Sparks 101, Sun 86: "Well that was disappointing"

 “Well that was disappointing,” was the comment from the woman in front of me walking out of Mohegan Sun Arena Thursday night, and I must say, I concur wholeheartedly.

It was good crowd, better than I expected, honestly, and they saw a decent first quarter and then things just go off the rails again, fueled by some good shooting from Los Angeles, and also just some bizarre coaching moves and a clearly rusty and vulnerable Marina Mabrey. It all combines for a frustrating 101-86 loss, with the 101 obviously standing out, the fifth time the Sun have given up 100 or more this season.

And I keeping going back and forth between Rachid Meziane should be doing a better job and he just doesn’t have any talent. I think Thursday leaned more toward being on Meziane, with nine days to prepare after the All-Star break, the Sun were absolutely dreadful defensively, and some of his rotations were bizarre, including leaving Leila Lacan on the bench when she was the only one that stopped Kelsey Plum in the first half. Teams are going to make three-pointers on occasion, but the number of layups the Sun gave up Thursday is pretty inexcusable for a team at that level.

Then again, there were times on the other end when Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Jacy Sheldon, and Lindsay Allen just couldn’t finish in the paint, which led to the Sparks getting out in transition, and getting easy hoops at the other end. Meziane can’t make shots for his team, either.

To be fair, Los Angeles is playing better basketball than Connecticut right now and just has better players, whether it be Plum or Dearica Hamby (more on her below) or Rickea Jackson, who didn’t even have to do anything Thursday. But - as it has in many games this season - things were just too easy, which explains how Tina Charles could go for 24 points and 10 rebounds and still finish at -20 or Sheldon could post a -21 in just 22 minutes. 

Anyway, what else did we learn Thursday in a game where Bria Hartley’s needless ejection didn’t help the cause either:

 

1. Marina Mabrey changes a lot of the dynamic  - We’re not going to judge Mabrey too much on her first game back where she went 2-for-12 from the field (and one make came in the final seconds) and led the team with three turnovers. But I think it’s fair to say defense is not Mabrey’s stronger side of the ball, and when she’s in for someone like Lacan, it changes what the Sun look like. It’s something the Sun as a franchise will have to weigh long-term when this season ends, if they are staying at Mohegan Sun Arena for one more season (and it looks like they are), does Mabrey want to be part of a rebuild all the way into 2027? And if she doesn’t, what good does it do to make her the focal point of everything right now?

2. What was up with the rotations? - Last things first, perhaps most egregious was having Mabrey and Charles (who was clearly favoring her shoulder) in the closing minutes. Meziane finally got Charles out of there, but Mabrey inexplicably finished the game, going 26 minutes. Lacan got only 19 minutes, and maybe they were trying to protect her from foul trouble, but Mabrey (and then Sheldon) trying to guard Plum was almost laughable, Plum finished with 30 points on 10-for-15 shooting and also set up Hamby and others for several layups. There were no adjustments to the basic pick and roll at all, forcing the team to get more aggressive and send the Sparks to the line 36 times. Rivers was in a little foul trouble, but only got 18 minutes herself, which didn’t seem right, either. I’m not sure what the plan was, but hopefully there’s a better one Sunday.

3. Dearica Hamby is impressive in person -  This was my first time seeing the Sparks live in a long time, and I don’t think television does how strong Hamby is justice. She finished 8-for-9 from the field (and the only miss was an airball three after she practiced from outside the arc for 20 minutes in warmups). When she gets downhill, even Nelson-Ododa, who has done well against almost everyone short of maybe Jonquel Jones and A’ja Wilson, didn’t seem to have an answer for her. She could have gotten more than 20 points, but went 4-for-11 at the free throw line.

Player of the game:  Tina Charles - I guess we’ll somewhat go reluctantly with Charles, who hit some big shots in the first half and finished with another double-double. She did slow down in the second half and had some issues with Hamby and Azura Stevens defensively.

Inside the numbers : 6 -  Number of assists from Lacan, a career high, even though she only played 19 minutes. Her and Migna Toure were the only Sun players to be on the + side of the +/- totals Thursday. The game also had 90 possessions, the most this season in any Sun contest.

Under the radar: I guess an ejection isn’t under the radar, but it was just silly for Hartley to argue with the officials after already being on a technical foul. I have no idea what the first one was for in the first quarter if anyone could help elaborate.

As I wrote in the preview, a lot of Los Angeles’ offense is Plum coming to get the ball and attacking off a zoom or flare screen, and if I could see it in my limited scouting, I’m not sure how things like that caught the Sun so much by surprise, hence my frustration with the defensive effort.

Quotable:  “It's not about respect, we respected them, but we just didn't defend with determination and conviction in the second half. Without doing everything 100%, it won't work. Defensively today we weren't disciplined enough, just playing hard isn't always enough.” - Rachid Meziane

Next up: Sunday vs. Golden State, 1 p.m. EDT