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Sparks rally to DEFEAT the Liberty at Home
36 Plays3 months ago
Sparks end 7-game losing streak with a win over #1 seeded New York Liberty, thanks to 5 players scoring in double digits.
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Transcript
Game Plan Assessment: New York's Three-Point Shooting
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey Coach, DJ from Infinity TV. Quickly want to ask you about your assessment of three-point shooting from New York to tonight. Going into the game and your game plan, how did we fare in comparison to what you expected? Yeah, they're a team that averages 33. We went to halftime, they only had 12. So we felt really good about where we were at halftime. and Not only their percentage of makes obviously, but They're at volume and that was one of the keys going in. They've averaged 15 made threes in those first three games against us this year. you know So again, they crept towards their average right to 30 and got some late. But I thought we did a really good job for the most part with our schemes to try to stay in place.
Strategic Adjustments and Key Player Roles
00:00:46
Speaker
Just again, they are so talented even without JJ.
00:00:50
Speaker
And for us to turn them over into 29 points is one of our our best defensive performances. And you know again, that fourth quarter was kind of a chess match because of No JJ. They were playing smaller, so we played smaller. Very underrated you know in that fourth quarter was the ability for Steph Talbot to be able to play the four and chase around Stewie and allowed us to have a ray on the floor.
00:01:18
Speaker
You know, if we were traditionally too big with either Azaré or Lee, um you know we We may not get to see Ray the amount of minutes in that fourth quarter. So we we we went small also. I thought it was a good switching team and it paid off and and Ray really stepped up for us in that moment playing small. But that doesn't happen without the versatility as we talked with some of you guys pre-game on the strength that Steph Talbot allows us to do with all her versatility.
00:01:50
Speaker
What's going on Sparks fans.
Victory Celebration and Defensive Strategies
00:01:52
Speaker
It's the one and only DJ Tracy trees. And welcome back to a brand new episode of the spark. Y'all we have finally breaking this dry spell after seven grueling losses, the sparks finally get a win.
00:02:07
Speaker
At home, nonetheless, against the New York Liberty, 94 to 88. It was just a great game, y'all. I was actually there. You already know I was. um If you listened to the opening clip, you heard the question that I asked Coach in the press conference before. I got a chance to talk to DeErika Hamby pregame, check my Instagram for that interview. And it was just good vibes all around. You could tell that the Sparks are really trying to turn a new leaf We are truly trying to build upon ah what we got going on, no matter what the wins and losses look like. And that is one of the things that Coach Miller had talked about, taking responsibility for some of the the losses with this young team and actually taking the time to build.
00:02:52
Speaker
So what he shared with us was actually that in the practice that they had before this New York game, they didn't really try to prep a whole lot for New York specifically. What they did was they just went back to some of those defensive and offensive basics. Just had a good long practice about the the basics. And in fact, he said that if they played sluggish, it was on him because he practiced them longer than he normally did. And boy, did it pay off the sparks.
00:03:19
Speaker
actually only had 10 turnovers this game against a offensively forward New York Liberty team. Y'all already know the kind of the star power that they're working with. We actually forced 19 turnovers from New York, which is insane. Our bench showed up with 25 points. Odyssey Sims, a big point player in that. Quarter one, we won them over first quarter, 26 to 14. Rakia Jackson is on fire, y'all.
00:03:49
Speaker
Big Kia, she's out here doing her thing, always getting off to that hot start. So we ended up starting 26-14. First quarter, second quarter, New York got five more points than us, 25-20, we were still competitive. Third quarter, we had a ah really great defensive stand, only letting them score 24 points. We scored 21 points, but again, we're a little bit ahead of the ball there.
00:04:15
Speaker
Final fourth quarter is where we really stepped up 27 to 25. Even though Stewie hit some last minute three pointers that were like having my heart palpitating because it was like two or three minutes left in the fourth quarter and we were up by 10 y'all. I'm like we coasting into this. Every time Stewie gets the ball she making it. It's insane every time it happens. Stewie is a great player you can't ever you know, think you're going to catch her s slipping. Rakia Jackson played 35 minutes. The Erika Hamby played 35 minutes. Those two pretty much stayed in the whole game, y'all. It was a vibe just watching them learn and adapt. Of course, we're missing Cam. We're missing Lexi. We're missing Lay. you We're missing Aerie McDonald, who were big players in the beginning part of the season.
