NFL
By: Joe Cardoso
The Los Angeles Sparks are threading a needle right now. At 9-11, they’re clinging to the edge of the playoff picture, and the last two weeks have shown exactly why this team can beat anybody and exactly why it can just as easily lose three straight. It’s enough to drive Sparks fans crazy in a good or bad way.
The Skid, Then the Snap-Back
Before Wednesday night, LA had dropped three in a row: a 125-97 blowout in Toronto, a 111-87 road loss in Indiana, and an 82-64 home defeat to Seattle. Those losses came without Kelsey Plum (lower left leg) and Cameron Brink (left ankle), and it showed the offense looked out of whack, shots weren’t falling, and the margin for error with a shorthanded roster is thin in this league.
Then came Wednesday’s answer: a 106-92 win over Indiana that also happened to spoil Caitlin Clark’s return from a back injury. It wasn’t a fluke or a one-player heroics game; it was a full team operating in rhythm, and that’s the part worth digging into. Is this the start of a run?
Who’s Carrying the Load
With Plum and Brink out, the offensive burden has landed squarely on three players, and all three delivered against Indiana:
Nneka Ogwumike put up 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, shooting an efficient 9-for-19 from the floor. She’s been the steadying veteran presence LA needed, someone who can score in isolation, facilitate out of double teams, and anchor the interior defense at the same time.
Rae Burrell exploded for 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three. Burrell has quietly become the team’s most dangerous scoring threat when she’s hot, and on Wednesday, she was a matchup problem for Indiana all night. Something I thought she could do since the season started, and we finally saw it.
Dearica Hamby added 21 points and 9 rebounds, bullying her way to 16 points in the paint. Hamby’s ability to score inside and on the offensive glass has been the fallback option every time the perimeter game has gone cold.
Together, that trio combined for 67 of LA’s 106 points. The encouraging sign for LA isn’t just that they scored, it’s how they scored. The Sparks shot 50.6% from the field with 25 assists on 40 made baskets, a far cleaner, more connected offensive performance than the stagnant possessions that defined the three-game skid. When the ball moves like that, LA is a genuinely dangerous team even without two of its top scorers.
The Playoff Math
Here’s where it gets real: at 9-11, LA is fighting for a playoff position in a league that expanded to 15 teams this season, which means the margin for the final postseason spots is razor-thin. Every game from here to the WNBA All-Star break (July 24-25 in Chicago) matters.
The schedule doesn’t offer much room to breathe. After hosting Chicago tonight, the Sparks head to Atlanta on Monday, then Minnesota on Wednesday, before a rematch with Chicago and a road trip to Dallas, all before circling back home to face Phoenix on July 22. That’s a five-game stretch against a mix of playoff-caliber and rebuilding teams, and how LA handles it will likely define whether they’re playing meaningful basketball in September or watching from home.
The x-factor in all of this remains health. Plum and Brink’s return timelines will shape everything if the Ogwumike/Burrell/Hamby trio can keep producing at this level while LA gets healthier; this team has the pieces to make a real push. If injuries linger, the margin gets even thinner.
For now, the Sparks proved something important on Wednesday: even shorthanded, they have players capable of carrying a game. The next two weeks will show whether that’s enough to carry a season. Up next are the Chicago Sky, who come to Crypto Arena
