Sparks get buried by a barrage of Vegas 3-pointers

The new-look Sparks continued to experience the now-familiar growing pains that have been hounding them so far this season, taking one directly on the chin Monday in Las Vegas, where they were pummeled 104-76 by the Aces.

In Liz Cambage’s first meeting against her former team, Las Vegas greeted her and her new team by tying a WNBA record with 18 3-pointers in 40 minutes of action. The Aces also set a franchise scoring record for a single quarter by jumping out to a 39-19 lead after the first 10 minutes.

That buffer grew to as large as 36 points as the Sparks’ fifth consecutive loss also was the Aces’ fifth consecutive victory.

Prior to tipoff at Michelob ULTRA Arena, Sparks coach Derek Fisher credited Becky Hammon, the Aces’ new head coach, for bestowing a sense of offensive freedom in Las Vegas, where her players have picked up the pace of play and their volume of 3-point attempts — philosophies aligned with the type of play currently in style in the NBA.

It seems to be working: Of the four 100-or-more point totals in the WNBA this season, Las Vegas (7-1) has three of them.

With Hammon and Natalie Nakase, a couple of veteran NBA assistant coaches for the Spurs and Clippers, respectively, calling the shots from the Aces bench in their game-day hooded jackets, the Aces opened the game Monday by hitting 11 of their first 12 3-pointers. They finished 18 of 38 from behind the arc.

Las Vegas also improved its franchise record for points in a quarter for the second consecutive game, after putting up 38 in the third quarter of their 10080 victory over Phoenix on Saturday.

Playing its sixth road game in seven games this season, L.A. (2-5) grabbed a short-lived 4-0 advantage. But then eight quick points by A’ja Wilson — including the Aces’ first two 3s, more than the 2020 WNBA MVP had all of last season — made it 8-4.

And then the Aces blew open a 16-16 game with a 23-3 run in the final 4:37 of the first quarter.

Las Vegas came into Monday’s game averaging a league-best 25 points per first quarter, when they were outscoring opponents by 5.1 points. The Sparks, meanwhile, were averaging just 17.5 points in first-quarter play, when they were getting outscored by a leagueworst 5.8 points.

That trend continued — in most exaggerated fashion — in Monday’s game.

Cambage quickly drew two fouls and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three blocks in 22 minutes in her first game against her former team.