Player Highlights: Odyssey Sims and Ray Burrell
00:05:01
Speaker
So we got Odyssey Sims and Crystal Dangerfield on hardship contracts Odyssey Sims. Oh, I just seen her um after the game. Let her know I was a big fan because I am any player that can come into any team and not know their system not be a part of it and make as much of an offensive push.
00:05:18
Speaker
um as Odyssey Sams is great by me. You watch l LA Sparks Weekly, the show I got with Mike L. Matthew on Infanity TV, you know that I have said multiple times that Odyssey Sams is the best 1v1 WNBA player in the league. And I mean that because you're not getting past the really on the defense. She gonna lock you up, but then she gonna throw up a shot. She's gonna get into the paint. I just think she plays exceptionally well in 1v1.
00:05:46
Speaker
Ray Burrell, y'all. Sorry, I had to literally clear my, I'm talking so fast because I'm so excited about all the things that have happened here with Sparks. Ray Burrell, 22 minutes, getting more minutes than she's got in the past. And we talked to her about that. She talked about all the extra time and effort she's been putting in and practices and getting in those extra runs and it's paying off because she waited for her number to be called. And um she has really done her thing, y'all. 22 minutes. How many points did Ray have?
00:06:15
Speaker
Let me scoot this over here. I hate how this website, this WNBA website, you got to expand your browser all the way out. But anyway, 22 minutes from River Rail, 18 points. Rakia Jackson played 35 minutes with 19 points. Mama Dee, D'Erica Hamby, always coming through and in the clutch. 35 minutes, 21 points. Azaré Stevens doing all the defensive things we need, also contributing offensively with 10 points.
00:06:40
Speaker
Steph Talbot got a lot of lot of good defensive plays, y'all. She had a good block in this game. Only five points, but that's all good. Liyuru played 10-minute score of four points. But really, it was Ray. It was Azaray. It was Odyssey. It was Dierica. And it was Rakia. You got five players. And it was that five players? One, two, three, four. Yep. That's five players in double digits, which usually translates to a win. So we clapping it up for our Sparks. Today is Saturday when I'm recording this. I will be at the game tomorrow with the guest host for the Sparks versus the Atlanta Dream. We are back
Upcoming Game Preview: Sparks vs Atlanta Dream
00:07:17
Speaker
at crypto. We have got two teams that are desperate to win. The Sparks want to extend their win and the Atlanta Dream have slid so far. Let me see how where where they at y'all.
00:07:30
Speaker
And let me actually look on my phone to see how many cuz uh, so also we had a nice little coaching battle because coach Tanisha right from the Atlanta dream Also was scouting in the Olympics with coach Miller So the Atlanta dream is currently sitting at 10 and 21 the sparks of 7 and 24 So we're number 12. They are number 9, but that is all good. Let me see How many games they've dropped in a row because they slid a bunch Let me go to they conference play I'm in a WNBA after any of y'all that's wondering what's going on here The last ten games they are three and seven
00:08:17
Speaker
And we are two and eight. So we're right at the same level of frustration of just dropping games. We're going to need to look out for Alicia Gray. We're going to need to Cheyenne. We're going to have to look out for her. There's just, this is a dynamic three point shooting team.
00:08:34
Speaker
Hailey's on this team. There's, I could just count. We got to do all the same great things that we did against the New York Liberty, who's currently the number one seed in the WNBA. The Sparks play better against better teams. Y'all. I am just so on fire about where we're going, how we're playing, even though we're short-handed and how we could end the season. We know it's not going to end in playoffs, but it's going to end in us getting a better draft pick. Think about it. The Indiana fever are finally playing better.
00:09:00
Speaker
They had four terrible seasons in order to to build this better team. you know So we in a good position. Chill, as curt Coach Kurt Miller let us know. We in a build. You got to chill. We'll take responsibility where it needs to be. But the Sparks are on top right now.
00:09:16
Speaker
Tomorrow we're playing the Atlanta dream at 4 PM PST. Make sure y'all tap in. I will be at the crypto dot.com arena. Make sure you follow me on Instagram so you can see all the behind the scenes. That's at DJ Tracy trees. That's DJ T R I C E Y T R I C E y'all. Thank y'all so much for all the YouTube views. Make sure you share this show with a friend. If you listening to audio, come on over to my YouTube channel and see it in video. And, uh, the link will be in the description.
00:09:43
Speaker
As always, go Sparks and I know we can get this win against the Atlanta dream. I'll talk to y'all next.