Sparks vs Wings | LA Sparks Weekly

man oh man I I I don't know what to say I'm getting text messages from people saying the Sparks lose another game I don't know how they're up 22 points at one point but they lose the fourth quarter 40- 18 and somehow suffer a defeat on the road against the Dallas Wings 113 110 oh I can't wait to talk about it here with LA Sparks weekly [Music] [Music] [Music] Michel Matthew here with LA Sparks weekly after another tough defeat for the Los Angeles Sparks Once Again 113 110 in Dallas it just happened I'm here I got the one and only djy with me I know you feeling some type of way man just how tough of a loss was this you know the fact that we were talking like man if they win this game how the schedule's adding up maybe they get you know they got fever they got Sky they got the dream they got some match ups in their favor maybe they can make a run then it just all falls apart what's your thoughts D Mel um this is an emotional roller coaster I mean honestly we going to need it's is the Sparks available to help me and uh with my therapy this month on my bills I just I need an extra therapy session because myel I'm emotionally invested in this okay I run around the studio like oh man we got this Sparks no way and then it's fourth quarter third quarter we good we outscoring by 16 fourth quarter all right cool that's you know Ria not on the floor they making up a little points and then all of a sudden at the end of the game this wild finish they forget to play defense they forget how to play offense you have four players that score 15 or more three of them scored 20 or more led by um Odyssey Sims with 26 points 10 assists I can say she is a great great addition she should be starting at point guard from here on out even when AR gets back aric can be the backup point guard I will be okay with that uh career high for our girl Ria Jackson 25 points once again started off on fire had an amazing first quarter they kind of figured some things out but she was still able to get 25 and then deer bouncing back 21 points for her but they were up 10 points with two minutes left I want to hear about the 109 99 they only scor one point the rest of the way and they give up 14 how you 22 Michel I don't want to hear the 10 the 22 felt like we was at the promised land you know what I mean I I'm I'm going to agree with some of what you said Odyssey Sims is a great addition we need to try to find a way to sign her through the end of the year um as a hardship player okay um Ria Jackson man I feel for her I said this last episode and I specifically asked coach Miller about it I'm like how do you encourage this rookie that's having great games but isn't converted into wins because you can just feel how deflated she is in the Press conf you just don't want her to have that AA or that losing Aura on her you know yeah but but I want her to continue and I said this last game she's a winner when winners lose they get this aggression they get this roughness this toughness and they find a way to be better next game she absolutely outperformed herself in the last game so big shouts out to her again deer Hami had a bounceback game she did a really great job offensively scoring so it's like when you have three players who score over 20 points you're like let let me cl let me close supposed to win it's insane arque shooting them rainbows how did this happen to us yeah and shout out to arque she had 33 points uh Natasha Howard 30 points seven rebounds um it's just good teams find ways to win even when they aren't supposed to win games and bad team finds ways to lose and this game today shows that the Sparks are a bad team to I don't know if you blame it on coaching I don't know if it's solely on the players but to lose the fourth quarter 40 to 18 the way that they did um you see something to where they up 10 you see boom backto back buckets for the wings there's no timeout called yeah then it continues the downfall late in the game I know that Stephanie talet had a chance to catch the ball and score on a uh on at the free throw line she was fou but ril's having a game of her career so far in year one you take her out the game and she's not even on the floor it's things like that as a basketball mind um you look at it you're like you're a team that's quote unquote building towards the future your future is a that's hurt and then the other future is on the court having her career game and you don't give her opportunity to try to win the game for your team I would have preferred them go down that way but hey co co I guess coach know is better than me and and too I'm I'm glad you referenced that play because for me that was the pivotal play that let me kn know we were about to lose because because drawing up a play where Stephanie tab is in the paint and no shade to Stephanie tab you already got your contract extended girl do your thing the Dallas wings are huge in the paint yes oversized I mean they got Tiara up there Natasha up there so to draw up a play where it's thrown to Stephanie talit in the paint and she got to battle her way through to try to get a layup seems like you're not that was not going to work it would be better off to put somebody learo you could have passed if you draw enough to play she could have just caught it there's just no way rakia shouldn't be on the floor this is the greatest learning that she could have gotten they should have Drew up a play for her and say hey we're going down with you