Turnovers Cost Sparks a Win and Nneka Ogwumike Didn’t Sugarcoat It

The Los Angeles Sparks had a chance. They were down big at halftime, fought all the way back, took the lead in the fourth quarter, and then it all fell apart. The usual suspect showed up again: turnovers.

Monday night’s 101-92 loss to the Atlanta Dream snapped a two-game win streak for the Sparks, and the frustration was clear in Nneka Ogwumike’s voice after the game. The Sparks committed 18 turnovers total, and Atlanta turned those into 21 points. That’s the kind of stat that kills you in a game that was tied with four minutes left.

“I think that we were trying to make something happen, but we had key turnovers, including myself,” Ogwumike said. “We were playing hard, but I think we could have dialed up a little bit on the execution of it all. That’s something that has been a point of emphasis for us.”

The fourth quarter collapse, play by play

The game was knotted at 87 with 4:08 on the clock. From there until the two-minute mark, the Sparks turned it over four times. The Dream went on a 7-0 run during that stretch. Game over, basically. The Sparks had just roared back from a 12-point deficit at the end of the third quarter with a 14-2 run, then extended it to 18-4 to go up 87-85. But basketball is a game of runs, and Atlanta had the last one.

Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts put it simply: “It was a game of runs, especially in that second half. We came out of halftime down 11, we won the second half, but it was a game of runs and Atlanta made the last run. We had a couple really key turnovers that just kind of sunk us. That’s what happened.”

Short memory required for next game

The good news? The Sparks don’t have to sit on this one long. They’re on the road and head to Minnesota to face the Lynx on Wednesday. Ogwumike knows the deal in the WNBA: forget it fast or let it pile up. “The beauty of this league is that on Wednesday we can try and get that back,” she said. “But all credit to Atlanta. They really tapped in those last two minutes.”

With the loss, the Sparks dropped to 10-12, sitting one and a half games behind the Washington Mystics for the final playoff spot in the eighth seed. They’ve been inconsistent all year, but there’s still a belief inside the locker room that they can turn it around. Whether they do or not probably comes down to whether they can stop beating themselves first.