About the teams

About the Aces (6-4): They lead the Western Conference despite their inconsistencies. A’ja Wilson leads the team in scoring (15.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg), and Kayla Mcbride averages 15.2 points.

About the Sparks (4-6): They’ve lost four straight and are struggling without second-year forward Maria Vadeeva, who is playing for her native Russia at Eurobasket. Nneka Ogwumike is averaging 14 points and 9.0 rebounds, and her sister, Chiney, averages 12.6 points and 6.9 rebounds. Candace Parker is back after missing seven games with a hamstring injury and is averaging 5.7 points.

2. 3-point shooting

The Aces are last in 3-point shots attempted per game (15.3) and secondto-last in makes (5.5). They ranked last in both statistics last year, too.

They shot 3-for-17 from 3-point

range against the Storm. The Sparks (4-6) are fifth in the WNBA in makes per game (7.0) and fourth in attempts (20.9).

3. Team defense

Save for one bad outing last week against the Washington Mystics, Las Vegas has relied on its top-ranked defense to compete in every game. The Aces held the Storm to 30.4 percent shooting and rebounded 82 percent of their misses.

They still lead the league in defensive rating, allowing 88.8 points per 100 possessions, and are holding opponents to a league-low 37.7 percent shooting, including 28.5 percent on 3-pointers.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Bysamgordon on Twitter.