making a shot or missing a shot let's see what happens and if you lose you kind of like hey they're team that I don't expect too much winning here on after after seeing how they've performed after the Break um but it's it's to me it's all about learning it's about getting young players opportunity to do stuff that they may have to do in the future and for you to take her off the court I just don't know what are you like you what are you trying to do you're dep you're talking about building but you're depending more on Veterans when you have young players that should be getting these opportunities so that you can see if they can be players to step up for you totally agree and when we're matched up with a team like Dallas a Zia cook against an arque you feel me like why aren't we seeing Zia play more ra didn't get as as many minutes minutes we're talking about our future we're talking play all vets pretty much and we might we could have locked it down but if we were going to gamble on losing you might empty the clip play anybody on the bench and you know shout out to Kia cuz she did bounce back she had seven points in her 16 minutes um shout out to Lee eight points there Off the Bench but you get Crystal I don't know what happened to her she only played nine minutes but she had zero points Stephanie talber in 24 minutes six points and this is where I'm with you with playing the young players because Stephanie talber is Stephanie tal she's not going to get any better the player that she is is what she is right now why not play more of the young players to see if they can possibly get better fast so that going into next year you'll either have a player you could trust on or a much better trading piece than compared to playing with these vets and you're losing and it can be you you know we're we're trying to win we see that but the Vets aren't winning why not just play the young players where as a fan you know a fan would be more comfortable knowing like okay Coach just all locked in to the young players we're rebuilding so let's go with that so I'm kind of confused on what the building definition is because you go and resign a Stephanie talit to play to where I'm like are you not trying to get more youthful to to try to to grow a team so I'm confus Fus but before we get you ready for this press conference I got to shout out the positives yes the team went 12 for 24 from three 50% great they only had eight turnovers leading to the fourth six and the fourth which kind of led to this loss but that mean they only had 14 for the game so that's some improvement but man oh man yeah it is looking tough in la la land and the Sparks lose a game where me and DJ don't know how they lost this game to the Dallas Wing 113 10 we got the press conference we got coach and a couple other players ready to hear what happened in this debacle we'll get started with opening statements from Kurt followed by questions for players first obviously a disappointing result in the fourth quarter um another game where again we challenged them the beginning of the the start of the fourth quarter and you know frustrating to give up a 40o quarter um all growing pains for a team that needs to learn how to close and who to close with and and how to um find a way with our defense in the fourth quarter um as offenses um can you know they they just turned it up and we were unable to uh find some consistency at the offensive end so tough Learning lesson for them but all part of what they're going to have to go through our bench was terrific tonight led by Odyssey um 43 points Off the Bench um and uh again Ria with um a career high at the three-point line and and a tremendous game but have to get her the ball and find her opportunities in the fourth quarter Aria's challenge is in those fourth quarters playing these extended minutes now up over 35 um finding ways um you know to continue to find her places to be successful offensively only first hey what's up r is Michael Matthew here just you know what you get in your career high uh tonight and then after the performance you had last game was such a hot start just what type of GrooVe are you getting into offensively that that's allowing you to have these big outbursts and seeing so much improvement with your outside shooting um just being confident I feel like um coming to La like my coaches really harped on me like if I'm open at the three shoot it and that's something that um I kind of shot away from in college I feel like but I always needed someone to like let me know that it's okay to do that so since they told me that I kind of just been working on it in the gym and things like that and just being Fearless around the arc because I feel like I am well I try to be pretty efficient um even though it doesn't go in and I try to get down on myself if I miss like two in a row so just like staying confident I feel like they've helped me with that and just instill that confidence in me hey uh Odyssey DJ from infinity TV how did you feel tonight coming from your prior team where you were on a hardship contract and having such a big impact off of the bench and seeming like you found your spark here with the Sparks um you know I've been with the team for a short time but um I'm just find in my groove it was of course um special to play tonight come back home um the fans love me so of course I'm disappointed because I actually wanted to win more than anything two crucial turnovers by me so I'll take the take the