With playoffs in sight, Sparks welcome Fever

With two weeks left in the WNBA regular season, the Los Angeles Sparks stand 1 1/2 games behind Seattle for the last of eight playoff spots.

But to use an old hockey term, Los Angeles has one major advantage: Games in hand.

The Sparks have eight games left, three more than the Storm. And the first of those is at home Friday night against the Indiana Fever.

The Sparks (17-19) are coming off a 92-84 loss Tuesday night to Phoenix, which led by as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter. Three-point defense was a major problem as the Mercury hit 11 of 25 while Los Angeles made only 7 of 24.

"That's where the difference in the game is," Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. "We typically shoot it better. We're scrapping for our lives ... we're all playing for something."

To reach the postseason, Los Angeles will have to improve on defense, where it's allowing a league-worst 88.5 points per game. Their offense has countered a lot of the defensive shortcomings averaging 86.3 ppg, second in the league. Kelsey Plum leads the team with 20.4 ppg.

While the Sparks try to jump back into the playoff picture, Indiana (20-18) is presently in the field as the sixth seed. The Fever are coming off one of their best games of the year, a 95-75 rout at home Tuesday night against Seattle.

Aliyah Boston scored a game-high 27 points in just 27 minutes, while Odyssey Sims added 22 and Kelsey Mitchell hit for 21. Indiana earned a 42-21 rebounding advantage and led by as many as 32 points in the fourth quarter.

"I felt like this was as close to 40 minutes as we've put together consistently in a long time," said Fever coach Stephanie White.

This game starts a pivotal three-game western road trip for Indiana, which also heads to Golden State and Phoenix. The Fever will probably still be without Caitlin Clark, who's been out since July 16 with a groin injury, during the trip.

Los Angeles has won the first three meetings of the teams this year, including a 100-91 decision at home on Aug. 5.