The Los Angeles Sparks began a four-game road trip on Sunday with an 87-71 loss against the Las Vegas Aces. It's the Sparks third consecutive loss and they are winless since the Olympic break ended. But the Sparks competed throughout most of the game against the Aces and following the game, veteran guard Kia Nurse spoke about when went right for the Sparks despite the loss.
“One of the big pieces of it was having a good game. We executed offensively into really open shots. I think people took shots confidently when they were open and that's a big piece of it as well,” Kia Nurse said. “But our compete level and our effort today was the biggest thing for us. They threw a couple punches and a couple runs at us and we responded when we needed to, we just didn't end up with the result we wanted.”
Kia Nurse is in her first season with the Sparks after an offseason trade with the Seattle Storm, and she's seen a recent uptick in her play. After a bit of a shooting slump going into the Olympic break, Nurse has found her shot fresh off an Olympic run with Canada. Over the past three games, Nurse has averaged 12.7 points while shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from the three-point line.
Sparks head coach Curt Miller echoed Nurse's words in that he was overall pleased with the team's effort despite the loss, a contrast to a few days ago when the Sparks were humiliated on their home floor against the New York Liberty. Miller spoken at length this season about how he's less concerned with wins and losses than he is with the overall process.
“I thought we played really, really well in stretches tonight, really competed with them at both ends of the floor. . .it's a make or miss league and we struggled at times to make some threes, but I felt really good about our compete level,” Miller said. “Just really proud of our team and the environment, that we were enduring our third game in four days and obviously what we knew we were walking into. No moral victories, but proud of our team.”
Dearica Hamby continues hot streak for Sparks despite loss
One of the major storylines for the Sparks this season is the All-WNBA level of play from Dearica Hamby. Hamby was selected to her third All-Star appearance amid a career year. Against the Aces, Hamby finished with yet another double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
It was Hamby's 15th double-double of the season and left her one double-double away from tying future Hall of Famer Elena Delle Donne for 31st all-time in WNBA history as per Sparks PR.
It's been a tough couple of seasons off the court for Hamby following the trade to the Sparks. This past week, she filed a lawsuit against the Aces and the WNBA alleging workplace discrimination following her pregnancy. Prior to Sparks game against the Chicago Sky on Saturday, Miller reaffirmed the organization's unwavering support for Hamby amid the lawsuit.
“Dearica is one of the greatest humans I've been around, an incredible mother, has been nothing but tremendous since she arrived,” Miller said. “She spoke it into existence that she wanted to be an All-Star, wanted to have a career year. . .I've thoroughly enjoyed coaching Dearica, but more than anything I've thoroughly enjoyed her. There is a tremendous support from the top down and she knows that she has the support from me.”
This season, Hamby has played in all 26 games up to Saturday for the Sparks at just about 35 minutes per game. She's been averaging a career-high 18.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 51.4 percent shooting from the field, 39.3 percent shooting from the three-point line and 61.4 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
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