The Sparks kept their season alive with a vital win against Seattle on Monday, but their task won’t get any easier the rest of this week. LA kicks off a two-game mini-series in Atlanta on Wednesday against a Dream team that is among the best in the league.
The Dream are also in their own playoff battle as they’re vying for the No. 2 seed.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Sparks vs. Atlanta Dream
Watch: Spectrum Sportsnet
The Sparks are still alive in the playoff race after back-to-back wins over the Storm and Mystics to start the week. If they’re going to continue their win streak, though, they’ll have to pick up even more impressive wins.
Atlanta has been one of the biggest surprises of the year as they’ve spent the whole season near the top of the standings. Their only other meeting against Los Angeles came at the end of May and the Sparks have gone through quite the change since then.
LA started Odyssey Sims, who is now on the Fever, and Sarah Ashlee Barker, who is now sporadically in the rotation, in that contest. Emma Cannon, Liatu King and Mercedes Russell all saw minutes in that game while Rickea Jackson was still coming off the bench. Basically, it’s hard to take hardly anything from that game.
What has been established from this Atlanta team is that they are going to get up 3-pointers. They rank second in the league in 3-pointers attempted per game and will get up shots at a high rate. They are also second in the league in defensive rating, offensive rating and net rating.
And they do all that without forcing turnovers. Their opponents have the second-fewest turnovers per game, which means if the Sparks also start handing the ball over to them, a problem that has plagued them all season, then it could be a long game.
A loss at any point the rest of this season is going to feel crushing, which means there will be a good amount of pressure on the Sparks in every game. They’ve been competing in playoff-like games for weeks now, though, so it shouldn’t be a new feeling on Wednesday.