WNBA: What’s wrong with the Sparks’ defense?

The Los Angeles Sparks’ 105-97 home loss to the New York Liberty was disappointing. However, how they were beaten was far more concerning.

LA couldn’t stop New York from doing anything they wanted offensively. The Liberty shot 55.9 percent from the field, 50 percent from 3-point range and had a true shooting percentage of 68.8 percent. “We’ve got to do a better job defensively,” head coach Lynne Roberts said postgame. “Our staff knows that, the players know that.”

Knowing it is one thing, executing it is another.

While LA has made a lot of progress this season, defense remains their Achilles heel. On the season, the Sparks have a defensive rating of 108.6, which is the third-worst in the WNBA.

A factor that hurt Los Angeles’ defense in Tuesday night’s loss was Cameron Brink’s absence. She hurt her ankle during the second quarter and exited the game. Brink stayed in the locker room through the start of the third quarter, and while she eventually came back to the bench, she never returned to the court. “She tweaked her ankle,” Roberts said after the game. “She’s still on a minutes restriction. So the decision was made not to bring her back in.”

Considering that Brink is still recovering from her ACL tear, an abundance of caution is wise with any injury. However, her not returning to this contest was brutal for LA. She’s averaging 1.9 blocks per game, and that kind of rim protection is impossible for any other Sparks player to replicate when she is not on the court.

This late into a season, identities are established. The Sparks are a poor defensive team, and they won’t suddenly become elite just because their fans would like them to. The goal has to be to play at an average level defensively.

When a player is being hunted, such has how Kelsey Plum was targeted by the Liberty for large portions of the night, she either has to step up to discourage that decision, or Roberts has to devise a scheme that takes that option off the table. It wasn’t just Plum that had a rough night defensively; the blame can and should be spread to everyone in the Sparks rotation that played. The Liberty consistently ran the same action against the Sparks, scoring easy buckets without any adjustments, response or evidence of frustration coming from LA.

Some of these Sparks’ defensive issues were due to the opponent. The Liberty are defending champs after all. But a lot of the issues stemmed from the Sparks being unable to respond and react to defensive challenges.

If they want to reach their goal of making the playoffs, they’ll have to tighten up their defensive effort in the season’s final 12 games. If not, then they will not play a 13th game and will miss the postseason for the fifth-consecutive year.