LAS VEGAS -- The same troubles continue with the Sparks.
The Sparks (2-5) went into Las Vegas and the Aces (3-2) jumped on them quickly. The Aces were in control for most of the way and won, 96-81.
It's more of the same for the Sparks as they got down, 23-6, in the first half. They were able to cut the deficit down to four before the Aces took the lead to double digits. A Tiffany Mitchell three at the buzzer ballooned the lead to 15 at halftime. Las Vegas led by as many as 24 before L.A. rallied back to cut the deficit to 84-76. But Jackie Young and A'ja Wilson scored seven straight late to put the game away.
"It's really hard in this profession, whether you're a player or a coach, to not be outcome-driven," Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. "And we have got to stay process-driven. We're putting in all this new stuff and we've got new players. Lot of learning and learning each other and how we play and all the things. And I'm figuring these guys out more and more every time. We just have to stick to the process and that is not me being like, 'It's okay.' I'm not okay with losing. So when is the time? The time is now."
Unfortunately, the time belonged to the Aces on Friday night. It was going so much in the Aces' favor that even A'ja Wilson's signature shoe helped out on defense.
THIS IS SO RANDOM LMFAOOAOAOAO pic.twitter.com/5MXLXbWdTO
— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) May 31, 2025
Kelsey Plum returned to her old stomping grounds for the first time since becoming a member of the Los Angeles Sparks. She finished with 17 points, though she notably only took five field goal attempts in the first half.
“I think that you gotta come out and see what the defense is doing and try to take advantage of it, and I was really proud," Plum said of her first half. "I thought Odyssey (Sims) came out, she was aggressive... I think the thing is that we continue, like Coach said, to get more cohesion and stuff. The best thing that I can do is set screens, move without the ball, get my teammates open, and the defense then has to adjust.”
Coach Roberts has preached playing 40 minutes a lot of this season. It didn't happen again on Friday night.
“That's been something that we have struggled with, and we've got to do that," Coach Roberts said. "I do think tonight we played with urgency. We just kind of made some mistakes, self-inflicted mistakes. A team like Vegas is gonna make you pay every time, and they did. Every offensive rebound they got in the first half, they converted. They had 14 second chance points, those types of things.”
Roberts went on about playing with that sense of urgency.
"The urgency part: we've got to continue to get better at playing that way for 40 minutes. We can't let mistakes affect our defense. We can't let them scoring affect our offensive execution, and as we get tougher and and work on that, that'll get better."
The Aces made threes and forced a lot of turnovers. Las Vegas had 12 threes compared to L.A.'s seven. And Sparks turned the ball over 18 times compared to 10 for the Aces. A lot more happened than that but those alone tell the story on how the Aces took care of business.
Plum, as mentioned, had 17 points. Odyssey Sims had a season-best 15 points while Dearica Hamby (14 points, 10 boards) and Azura Stevens (10 points, 10 rebounds) both had double-doubles.
It's hard to stop the Aces when the three-time MVP winner has it going. A'ja Wilson finished with a monster game of 35 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists; she also had three blocks and three steals and is the first WNBA player in history to have 30-10-5-3-3. Jackie Young put in 26 points while Chelsea Gray scored 15.
The Sparks have to make a quick turnaround and go back home as they play the Phoenix Mercury on a Sunday afternoon.