Telepeer

Chiney Ogwumike believes the Sparks are a playoff team

June 24, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Sparks forward Chiney Ogwumike understands the up and downs of the WNBA season.

However, when the 40-game regular season is all said and done, Ogwumike believes wholeheartedly that the shorthanded Sparks will be a playoff team.

“Absolutely,” Ogwumike said. “I think some people might be like, ‘What?’ But we are missing Lexie (Brown), we’re missing Layshia (Clarendon), but we’re also finding some amazing things along the way. Friday night was (Destanni Henderson’s) Henny’s night.”

Through grace and perseverance, Ogwumike, a two-time All-Star and No. 1 pick in the 2014 WNBA draft, suspects the Sparks have turned the corner after a three-game losing streak and are trending in the right direction.

“This is a long season and we know that we’re missing pieces, a lot of things are changing, but one thing that we know is that we can compete,” Ogwumike said. “We can be our best selves and we can be patient with ourselves. And as we’re patient with ourselves, we’re pursuing team basketball.”

Ogwumike, 31, averaged 12.8 points and 5.3 rebounds as a starter in her first four games this season, which was her best start to a season since being acquired by the Sparks from the Connecticut Sun in 2019.

In fact, the 6-foot-3 post player scored 15 or more points in three of those first four games. However, over a nearly two-week span, Ogwumike missed five games with a foot injury. Since returning to action, she’s averaged 5.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while coming off the bench.

“I think it’s more so, started off the season strong. When you start, you are able to feel the game in the first five minutes and then you settle in,” Ogwumike said. “When you come off the bench, it’s a little harder to figure out. You don’t have that time to feel the game, you have to get out and go, but also understanding that I missed four or five games dealing with a foot situation and it’s still not fully great, but being able to know that I’m not going to make it worse and I can heal as we go on and still be able to show up. To me, that’s my job.

“We’re down in numbers, so to be able to still be present if even I’m dealing with some things, and knowing that I’m going to get better as the season goes on, I’m cool with that.”

With Friday’s 17-point comeback win over Dallas, the Sparks (6-7) are 2-0 against the Wings (6-7) this season. They will play each other again Sunday at Crypto.com Arena for the third time in 12 days.

Despite shooting 35.1% (26 of 74) from the field and 11.1% (2 of 18) from 3-point range, the Sparks pulled off a gritty 76-74 victory at home Friday night. Sparks head coach Curt Miller would like to see his team fire with greater accuracy in the second of back-to-back games.

“Hopefully, we will shoot the ball better,” Miller said. “Defensively, they’re a challenge to keep off the glass. We’re going to again continue to talk about how important defensive rebounding is against this team. I’d like to improve that.

“I thought we made great strides after a first quarter of a lot of turnovers and ended very respectfully with only 14, but we’re going to show (our team) how their physicality at times disrupted us, even if we didn’t turn it over. So handling the physicality, handling their pressure still there’s some growth area there on Sunday.”

I’m breaking down how the LA Sparks erased a 17-point deficit and beat the Dallas Wings 76-74 Friday night. Destanni Henderson, Nneka Ogwumike & Jordin Canada combined for 56 points. However, it was Henderson’s 18 points off the bench that powered the Sparks’ comeback win. pic.twitter.com/5y1al5H0HZ

— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) June 24, 2023

The Sparks found success playing small, pairing 5-foot-6 point guard Jordin Canada, with 5-foot-7 point guard Henderson, which gave the team two dynamic ball handlers who each scored 18 points. Canada and Henderson also played stifling defense against Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale and Crystal Dangerfield.

“With Jordin expending all that energy chasing around Arike every possession, having a secondary ball handler was huge for us to be able to run the offense because Jordin was expending so much energy defensively. That really helped us,” Miller said.

Down nine points at halftime, the Sparks held Ogunbowale, who was averaging 20.4 points per game going into Friday’s game, to four points in the second half and 16 points for the game.

“As a starting point guard, it’s my job to bring that defensive spark and Henny helped me out a lot (Friday night) with that as well,” Canada said. “Just being aggressive on (Arike) and making her take tough shots in the second half. It wasn’t just me. It was everybody. Everybody was there helping making sure it wasn’t a 1-on-1 battle. My teammates had my back so that was the mentality I had in the second half.”

With a win Sunday, the Sparks would clinch the season series and a coveted tiebreaker against Dallas. The Sparks will play at Dallas again July 22.

INJURY UPDATES

Brown, who is averaging a career-high 13.3 points per game, has missed the past four games with a non-COVID illness. The Sparks are 1-3 without Brown in the starting lineup, as the 5-foot-9 sharpshooter has knocked down 42% of her three-point attempts this season.

Clarendon (foot) and Nia Clouden (knee) will remain out for the foreseeable future.