After the Los Angeles Sparks set a WNBA record for becoming the first team to score 100+ points in five out of six games, the law of averages was bound to occur. It may have come at a very inopportune time against a crucial opponent, but Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts is not going to hit the panic button following the team’s 72-59 loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Saturday.

“Bad shooting nights happen. They happen to every team that relies on paint and three. You’re going to have a night where it’s just not falling,” Roberts said following the game. “The worst thing we can do is to dwell on it and second-guess ourselves and second-guess what’s been working and second-guess the work we put in as individual players and not trust your shot.”

“It’s going to happen, and how mentally tough we are will determine what the next game looks like,” Roberts continued. “I believe in this group and I know that we lost, tip the hat to Golden State, they beat us. But there’s no panic or, ‘oh no, what’s this mean.’ It means we didn’t shoot well. Turn page and re-attack.”

Lynne Roberts’ assessment is true in that bad shooting nights happen, and the Sparks were seemingly due for one. But the situation in when it occurred was just unfortunate luck for the team. After the Sparks beat the Connecticut Sun on Thursday night, they moved into a tie record-wise with the Valkyries for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Coming into Sunday’s showdown, the Valkyries led the head-to-head season series at 2-1. The Sparks had the opportunity to essentially control their own destiny when it came to making the postseason. A win would have evened the season series at 2-2, and a potential tiebreaker would have been record against teams over .500.

Now, the Sparks can’t simply tie the Valkyries for the eighth seed, they’ll have to finish a full game ahead. But the Sparks feel like they’re up to the challenge. They just hit a compressed part of their schedule with five games in eight days including Sunday’s back-to-back against the Seattle Storm. But Roberts’ confidence in this group is unwavering, as it’s been all season.

“That’s what this league is. No one is going to feel sorry for us, including myself. That’s the beauty, and I’ve said it all season, whether you win or lose you don’t have time to either enjoy it or feel sorry for yourself,” Roberts said. “You got to get back up and fight. So looking forward to getting on that plane, get back home and hope these guys can recover as much as possible. The minutes were pretty well distributed tonight so that’s good. We can re-attack tomorrow and play a really good Storm team.”

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