The post Sparks coach Lynne Roberts sounds off on struggles in Mercury loss appeared first on ClutchPoints.
LOS ANGELES – After nearly a week off since their last game, the Los Angeles Sparks were back on the court on Tuesday night against the visiting Phoenix Mercury. The Sparks couldn’t put together a win streak as they fell to the Mercury, 92-84, in a game that was physical from the opening tip. Following the game, Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts spoke about a myriad of things including the officiating and the team’s long layoff in terms of contributing to the loss.
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“I’m gonna fight for the group and for the players. It is what it is. We’ve got to compete. I’m not gonna look for anything where we can say, ‘it’s because we had five [days off], no, it’s a positive we had five days off. We got to rest, we got to recover, we got to practice,” Roberts said. “It’s on us to start the game better. Same thing with the officiating. If it’s called like that, then we’ve got to adjust.”
“I’m not gonna ever sit up here and blame something that’s out of our control. We can control what we can control. How we start the game, how we handle it, and that’s it,” Roberts continued. “No one cares, no one feels sorry for us. We got to just muscle up and be mentally tough to handle it. I lost my cool there a little bit too, but we’re all competitive, we all want to win. I want to apologize for that, but I’m not gonna blame the officiating. We got to fight through things and have that toughness to us.”
The incident that Lynne Roberts was referring to about losing her cool came following a play where Rickea Jackson seemingly suffered an ankle injury. While Jackson’s teammates helped her over to the bench, Roberts gave the officials an earful.
Between both teams, the Sparks and the Mercury, several bad calls, or lack thereof, occurred throughout the game. Both teams were successful with each of their two potential challenge attempts, highlighting some of the head-scratching decisions of the referee crew.
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There was one play in particular when a collision between Sparks forward Dearica Hamby and a Mercury player that triggered a review. It appeared to be just incidental contact, but the officials quickly stopped the game to review the play for a possible ‘hostile act.’ Not only did they rule that it was not a hostile act, but that it wasn’t even a foul. It was an unnecessary stoppage in the game for what appeared to be obvious to most everyone else.
But with the game being very physical, Roberts admitted that it can be hard to officiate that type of atmosphere.
“I think those are probably really hard games to officiate. I’m sure it is because playoffs are coming. . .we’re scrapping for our lives and they’re playing hard, we’re all playing for something,” Roberts said. “And the intensity is up and these guys are pros, they have pride in how they play. I think that’s what you see.”
Following the loss, the Sparks dropped to 17-19 and moved a game and half behind the Seattle Storm for the eighth and final playoff spot.
Related: Lynne Roberts provides Rickea Jackson injury update after Mercury loss
Related: Sparks’ Kelsey Plum joins rare Caitlin Clark WNBA club in loss to Mercury
