LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Sparks suffered a double blow on Monday when the Golden State Valkyries snapped their three-game win streak, and backup center Cameron Brink went down with an ankle injury. Immediately after the game, Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts did not have an update as far as the extent of Brink’s injury.
But following Sparks’ shootaround on Wednesday morning ahead of the team’s game against the Minnesota Lynx, Roberts acknowledged that while they didn’t have a firm update on Cameron Brink’s injury, that it was an ankle sprain and they did not anticipate her in the lineup in the short-term.
After their matchup against the Lynx, the Sparks have three days off until they host the New York Liberty on Sunday. While another update on Brink likely will come as the week progresses, the team’s instant plan is for second-year center Sania Feagin to get an opportunity.
Feagin suffered a leg injury early in the season that sidelined her for six games. But she has since returned to the lineup and has stayed ready in anticipation of when her number might be called. And as the team with the best record in the WNBA comes to town, that moment has arrived.
“It’s hard when we’re not practicing much. We’ve had a stretch where it’s just been travel-game, travel-game, travel-game. So it’s hard for any of those guys,” Roberts said following shootaround. “But she’s just been staying ready, getting extra work in and here we go … we need her to step up.”
In the absence of Brink, the Sparks’ defense is sure to take a hit. She’s the team’s best defensive player and she’s in the top-five in the league in blocked shots at 1.5 per game. But the team’s defense has been better since the start of the season when they were on pace to have one of the worst defenses in WNBA history.
Despite the blowout loss to the Valkyries on Monday, the Sparks did hold Golden State to only 78 points. Since the end of May, they have been in the top-six in the league in defensive rating. And they’ll be tested against a Lynx team that is first in points per game (92.6) and second in offensive rating (79.4).
“The narrative that we suck defensively, I’m not buying it,” Roberts said. “Are there things we need to be better at, of course. Are we gonna continue to, yes. But we’re not as bad as people are talking about.
“Minnesota is good, they’ve got a good balance of a great point guard, great shooters. Natasha Howard seems like she’s playing the best basketball of her life … they just have really good players that are fitting into a system so it’s got to be fundamental team defense. We’ve got to take away the easy ones, make them earn the hard ones. Easier said than done but that’s the goal.”
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