had a close relationship,” Howard said. “I just reminded her of who she is that she is a great player, a great person and if she ever needs anything that she can reach out to me.”
Whereas Jones did not share specifically her personal message to Jackson but did offer an exclusive public service announcement of how to uplift not only Jackson but the Sparks in general.
“These are human beings, they’re not just basketball players and they have feelings, fears, insecurities like everybody else,” Jones said. “We as a crowd need to love them and support them no matter how much you think they’re doing bad or whatever because they are [expletive] humans…playing for us, giving their heart so we ought to give that [expletive] back!”
Atlanta (4-2) played without their star veteran center Brittney Griner, who sat sidelined near NBA superstar Kevin Durant rather than on her team’s bench.
The Sparks (2-4) will have a longer break in between games as they prepare to hit the road for their Friday’s game, where Plum and Hamby return together to play their former team, the Las Vegas Aces.