um that one and it just got to be better hey Ray from a sporting Tribune uh Ria have you uh since you've been on such a Groove lately uh have you done anything differently as of late to get off to get off to these good starts and odyssey um I know you're professional but was there extra motivation going against your old team tonight um no not really I mean I have some stuff suffering toast this morning so I guess I'll just start eating those before every game and see what happens what was your question to me I'm sorry what yeah I uh was there any extra motivation playing against your old team I know you're professional so I mean yeah oh I mean it's the same approach as any other game like I said we just wanted to win um these ones hurt because we were leading came down to the fourth quarter um where we just at to guard credit to Dallas turned it up on us um tremendously in the fourth quarter scored a lot of points they were just pushing it pushing it pushing attacking um like I said we got to be better of course I'm happy to be here play in front of a crowd home crowd but definitely wanted to win so I'm still disappointed thanks Ladi sa travel home you think your name is not mentioned you know I mean you hear a lot about class your name of and just watching you play you know I've seen you a couple times you know come here and then watch it from afar do you think that's a good question for the media I don't know I can't tell them what to do what to post I mean I'm a pretty chill layback person I feel like I don't have to force nothing I don't have to act out my body like you know if I'm hyped up in the game I'm hyped up in the game if I'm chilling in the game I'm chilling like I don't have to like do too much I'm just true to who I am and the people who follow me the people who support me they know me for me like I don't have to you know feel like I got to grab all this attention and things like that I'm just me and I'm just going to continue to be that and the people that's with me they just they just know that so but I feel like it's trending like the people I got you know I want to do it for the right reasons so I don't got to do too much just you know coming back here I know a lot of emotions know you want to win but what com into the game today and you know just see that first shot then going on you know how did you feel overall from the first time shot um I mean I felt good I slept well I woke up felt like I had a little pep my step today um playing against my former team so of course I was ready to go but regardless how I play like I said just disappointed you know I wanted to win um you know I think we played very very well all game another one that we just let slip away um collectively as a group just got to be better finishing me I gotta do a better job of securing the ball just two crucial turnovers and I feel like changed the game and kept Dallas with the momentum so um watch film learn from it and be better next game thank you ladies we'll get started with questions from Kurt vity hey coach uh so that that final possession there um you know with with rakia playing so well um throughout the game you you took her off the floor was that play Drew up to go through Stephanie uh to Stephanie talber there late in the game or was there any thought to say hey let let's let's play through rakia and kind of you know give her this this chance to try to you know bring us home so where Ria was in on the last play so I'm are you referring to the next yeah the the the the play before I mean sorry about that the next the last play yeah yeah it's a a play that um you guys watch us all the time that we executed the other night in a in a uh crunch time um execution um Steph we were looking for a slip is our best slipper um so there was that um to put Steph in there Ria has to take the ball out and we made the decision for Kia to be able to make that decision but the next play that was a different type of play was run for RIA they took it away uh but the play the last play of the game was run for RIA we just they took it away and we had to go to a secondary option gotcha hey coach DJ infinity TV um knowing that you we're in this build phase where we're playing a lot around with the rosters and and figuring out the best players to put in at the best time can you speak to the last couple of games and how Zia cook kind of fits into that mix for you yeah obviously Zia has to stay ready for her opportunity um you know we've been playing big lately and starting um Steph and riia uh to give us some size obviously you still have the veteran um Kia nurse who can also play the two so you know just asking Z to stay ready for her opportunity uh which she did the other night in in some fourth quarter minutes um so you know those are the things that that are growth for her um and she's just got to continue to keep grinding obviously um you know it's early in her career and it's she has to show it every day we don't get to practice at at full Tempo a lot but continue to keep improving thank you jaie hey coach kind of just to piggyback off that obviously um today was a heartbreaking loss but looking forward how how confident are you in the lineup your starting lineup that you put in the mix today is that gonna do you think that might be the lineup that you stick with going forward yeah I mean we always evaluate o obviously Odyssey uh had a tremendous game um today her best game uh since she came back to the Sparks so she started the