Sparks can't catch Atlanta, suffer first loss
Whatever baggage Chennedy Carter was presumed to have brought with her to L.A. this offseason, the Sparks want her to unpack and get comfortable. It's Derek Fisher's intention that the flashy 23-year-old guard who goes by “Hollywood” stay awhile.
A couple of hours before the Sparks' 77-75 loss to Carter's former team in Atlanta on Wednesday, L.A. exercised the fourthyear rookie scale option for Carter worth $86,701 next season, per herhoopstats.com.
And although Carter struggled in her first game against her former squad, the Sparks harbor high hopes for her role in seasons to come.
“We just feel like she's been over the top with gratitude, with respect for her teammates and just a willingness to learn and get better every day,” Fisher, the Sparks' coach and general manager, said via Zoom. “She's hungry though, and she wants more, but we like that.”
After the first loss this season — despite trailing by as many as nine points in the first and fourth quarters, L.A. gave itself two cracks at tying the score in the final seconds but neither Chiney nor Nneka Ogwumike was able to convert — the Sparks all will be eager for another taste of success.
Carter, especially, after she was held scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting against the Dream, with whom she'd spent two turbulent seasons. She earned WNBA All-Rookie recognition, dealt with a season-ending injury that same year and then missed the latter half of last season after being suspended by the team.
“She wants to be better, she talks to us about it,” Nneka Ogwumike said, noting how much the Sparks value Carter's talent and potential and, certainly, her “fire.”
“Obviously tonight, if you look at the box score, that's not up to her standard, and she communicated that to us after the game. But like JC (Jordin Canada) said: It's not just one game.”
No, there will be another on Saturday, when the Sparks' fourth and final stop on their season-opening road trip will be in Connecticut, against a rested Sun team that will have played only one game.
On Wednesday, Fisher said he
DREAM 77, SPARKS 75 Up next:
Sparks' key recent acquisitions in the backcourt — led L.A. with 19 points, including draining a couple of critical free throws (she's 16 for 16 from the foul line this season) to bring her side within 77-73 with 49 seconds left.
On Atlanta's next possession, Brittney Sykes stepped in the passing lane, picked off a pass and ran it back for another two points, cutting the Dream's lead to just two with 33.5 seconds left.
Then Lexie Brown (eight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers that kept the Sparks within striking distance in the fourth quarter) drew a charge on Howard — Atlanta's third consecutive possession with a turnover — to give the ball back to L.A. with 16.3 seconds left.
But after a Sparks timeout, Chiney Ogwumike couldn't convert on a contested layup deep beneath the basket and after Nneka Ogwumike corralled the rebound, she missed her look from 14 feet at the buzzer.
Nneka finished with her first double-double (and 80th of her career) with 17 points and 15 rebounds; Liz Cambage finished with 16 points, two rebounds and five blocked shots.
For her part, Carter came in shooting 52.9% through two games as a Spark, but she struggled against her former team — although she recorded three assists, a steal and a block in 14 minutes of work.