After fast start, Sparks fall to league-leading Lynx at home

For nearly four magical minutes in the first quarter, an upset of the WNBA’s best team seemed scarily possible.

What seemed scarier, perhaps, was that the team doing the damage spent most of the season fighting to crawl out of the league’s cellar.

For those 3 minutes and 59 seconds, the Sparks rattled off 16 consecutive points as Crypto.com Arena transformed into both a basketball spectacle and animated musical. The children in nearly every section of the Sparks’ home smacked their thundersticks like war drums as tiny voices belted out lyrics to songs from “SpongeBob SquarePants”, “Moana” and “Frozen”.

It was a mini-Disneyland inside the Sparks’ building on Kids Day, the entire bowl pulsing with shrieks, slaps and sugar highs. For a fleeting stretch, it felt like an exhilarating return to the mid-2010s.

Yet just as quickly as the magic appeared, it vanished. So suddenly, and so drastically, the newest “happiest place on earth” lost its shimmer, replaced by cross-court turnovers, limited looks at the rim and the deflation of momentum as the Lynx (18-3) steamrolled to a 91-82 victory over the Sparks (6-14) on Thursday afternoon.

What had been a 16-0 run to build an 18-7 lead in the first quarter turned out to be the only bright spot amid an otherwise sore 36 minutes. Not just for the players, but for the children with their thundersticks that had less and less reason to make noise.

After Lynx guard Alanna Smith propelled her team to an early 7-2 advantage with a three-pointer and a layup — exhibiting the pace and precision of a team that’s lost only three games all season — the momentum became all purple and yellow.

Spurred on by a three-point barrage from guards Kelsey Plum and Julie Allemand as well as forward Rickea Jackson, the Sparks racked up 16 straight points — keeping All-Star captain Napheesa Collier and her Lynx teammates scoreless. .

But the lopsided scoreboard had a short lifespan.

What looked like a cushion turned into a trap. The Sparks eased up and the Lynx pounced, trimming their deficit to four by the end of the first quarter as sloppiness and defensive lapses by L.A. mounted.

The Lynx erased “deficit” from their dictionary — and just about everything from the Sparks’ playbook. Fueled by nine L.A. turnovers in the second quarter, Minnesota made 11 baskets — nearly as many as the Sparks had shot attempts for a 50-40 halftime lead.

The Lynx outscored the Sparks 30-19 in the third quarter to take a commanding 80-59 lead that proved insurmountable.

Plum finished with 17 points and a game-high 12 assists to lead the Sparks. Recently signed Julie Vanloo came off the bench to score 15, making five of seven three-pointers. Jackson added 14 points while Dearica Hamby contributed 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Natisha Hiedeman came off the bench to lead the Lynx with 18 points, while Collier finished with 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Courtney Williams had 16 points and a team-high seven assists while Smith scored 15.