TORRANCE — In their 75-plus combined years of playing/coaching organized basketball, eight-time WNBA All-Star Nneka Ogwumike, two-time WNBA champion Jordin Canada and even Sparks coach Curt Miller, who has more than 30 years of coaching experience, have never been part of something like this.
“I’m not focused on that per se as us getting better and trying to minimize some of the slippage that we have with the rotating rosters and different lineups,” Miller said with his team mired in an eight-game losing streak. “How can we keep improving our pillars? How can we keep focused on what we can control? That’s the big thing for us right now. Can we focus on what we can control and let go of some of the things out of our control?”
The Sparks (7-15) ended the longest losing streak in the franchise’s 27-year history on Tuesday night with a 79-78 win over the Indiana Fever.
Aliyah Boston (left) of St. Thomas was able to reconnected with South Carolina Women’s Basketball teammate Zia Cooke after the game last night. (Photo: Indiana Fever)
Ogwumike, Canada, and Miller all said practice went well on Monday at El Camino College. All three are energized this week by the opportunity to play against the Indiana Fever (6-16) for the first time this season, in back-to-back home games at Crypto.com Arena.
“It feels refreshing,” Ogwumike said. “That’s for sure. It reorients your senses and your focus a little. Also, it’s good to see a different type of play. We haven’t really played against a team that plays like Indy, so I’m looking forward to the new matchup.”
Ogwumike, who is averaging 19.6 points and a career-high 9.3 rebounds in her 12th season (similar numbers to her 2016 WNBA MVP season), is looking forward to her matchup against Indiana rookie and fellow All-Star starter Aliyah Boston, who was the No. 1 pick in April’s WNBA Draft. Boston is currently shooting a league-leading 60.2% from the field. The 6-foot-5 forward/center is averaging 14.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.3 block shots per game.
“She’s someone that plays hard all the time and she’s having a great rookie season,” Ogwumike said. “They depend on her at such a young age, so coming out and being efficient and productive I think is definitely something that we should expect from her.”
Practice makes perfect: Aliyah Boston of St. Thomas shot hoops after game in Los Angeles.
“(Aliyah Boston) is an elite, elite finisher around the rim and garners all sorts of double-teams, and when she’s not being double-teamed, she’s finishing at a league-high percentage,” Miller added. “You have to send a lot of attention to her, which opens the floor up for other players. The other thing that I love about her earlier in her career is she is really unselfish. She doesn’t try to do more than she’s capable of. She plays within herself. She’s unselfish through double-teams and the congestion that she sees. … She looks like a superstar that is very team-oriented.”
The Sparks and their coaches recognize several strategic parallels between the two teams.
“They talked about it in the film room that a lot of their stuff is our stuff,” said Canada, who is averaging a career-high 12.8 points and 5.8 assists in her sixth season. Canada, the team’s primary perimeter defender, is also shooting a career-high 35.2% from 3-point range, well above her 21.1% average.
“Just making sure that we’re locked in on the gameplan and what we plan on doing, but like Nneka said, I think it’s very refreshing to finally play a new team and I think it’s going to help us a lot to get back focused on what we need to do to play like ourselves and to play better basketball,” Canada said.
Canada expects to be frequently matched up defensively against Fever All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell, who is averaging 16.6 points. “The last couple of games we have been playing hard, offensively and defensively, but I think playing a new team we will be able to lock back in and get back to who we were at the beginning of the season.”
The Sparks were 7-7 overall, sitting as high as fifth in the standings on June 25 before their eight-game skid, much of which has been spent on the road.
Through the first 22 games of the season, the Sparks have played 14 different starting lineups.
Sparks forward Karlie Samuelson (knee) practiced Monday but is not 100% healthy, according to Miller. Samuelson, who is averaging 7.6 points and shooting 46.8% from 3-point range, missed Saturday’s 98-84 loss at Dallas and is listed as doubtful, which would limit the Sparks to a nine-player rotation.
“(Finding) a way to get back in the win column would be really great,” Miller said.
By JOHN DAVIS/Los Angeles Daily News