second half um you know played tonight um almost 32 minutes so you got you know tonight we rode her because she was uh playing so well so it's not always who starts um obviously you know at coming out of halftime Odyssey got that um got that call to be ready and you know again um she played well against her former team you she's from here she got a lot of family and friends in the stands and just really happy with the way she played than Co hey coach so you've been close so many times uh in terms of closing out what do you think is what do you think that needs the most Improvement in terms of the fourth quarter yeah tonight well it's 40 points um we didn't get any stops we shot 60% from the game 50% from The Arc and didn't win and got to the fou line 26 times our turnovers uh while a few uh that we'd love to have back in the fourth quarter you weren't extremely high either but you know all game long uh we were worried about the runs that they could go on and that we know they're capable of and you know again the challenge at the beginning of the fourth quarter was really looking all five people that were starting the quarter and talking about how important these first two or three minutes were uh to set the tone when we had a big lead and and we just didn't get it accomplished and so you know the winning is learned winning putting them them in position more and more they got to continue to learn we've got to have some closers we keep talking uh about closing to dear and Aire but obviously they're dependent on guards of getting them the ball and getting them in actions they can't always dominate from the post position and so we talked about you know how are we going to close and I thought you know that I thought that Odyssey could be a closer tonight for us Ria um you know could you know hopefully be a closer she's started so well these last couple games I me R is showing you um just the absolute se you know ceiling and how good she can be in this league but when defenses turn up on her um and they make their adjustments at halftime you know we've got to continue to find Ria space and they try to take that space away and then Ria's big growth area is being able to play tired um as the game goes on and she gets extended minutes um you know it's it's it's not it's not a surprise how good she is out of the gate in the first quarter before defenses settle in Ria's challenge is to be when play when she's fatigued play when people are turned up and trying to take away her as the number one option that's all part of Clos thanks coach first quarters yeah I think we wanted to play with uptempo I thought we we had a really good game plan to try to get Ria in the space um early I thought we executed that uh Ria was really comfortable at the three-point line um you know we coming off a game where we didn't shoot it real well at the three despite tons of uh open looks so we've encouraged that group to keep scoring we thought that azare could be uh a factor on the perimeter against maowen tonight she made three threes so you know again um all real good out of the gate like listened to the game plan executed the game plan now we've got to find ways to have some toughness stops and closing ability in the fourth quarter thank you that bu fast so we're back we just heard from coach we heard from Odyssey Sims who played out of this world yeah you know what we as her about that too she at home she back at home Vibes family in the audience you feel me I got to show out too you came from one hardship team to another one so that's why we asked her you know you got a little something to prove and it's like yeah I want to play good but also she wanted to win yeah we did too girl and you know and we just we talked to Coach uh we heard him talk about um I just wasn't a fan of that that uh that that play like jna play up for rakia for the three when you had an opportunity beforehand to come up with a play for her to where yes Stephanie did get a clean catch and got to the free throw line but we were talking about it off camera you're drawing up a game-winning play for a glue player where you have a young star that you're trying to develop to become you know a top 10 top five player maybe one day in her career why not now say hey we going to draw action for you yeah to go take us home and I you know he tried it for that three-point shot that he said they took it away so that's one thing but it just still doesn't look right for me that you take out one of your star players in such Cru who's on who's having a game of her career when it's such a crucial possession for your team the only thing that I can think about that he also mentioned was that you know Ria's challenge is to play well tired okay so it's like maybe cuz she she's been going off at the beginning of the games and it starts to taper off once defense sets in and then Odyssey Sims did give credit to the Dallas wings for it up in the fourth quarter so she had two turnover so you already got two turnover you know what I mean so it's like I I get why he would maybe go to a glue player who seems like the more safer option because if Ria is already tired she's they they they denying her the ball they've uh adapted their defense to come at her more it's like okay let's go with somebody who they ain't looking you know what I would say to that the hell with it we're not going we're not expected to win anyway this is how you learn uh we just celebrated Mamba day in La um and how did he