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Nneka Ogwumike's Injury Can't Stop the Los Angeles Sparks' Playoff Mission
36 Plays1 year ago
When most teams lose their star player hours before a must-win game to clutch a playoff spot, there might be a sense of defeat. The Los Angeles Sparks have shown us time and time again that they are a team that will compete no matter the circumstance. There are 3 spots left in the WNBA playoffs, and the Sparks are still in an excellent position to secure their playoff ticket.
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Transcript
Sparks' Recent Performance and Comeback
00:00:00
Speaker
What's going on y'all? It's DJ tree see trees and welcome back to the spark your fan commentary podcast for the Los Angeles sparks The season is just dwindling away y'all but we still have hope the sparks had dropped a couple of games But now we back on top. I'm telling you y'all this last game that just happened at the Galen Center against the Washington Mystics
00:00:23
Speaker
I got to the game and I didn't even know NECA wasn't gonna be playing until I saw them like warming up and I'm like, why NECA don't have it? She had on the same outfit that I had basically, which was the, they got some L.A. Spark shorts and a hoodie that just came out recently with Player Society. So she had on the Player Society collab, I'm like, what NECA know?
00:00:45
Speaker
I'm playing. So completely shocked me and usually when a team who's already down has just been told that they star player is not going to be playing.
00:00:54
Speaker
It's like, OK, the kiss
Impact of Nneka's Absence
00:00:56
Speaker
of death. But the Sparks, of course, got that fight in them. There was no chance they was giving up any losses, especially after that last game against Seattle, where they just kind of, as DeErika said, in the press conference, they kind of tricked one off. You know, it was the easy one that they should have won. They didn't get the job done. So now they got to fight extra harder.
00:01:15
Speaker
Speaking of De'Erika Hamby, y'all, my goodness, this last game against the Washington Mystics, she really showed up and I asked her in the press conference what activated her
De'Erica Hamby's Confidence and Team Support
00:01:25
Speaker
beast mode. Here's what she had to say. Hey De'Erika, you had a great game today. What activated your beast mode today?
00:01:31
Speaker
I'm still a beast. I was still an all-star in the last two years. I think we lose sight of that sometimes. I lose sight of that sometimes. Just trying to get my confidence back, get my flow offensively, and just the amount of patience and support that this team has had
DJ Tree's Excitement for Sparks Coverage
00:01:49
Speaker
towards me. It's so encouraging and it's kind of kept me going all season.
00:01:52
Speaker
And they actually use that clip on the LA Sparks page. I'm excited about that because it's been so fun covering the Sparks. It's my first year doing it. And I didn't get to do the full season, but I'm looking forward to next season because the players have been super cool. The staff has been super cool. I've been having a great time talking about basketball. And of course, I won't stop once this season in.
00:02:13
Speaker
The playoffs are still in front of us, but even after the playoffs and offseason, I will continue to provide some coverage for y'all right here on my YouTube channel. So thank y'all so much for keeping it locked. I mean, if the players are playing overseas, I'm gonna tell you what they're doing overseas. Hopefully I can get a couple of them here on the show, but I will continue being here as well as the L.A. Sparks weekly show on Infinity TV. Boom.
00:02:35
Speaker
All right, so how did the Sparks play without Nneka Ogumike? Now, we did talk to Coach Kirk Miller after the game, and he said that Nneka is not hurt. It was just extreme fatigue.
Team Effort Amidst Fatigue and Injuries
00:02:45
Speaker
It was one of those coaches' calls where it's like, hey, she's been playing through discomfort. How far do we take our star player on this game against the Washington Mystics that we could lose and maybe have to battle it out in a time breaker? But Chicago had already dropped the game. So this was technically a rest day, again, for Nneka.
00:03:03
Speaker
But the WNBA is having a hard time with travels, which the players have been saying in the press conferences as well, because if you play a game and then you got a red eye flight, you got to fly all the way across the country, you don't get to sleep in a bed, you practice the next day and then you got to play. So it's like, oh my goodness, they're on this nonstop just conveyor belt of playing basketball, practicing and traveling. So everybody's pretty banged up right now, but I'm glad that coach Kurt Miller decided
00:03:30
Speaker
to sit Neko Ogumike so that we can continue to have her later on in the playoffs. We're going to need our all-star to make it. But there were a hell of people who stepped up. De'Erica Hanby, Jordan Canada, of course, Leisha Clarity, all players that stepped up and played really well. Jasmine Thomas is another player that we haven't been talking about. She's been recovering from that knee injury. Jas stepped up and hit two clutch threes.
00:03:53
Speaker
that really changed the tide of the game. I mean, there were some things that we did offensively that we could have worked on, like giving up some of the balls, some points on turnover balls. Coach Kurt Miller said that as well, but we were just a little bit over the league average in turnovers and giving up points. So.
00:04:11
Speaker
While you want to be harder on these players, we have to give them a clap and give them a bravo for holding on and continuing to
Playoff Push and 'Next Man Up' Mentality
00:04:19
Speaker
fight. It seems like this is the common theme for LA sports, y'all. Is this really what it is? Because this is reminding me of the Lakers season last year, where it was like, yo, we just going to throw it in the toilet. Everybody injured. Everybody's this. Everybody that the trade day line came. We had a new squad. Everybody got healthy. And all of a sudden, we had this playoff push. The same thing is happening here with the LA Sparks.
00:04:41
Speaker
There are only a couple playoff spots left, y'all. Las Vegas Aces have secured their ticket to the playoffs. The New York Liberty, the Connecticut Sun, the Dallas Wings, the Minnesota Lynx just secured their spot. So there are only three playoff spots left. 6C, 7C, 8C. We are currently sitting in the 8C because Chicago dropped the game, but we play the Connecticut Sun tonight. If we don't win tonight, we are going to be in another position where we're gonna, it's a battle of who lost the most.
00:05:10
Speaker
Also too, I'd like to say the Washington Mystics dropped the game against us. They're dropping, they're only one win ahead of us right now, as well as the Atlanta Dream. So the four teams that are battling for the last three spots are the Atlanta Dream, the Washington Mystics, the LA Sparks and the Chicago Sky. We can get, only one team is gonna be left out of that, y'all.
00:05:30
Speaker
Only one team. So if we keep up with that next man up mentality, we can for sure make the playoffs.
Leisha's Return and Contribution Post-COVID
00:05:37
Speaker
And I will have to dye my hair. I saw Leisha at the game. Leisha was back. They let us know that they had COVID. Of course, they didn't tell us that in the press conference or anything. But we kind of figured it was COVID because they were talking about isolation and all those kinds of things. So we hate to see it. But Leisha was out there playing like they ain't even have COVID. I'm like, how are you with your lungs?
00:05:58
Speaker
Keep going, keep going. Everybody on the LA Sparks has shown up and show out this season. So I'm excited to see how we play again tonight. The goal is just secure the playoff spot.
Anticipation for Connecticut Suns Game
00:06:11
Speaker
Secure as many wins as we can, better defense, transitional defense, better offense, taking care of the ball, less turnovers. We're playing the Connecticut Suns tonight, y'all.
00:06:23
Speaker
We're playing Dewana Bonner, a listen to all these people who have been having career high seasons. So I'm hoping that the Sparks can come and stun them and take that storm to the East Coast and that we can secure the wind. Let me know what y'all think in the comments, but I'll definitely jump on here after the game and let you know what's happening. Check me post game in the press conference and on the L.A. Sparks weekly show on Infinity TV. The link is going to be down in the description. I'll talk to you all soon and go Sparks.