Sparks fourth quarter rally falls short in loss to Dream

Despite a few comeback attempts, the Sparks came up short against the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night.

In a familiar story early in the season, the Sparks fell behind big, rallied in the fourth quarter but came up short against the Dream on Tuesday, falling 88-82.

Kelsey Plum ended with 27 points with five assists. Dearica Hamby scored 28 points and handed out eight assists with six rebounds and four steals. Emma Cannon scored five points off the bench. Azurá Stevens had a rough offensive game but grabbed 11 rebounds.

The first four points for LA came from the free throw line as they couldn’t knock down their shots from the field. Atlanta also struggled, only converting on two out of their first nine attempts. Odyssey Sims and Kelsey stopped the rough shooting for Los Angeles as they combined for six quick points.

Both teams balanced out the rough shooting with increased defensive intensity. To that point, the Sparks were up to four steals as a team.

Rickea Jackson saw her first minutes back after missing two games due to concussion protocol. Kelsey knocked down her second 3-pointer of the quarter. Despite just shooting 26% from the field, the Dream managed to jump ahead by one at the end of the first.

The second quarter began much better offensively for both teams. Emma scored a quick five points off the bench for the Sparks. Rhyne Howard started cooking for the Dream, draining two 3-pointers.

Atlanta was now shooting 33% from the field, while Los Angeles was at 30%. Dearica had a tough go at it offensively, but started to heat up as the half was nearing its finish.

She scored four much-needed points for the Sparks to make it a seven-point deficit with 2:32 left.

Azurá picked up her third foul of the game and while she wasn’t having a strong offensive game, she grabbed eight rebounds. Things took a turn for the worse as the quarter wound down and by halftime, the purple and gold were down by nine.

After missing seven shots in the first half, Azurá opened the second half with a 3-pointer. As we’ve seen this scrappy Sparks team do often, they started mounting a comeback. They picked up their intensity and defensive presence and a mini scoring 4-0 run injected life into Los Angeles.

Atlanta’s Allisha Gray drained a 3-pointer to put a momentary stop to LA’s surge. Gray was having her way with the Sparks, spinning and cutting through the defense to score on a layup as she was now at 18 points.

Los Angeles had managed to keep the deficit in single digits until Atlanta’s 10-3 scoring run, on the shoulders of Gray, made it a double-digit lead. Dearica converted on a layup to stop some of the bleeding. Atlanta maintained its double-digit lead at the end of the third, which was 13.

The final frame started in favor of the Sparks. They were on the comeback trail again, as the Dream were turning the ball over and missing shots. Dearica and Kelsey combined for seven points. It was now a seven-point game, forcing Atlanta to call a timeout.

Out of the break, the Dream missed their shot attempt. Liatu King then scored for the Sparks on a layup, and suddenly the momentum was completely in favor of LA. Dearica stole the ball and converted on a layup to make it a three-point game.

Los Angeles’ scoring run had ballooned to 18-3.

Liatu was coming up huge for the Sparks off the bench. She scored on another layup to make it a two-point game. It was turning into a back-and-forth affair as both teams were making their shots. Howard drained a clutch 3-pointer for the Dream.

Atlanta then extended their quick scoring run to 8-2, giving themselves a seven-point lead with 1:53 left in the game. Azurâ drained a 3-pointer for one last potential run at stealing the win, but Naz Hillmon knocked down a dagger 3-pointer with just under a minute left.

Key Takeaways:

If the Sparks want to have more success this season, they need to find a way to keep Odyssey and Azurá consistent with their offense. Both players had a rough game.

What a luxury LA has in its dynamic duo of Dearica and Kelsey. Both of them, igniting each time the team needed them most, kept it a fun battle in the second half, despite the loss.

The Sparks’ next game will be Friday against the Las Vegas Aces at 7:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.