Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles Sparks came into this matchup leading the series, 3-0 against the Indiana Fever amid various roster changes from both teams, but the difference maker this last regular season faceoff between the two teams was Odyssey Sims, former Sparks player whom scored the last five points for the Fever to beat the Sparks, 76-75, Friday night at Crypto Arena, avoiding series sweep.
Sims didn’t speak much before or after the game on her feelings about returning to her previous team’s home court just that “she’s moved on” though her emotions seem to show on the court, scoring 21 points and celebrating a key three-pointer to tie the game in the last few minutes.
“Odyssey had a great game, tip your hat to her,” coach Lynne Roberts said after the game about playing against some of her former players. “Shay Peddy did a good job too.”
Los Angeles forward Azura Stevens grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on a putback attempt with 31.6 seconds left. She made 1 of 2 free throws to put Sparks up by one point, 75-74.
“They only had 13 in that [third] quarter, so it wasn’t like that was where we lost the game. But the pace was really fast in that first quarter both ways. I did think the ball got a little sticky in the second quarter…,” Coach Roberts said. “We’ve been a lot better than tonight. Indiana did a great job, and we had 56 field goal attempts, they had 81. And so for us to only lose by one, it’s actually pretty statistically amazing. We shot the ball well. We just gave them too many chances. And I think that’s what the game comes down to.”
Indiana secured an offensive rebound on its next possession and Sims made a short-range floater in the middle of the lane to retake the lead with 13.6 left.
After a timeout advance the ball for Los Angeles, Rickea Jackson initiated the critical play from a dribble hand off before the play broke down and Jackson found Kelsey Plum, who fumbled the pass and loss control of it to Aliyah Boston.
Still the Fever gave Sparks another opportunity when Kelsey Mitchell missed two crucial free throws with 0.4 seconds left but Los Angeles unable to make a play towards the basket as the buzzer sounded off signaling the end of the game.
Fever received multiple opportunities off Sparks 22 turnovers despite holding one of Fever’s top scorer Mitchell below her average 20.7 points to 12 points. Fever were without multiple players including All-Star guard Caitlin Clark (right groin). Boston led the Fever with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and a career-high six steals.
“To me, I don’t know if this answers your question, but the game just comes down, as I always say, to chances,” coach Roberts said. “They had 15 offensive rebounds, and we had 22 turnovers, and we struggled with those two things earlier in the season.”
Stevens scored 17 points, shooting 6 for 9 from the field while Plum and Rae Burrell each added 12 points. Dearica Hamby scored 11 points but had six turnovers while looking ahead on how her team can go forward after this gut-wrenching loss.
“One game at a time, we got Sunday [against] Washington, trying to split the series with them,” Hamby said “We can kind of still control our own destiny. We can go 5-2 and make a shot at this, so [the mentality is] turn the page and keep going.”
Los Angeles (17-20) plays again as mentioned against the Mystics after tonight’s loss puts them two games behind Golden State for the final spot in the playoff race. Indiana (21-18) moved ahead of Seattle (21-19) for sixth place in the league standings with five games remaining.
