The Los Angeles Sparks and Golden State Valkyries look to keep their slim Commissioner’s Cup hopes alive when they go head-to-head in what amounts basically to an elimination game Monday night in San Francisco.
Both the Sparks (7-6, 3-2) and Valkyries (8-5, 3-2) begin the week chasing the Las Vegas Aces (5-0) and Minnesota Lynx (4-1) in their bids to represent the Western Conference in the in-season tournament finals. Each Western Conference team plays seven preliminary games in the event.
The Sparks stayed alive with a third straight win, a 111-102 overtime triumph on the road over the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday, a game in which Kelsey Plum exploded for 43 points.
“She just has a way,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said in a postgame interview. “She doesn’t get talked about enough in terms of what she’s doing this season and also the efficiency. But seven assists … I think that’s what separates her. It’s an unselfish 43.”
The Valkyries know all about Plum. She spoiled their curtain-raiser as an expansion franchise last May with 37 points in an 84-67 Sparks win in San Francisco.
Golden State got more than even by season’s end, however, beating the Sparks three consecutive times en route to a playoff spot Los Angeles failed to achieve. The California rivals have yet to meet this season.
Both teams feature a different look in the middle this year, with the Sparks having signed former Stanford star Nneka Ogwumike as a free agent, leaving the Valkyries to grab Kiah Stokes the next day in free agency.
Ogwumike is in her second tour of duty with the Sparks. She played 12 seasons in her first stint and won WNBA MVP honors in 2016.
The defensive-minded Stokes has helped the Valkyries lead the WNBA in opponents’ field goal percentage while also ranking near the top in points allowed and blocks. Stokes is tied for third in the league in blocks per game at 1.8.
She saved Golden State’s 76-72 win at Seattle on Friday night when, with the Valkyries up three, she blocked a Natisha Hiedeman 3-point attempt with about seven seconds remaining. It was Golden State’s second straight win.
“Putting in Kiah I thought was really important, because she didn’t get fazed by their plays,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said of the key possession. “When we say we rely on our defense, that’s how we rely on our defense, and we close with our defense.”
–Field Level Media
