With the playoffs in sight, the sparks of welcome to the fever

With two weeks to do the WNBA regular season, the Los Angeles Sparks are 1,1/2 games behind Seattle for the last of the eight places in the playoff series.

But to use an old term hockey, Los Angeles has a major advantage: hand games.

The Sparks have eight games, three more than the storm. And the first is at home Friday evening against Indiana fever.

The Sparks (17-19) come from 92-84 Tuesday evening against Phoenix, who led up to 16 points in the fourth quarter. The three -point defense was a major problem because the Mercury reached 11 out of 25 while Los Angeles was only 7 out of 24.

“This is where the difference in the game is,” said Sparks coach Lynne Roberts. “We generally get it better. We delete our lives … We all play for something.”

To reach the playoffs, Los Angeles will have to improve defense, where it allows 88.5 points from the League per game. Their attack has countered many defensive gaps with an average of 86.3 ppg, second in the league. Kelsey Plum leads the team with 20.4 ppg.

While sparks are trying to return to the image of the playoffs, Indiana (20-18) is currently on the sixth seeded field. The fever leaves one of their best games of the year, a rout of 95-75 at home Tuesday evening against Seattle.

Aliyah Boston scored a summit of 27 points in just 27 minutes, while Odyssey Sims added 22 and Kelsey Mitchell struck for 21 years. Indiana obtained a bounce advantage of 42-21 and led by 32 points in the fourth quarter.

“I had the impression that it was as almost 40 minutes that we have gathered in a long time,” said fever coach Stephanie White.

This game begins a three -game road trip for Indiana, which also goes to Golden State and Phoenix. The fever will probably always be without Caitlin Clark, which has been released since July 16 with a groin injury during the trip.

Los Angeles won the first three teams of the teams this year, including a decision of 100-91 at home on August 5.

– Field level media