Lisa Leslie Watches Sparks Fall 105-78 to Aces
Lisa Leslie was on the scoreboard in the wrong way for the Sparks on Sunday: Los Angeles fell 105-78 to the Las Vegas Aces in its home opener, and the defensive issues that haunted last season showed up again. The loss left Lynne Roberts still searching for a version of this team that can hold up on that end.
Atkins Opens, Aces Answer
Ariel Atkins gave Los Angeles the first points with a layup, but Las Vegas quickly took control and never gave it back. The Aces shot 62% from the field, their best field-goal percentage in franchise history, and Kelsey Plum summed up the night afterward: “They just punched us in the face.”
“We didn’t respond,” Plum said. That line fit the scoreboard as much as the tone. Los Angeles could not string together enough stops to slow a game that turned into a long chase.
Roberts Sees The Same Problem
Roberts said after the game that the Sparks “did not have the fight defensively to scrap back in.” That was the same area she had targeted before the season, when she pointed to a roster built around more defensive veterans and named Atkins, Nneka Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler as part of that group.
The numbers from last season explain why the opener looked so familiar. Sparks opponents scored a league-worst 88.2 points per game, and Sunday’s 105 points allowed put that concern right back at the center of the discussion. This time, the home crowd saw the same issue before the game had settled.
Six-Minute Run, Then Regression
There was a stretch when Los Angeles did show the disruption Roberts wanted. With one minute left in the first half, Atkins got a hand on a Las Vegas pass and the scramble ended with a three by Ogwumike. For about six minutes in the second quarter, the Sparks forced the kind of uncomfortable possessions they were after.
Ogwumike said Atkins “gave us some extra possessions, she’s really leading us in our efforts on defense.” She added, “She does an amazing job of making our mistakes look like they didn’t happen.” Atkins also shot 0-6 from beyond the arc, but her early defensive work and charge-taking were part of the small window when the Sparks looked connected.
That window did not last, and that is the issue. Roberts had called Atkins “defensively what we didn’t have last year,” and she described Wheeler as “an absolute bulldog defensively.” Sunday showed why those additions matter: Los Angeles still needs them to turn short bursts into something that can survive a full game.
The result leaves the Sparks with a simple assignment after the home opener. If they are going to move past last season’s defensive line and turn this roster into a contender, the stops have to hold when the Aces or anyone else pushes back.
