Sparks drop payback on Lynx, end Minnesota's perfect start

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Los Angeles Sparks didn't get angry after Minnesota handed them their first loss of the season Tuesday. What would be the point of that? The Sparks were aware they had made plenty of mistakes in that battle of then-unbeatens, yet still lost by just three points. And they had the chance to respond very quickly.

Which is exactly what the Sparks did on a festive Friday night before 13,003 fans at Target Center. The crowd came to see Minnesota extend its perfect record. The Sparks came to put an end to it.

"The first game, we had a lot of lulls offensively and defensively," Sparks guard Kristi Toliver said after L.A.'s 94-76 payback victory Friday. "And we just turned the ball over too much. Today, we took care of the ball a lot better. And down the stretch of the game, we were able to execute and convert."

Which is kind of a bland way of saying, "Hah! Take that, Lynx!" It would have been more fun to hear Toliver do a Hamilton-esque "I am not throwin' away my shot!" rap after hitting 7-of-11 3-pointers on her way to 25 points.

Add that to her 20 points on Tuesday, and Toliver's two highest scoring totals of this season came against the mighty Lynx.

"Kristi is really playing well this year," Sparks coach Brian Agler said. "She's playing the point, her assist-to-turnover ratio is excellent, and she's shooting the ball well. She's playing so special because she has a good balance. She's looking for her shot, but also running the offense as well."

The Sparks got 20 points from Nneka Ogwumike and 14 from Candace Parker. They each pulled down nine rebounds as the Sparks took away what was one of Minnesota's bigger strengths Tuesday; the Lynx won the battle of the boards 42-29. On Friday, though, the Sparks had the edge, 29-28, and outplayed the Lynx on the interior.

Ogwumike, who is shooting a league-leading 68 percent from the field, took just three shots Tuesday. But Agler didn't really blame her for that; he thought it resulted from the Sparks not running their offense efficiently. It was very different Friday, as Ogwumike was 9-of-15 from the field.

"Coach stressed that we needed to be pounding the ball inside," Ogwumike said. "I think we responded very well. I think we did a good job of being as aggressive as we could.

"We just wanted to attack. Getting the number of shots I got today helped, as well as the penetration we were getting from all of our guards. We didn't rely so much on the outside shot."

Indeed, on Tuesday, the Sparks at times seemed far too willing to take what was available instead of forcing the issue.

"We get lax, we get comfortable, and we settle," Ogwumike said. "We can shoot, but we don't want to shoot one-on-one. We want to move the ball and get open shots, and we did a good job of doing that."

At this juncture, though, we should pause to applaud the Lynx for getting off to a 13-0 start and once again setting the standard for excellence in this league. The Lynx knew they weren't going to have a perfect record this season. And while they didn't want to disappoint such a big crowd, they also realize that there is something to be gained from this. In crunch time, the Lynx made some atypical errors. A three-point deficit with just over 4 minutes left turned into a double-digit loss because the Sparks owned the closing stretch.

Maya Moore, who was limited to eight points on Tuesday and suffered a bruised thigh, looked like typical Maya on Friday. She had a game-high 28 points and four assists.

"We appreciate each other," Moore said. "Knowing that we've done some really great things, and let's not lose sight of that. But there are things that we know lead to success, and games like this remind us of how hard those things are to do every night.

"They were a little more determined to get to certain areas like the rebounding tonight. But we have to respond. We have a game on Sunday, and we have to go into it with a little chip on our shoulder."

The Lynx travel to Washington for Sunday's game, then return home to face surging New York on Wednesday. The Liberty beat Chicago on Friday and have won six in a row.

This week's marquee matchups between the Sparks and the Lynx have been the focus of WNBA fans. And with both teams winning on each other's home court, it heightens the anticipation even more for their next meeting ... well, sort of. It's such a long way off -- Sept. 6 in Los Angeles -- that we'll have to put this head-to-head rivalry on the back burner for a couple of months.

Even though Minnesota and Los Angeles boast good teams, there's still plenty of time for a lot of things to happen.

"Anytime there's special attention given to anything in our league in a positive way, it benefits it," Agler said. "At the same time, I think there's other really good teams in this league. Teams that are getting better.

"New York's coming on. Chicago still has a chance to be special. Dallas is coming on. And, of course, Phoenix: They're a monster waiting to happen. You know if they gain a little momentum, they could take off as well. There are several teams that can be dangerous."

Still, Friday in the WNBA belonged to the Sparks, who now go home for six consecutive games at Staples Center, starting with Connecticut on Sunday.

"I think it's been huge for the league and it's gained a lot of attention," Parker said of the Minnesota-L.A. rivalry. "We're going to try to hold up our end of the bargain."