With 7.3 seconds left at Target Center on Sunday night, Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike did what Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve had feared. She got the offensive rebound of her own miss and scored, breaking only the third tie in a game the Lynx never led and leading Los Angeles to an 85-83 victory.
Minutes later, an uncharacteristically subdued Reeve repeated a mantra that has become familiar during her team's 2-7 start:
It's the little things.
"Attention to detail, as I just shared with them," Reeve said. "We can draw a play at a timeout and have veteran players in the wrong spot. That doesn't take talent. That's the attention to detail, multiply that and it's our problem. Pretty simple."
Sunday's game began with the Lynx looking back at a part of their championship past. It ended with another reminder of a difficult present.
Former Lynx star Seimone Augustus — now a Sparks assistant coach — had her No. 33 jersey retired in an emotional ceremony attended by several former teammates. Augustus was surprisingly vocal about the honor; at one point the PA announcer actually tried to talk her off center court. Augustus appeared to wipe away tears, but claimed she wasn't crying. She thanked Reeve for laying the foundation for four titles' worth of success, starting with the simple question: "What do you want your legacy to be?" An only child, she called her former teammates sisters. She watched as her No. 33 jersey was revealed, next to Whalen's No. 13.
But the Lynx couldn't keep the good feelings going.
Another slow start, another frenzied finish that came up short. It was a strange game in which the Lynx set a season high in free throws attempted (43) and made (35) but set a season low in field goals made (22). The Lynx allowed the Sparks (4-6) to shoot 51.8%.
"We'll do, like, three things right, and then the next few plays it's like we're shooting ourselves in the foot," said Kayla McBride, who led the Lynx with 19 points, seven in the fourth quarter. "We've talked about it so much. We watched the film. We understand. But when it comes to the game we have a hard time putting a full 40 minutes together. Our fans deserve better."
The Lynx fell behind the Sparks by 17 in the first half but roared back to tie the score on Moriah Jefferson's three-pointer with 8:20 left in the fourth. After a flagrant foul on Sylvia Fowles — one that fouled her out of the game — the Sparks scored the next nine points and went up 74-65 on Chennedy Carter's three-point play with just under 6 minutes left.
And then the Lynx came back, again, despite three key players sitting on the bench. Fowles (15 points) had fouled out. Aerial Powers (15) came off the bench with Reeve looking at different combinations. But Powers had to leave the game for good with 6:31 left after taking an elbow from Ogwumike, a flagrant foul. She required treatment and couldn't take her free throws, ending her night. Jefferson tweaked a quad muscle in the second quarter and was out down the stretch.
But McBride had seven points and Jessica Shepard had five in an 18-9 run that ended with Rachel Banham's 17-foot, tying jumper with 26.6 seconds left.
"We talked about we didn't want Nneka to be the one who got the second chance," Reeve said. "And she did."
The Sparks (4-6) got 20 points from Carter, 16 from Ogwumike and 15 from Liz Cambage.
"None of us wants to be 2-7," McBride said. "We have to come together and pick this up. Forty minutes, not 28, 37, 40 minutes of all-out effort. That's what it takes to win in this league. We haven't figured it out yet."
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Huge rally on special night falls short as Lynx are defeated by Sparks - Star Tribune
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