Lexie Brown’s production missed during Sparks’ 3-game skid
The guard, who might return from a non-COVID illness Friday against Dallas, is averaging a career-high 13.3 points per game in her first season as a starter.
LOS ANGELES — In her sixth season, Sparks guard Lexie Brown has become a game-changer.
“Obviously, a bona fide WNBA shooter, so she naturally spaces the floor,” said Sparks coach Curt Miller, who has consistently spoken highly of Brown for years, after drafting her in the first round of the 2018 WNBA Draft when he was the Connecticut Sun’s general manager and coach.
Brown, 28, won the 2021 WNBA championship with the Chicago Sky as a backup guard, playing just 9.5 minutes per game. This season, Brown has emerged as a starter for the Sparks, averaging 31.9 minutes per game.
The Sparks are 5-4 with Brown in the starting lineup and averaging 82.1 points per game.
However, the Sparks have lost their last three games without the 5-foot-9 guard, who has been out with a non-COVID illness, and are averaging only 69 points per game in her absence.
That’s a 13-point difference when Brown does not suit up. Coincidentally, Brown is averaging a career-high 13.3 points per game and is one of the team’s best scoring options. She is also one of the team’s premier outside threats, shooting 42% from 3-point range this season.
“We ran tons of actions,” Miller continued. “We had Nneka and Lexie in two-man game actions all the time in different ways. It gives us a weapon back. It gives someone who can go make a play but even just her presence on the floor loosens things up for everybody else.”
Brown might be back for Friday night’s game against Dallas (6-6) at Crypto.com Arena, which will mark the return of Wings head coach Latricia Trammell, who was an assistant coach with the Sparks the past four seasons.
Nneka Ogwumike, the Sparks’ leading scorer at 19.6 ppg, said she feels Brown’s absence.
“What Lexie offers to our team makes the court feel bigger and so without her, it shrinks the court,” Ogwumike said. “It makes it difficult for us to move and play in space and then of course having a look at two-player action with a player like Lexie, I’m able to get into it with JC (Jordin Canada), at times with Zia (Cooke) and then without Lexie it kind of limits that extra dimension to our offense because it’s difficult to guard both of us in action. We just have to figure out how we can do that until she comes back.”
The Sparks’ offensive struggles were apparent Tuesday in a 67-61 home loss against the Minnesota Lynx. The Sparks did not score in the last 2 minutes, 47 seconds.
The Sparks have lost four out of their past five games. Their lone victory, a 79-61 decision last week in Dallas, was Brown’s last game.
Against the Wings on Friday and Sunday, the Sparks will have to contend with a trio of former All-Stars: Arike Ogunbowale (23.2 points per game), Satou Sabally (20.0 points and 10.4 rebounds per game) and Natasha Howard (16.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game).
DALLAS AT SPARKS
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: ION