LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Sparks were dealt a double whammy ahead of their game against the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday as both Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink were ruled out on the injury report. Plum is dealing with a lower leg injury while Brink suffered an ankle injury during the team’s loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Monday.
In the case of Kelsey Plum, she’s been the engine that’s made the Sparks go this season, and she dealt with an ankle injury earlier this year. The team went 1-2 in the games that she missed, but Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts is confident her group can withstand this absence.
“The sum of the parts is greater than the whole. It’s got to be a collective effort. We’ve played a couple games without her and we know we can do it. So it’s just everybody’s got to step up,” Roberts said during her pregame press conference ahead of the Sparks’ game against the Minnesota Lynx. “You don’t replace 25 points a game with one person, you’ve got to spread it out. And it’s not just the points, it’s what else she does. So we’re prepared and everybody’s just got to do their part.”
As Lynne Roberts acknowledged, it’s not going to be easy generating offense without the four-time All-Star. She is second in the league in scoring at 25.0 points. She recently dropped a career-high 43 in an overtime win against the Phoenix Suns on the road.
And it isn’t just scoring that Plum brings to the team. It’s a steady hand, a veteran leader. It’s her ball-handling and playmaking; she’s top-six in the WNBA in assists per game with a career-high 6.4. Even if she isn’t scoring the ball, her mere presence affects what opposing teams do defensively.
Roberts has called Plum the best one-on-one player in the league quite often this season, but prior to the Sparks’ game against the Lynx, she went one step further.
“I think she’s the best player in the league. She can kind of let you get away with things as a team because she can just create and score baskets. So without her, it forces you to really be intentional with your offense,” Roberts continued. “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise for us, but we’ve got to shoot the ball better so that we can stretch and open up the space so that we can get in the paint.”
Without Plum, and Brink, the Sparks are hoping to lean more into their bench. That includes rookie guards Chance Gray and Ta’Niya Latson. Gray has seen more playing time than Latson this season, but Latson received an opportunity the last time Plum was out.
And in place of Brink, second-year center Sania Feagin is going to get an opportunity to play. Feagin dealt with a leg injury of her own at the beginning of the season, but she has since returned to the lineup.
“We’re going to get to see these guys,” Roberts said. “It’s one thing to get put in, it’s another thing to be needed and that’s a different level of being ready.”
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