learn yeah young get the ball you shoot air balls it's okay yeah this is how you learn and we saw what he was able to become that's the same thing I would do with rakia let's try to force her to be a closer by saying hey I know you tired now but next year when this opportunity come you going to be ready to go you going to already get all of the bad out the way let's push forward now so to draw up a play for Stephanie talit who she didn't even help because she got fouled yeah but they miss the first free throw yeah which led to them getting the ball you having a foul they make two free throws now you're at a much tougher spot trying to make a three-point shot to tie the game I just feel that build build when I think of build I always connect rebuilding with it because this team has to be rebuilding they're six and 24 now they aren't winning so why not play some of the younger players and why not force feed them to say hey we're going to we're going to get the best out of you are we going to see you ain't built for this and get you up out of here that's why when you asked about Z yep you know we f it s finally sound like we got an answer yeah and I was glad he answered it because it's like all right why aren't we seeing more zah and he basically said you know we're starting bigger so we can star faster based on the matchups and that makes sense to me um I feel like it's I I never feel felt like it was personal but it just didn't really make sense but if you if you want to start a Stephanie talit or a Kia nurse who's a little bit bigger's a bigger who's a bigger player physically than Zia cook and that's the strategy I can understand that but zero minutes still don't make you know mathematical sense it seems like there's a little bit of imbalance yeah just just to give her uh you know like definitely at the end here and that's why I asked I don't know if it was a game or a couple games ago like do you get to any point of the season to where you like we ain't about to win nothing of let's just play our young players who areia which she's getting a bunch of minutes so she's good yeah uh lee who's getting a bunch of minutes still needs to get a little bit better she been devel she had eight points three rounds she fouled out but for 20 minutes that's solid you know but then Ray only plays three minutes and Z your another young player doesn't play at all I I'm still wondering is it going to get to a point of the Season where he's like hey sorry Kia sorry Stephanie they about to play all these minutes because we're just not winning but or even Crystal you know crystal is a hardship you know contract for the rest of the year the issue with Z is what I've been saying all season long is at her side she should be able to play point guard yeah she's not really a good point guard she's more of a score so like arque who's a little small under siiz that Zia has to be lights out at scoring but it's crazy because the last game she plays just a little bit and gives you seven quick points you like what did she get you know what if she get more than 4 minutes and she gets 12 can she do a little more so it's it's a weird situation but before we go we got to give our players of the game with this tough loss who you got I got Ria Jackson and you're not gonna hear me say I just put on um I put on X Twitter y'all um rakia is very much the moment um she talked a little bit in the press conference about something about the media I couldn't hear the question because it wasn't in the room but I like her energy her energy is like I don't I'm to you on the court I'm not about to sit up here and and beg people to to rank me in the rookie rankings the numbers speak for themselves she has progressed throughout the season she wasn't really starting and then once they added her to the starting lineup we knew they couldn't take her out because of how integral she's been a part of the team she's played along de' off the pick and roll she's gotten better her three balls she finished through contact for the an one you know career high six for eight so Ria Jackson is my player of the game she's very much the moment for the Sparks and I'm glad we're building with her and we get to see her progress and I love that pick I could go there too but I'm going go somewhere different than the player who was with her during the press conference Odyssey Sims at home I'm I gotta go you know I gotta pop out and show out in front of my people 26 points 10 assists Off the Bench um only two turnovers which is really good and she talked about them two turnovers she can't for you know she hate that they come late but you can see that she's a pro she some who I feel the rest of the way that the team like hey you are starting point guard even when comes back that we want to see if maybe you could carry over and be the starting point guard next year unless we draft someone and even then we can bring you off the bench but Odyssey to get 2 uh 6 and 10 very impressive I hate that it was in a loss but hey we're used to it by now sparkk fans this is what we have seen since day one of this season um Michel DJ here the Sparks are back Wednesday night in Los Angeles crypto.com Arena but they play against the New York Liberty another tough tough opponent so we G to see what's going to happen but for Michael and DJ enjoy the rest of your Sunday we will see you guys Wednesday in the building for the LA New York matchup come on Sparks got to get it together LA Sparks weekly baby no