The Los Angeles Sparks didn’t just beat the Indiana Fever on Wednesday. They looked like a different team entirely. And that might have started before anyone even laced up their shoes.
106-92 was the final. A three-game losing streak snapped. A Fever team that had been playing solid basketball got run off the floor in the second half. But the real action, according to players, happened the day before in a meeting room.
Kelsey Plum is out with a leg injury right now. She’s not playing. But she’s not quiet either. Plum, a two-time All-Star, addressed the team Tuesday and apparently didn’t hold back.
“KP lit a fire under our a**es,” Sparks wing Rae Burrell said after the game. “We were ready to play after that.”
Down 25-21 after the first quarter, the Sparks didn’t panic. They outscored Indiana in every quarter after that. Built a double-digit lead. Never gave it back. That kind of sustained effort hasn’t been easy for this group to find in 2024. They’ve been inconsistent, prone to bad quarters, bad halves, bad losses — like Monday’s dud against a struggling Seattle Storm team.
Nneka Ogwumike, who just got named an All-Star for the 11th time (tying Diana Taurasi for second-most all-time), said Plum’s talk hit different.
“I have to credit KP. She had a really good talk with us yesterday and I think we all individually held ourselves accountable to be able to do more, to pour more into what we got going on,” Ogwumike said. “Everyone had a little bit of feedback that she gave. Mostly encouragement, but also points of improvement for each person.”
Ogwumike said the message was about more than just winning one game. It was about changing how they approach things, period. Learning to sustain this feeling.
She let her game do the talking Wednesday. 24 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists. 9-of-19 from the floor, 2-of-4 from deep, perfect from the line. Fourteen of those points came in the second half as the Sparks took control.
A team still figuring out 40 minutes
The Sparks haven’t put together a full game all season. That’s the honest assessment from inside the locker room too. They’ll play hard for stretches, then go cold. They’ll lock in defensively for a quarter, then give up 30 the next. Consistency has been the word nobody wants to say out loud anymore.
Wednesday was closer to the blueprint. Ogwumike put it simply.
“We wanted to own each possession and to compete at every level for the full 40 minutes of play. It’s really that simple. I think when you put your heart into playing that hard, the schemes, the plays, the execution, it comes to fruition,” she said.
Whether this win actually shifts something long-term for L.A. remains to be seen. But for one night, a sideline star reminded them what they’re capable of. And that alone might be enough to carry into the next game.
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