Sparks can’t survive Rickea Jackson’s ejection, drop home finale to Mercury – Orange County Register

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Sparks head coach Curt Miller reacts on the sidelines during the first half of their game against the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES — Whether she meant to or not, Rickea Jackson tested a historically controversial theory on Tuesday night. The idea being, that if a newcomer challenges the most imposing figure in the group, they will gain the rest of the pack’s respect.

With 18 seconds remaining in the second quarter, 6-foot-9 Brittney Griner’s elbow caught Jackson’s upper body. The two then stood an arm’s length apart, jawing, before Griner lifted her right arm and Jackson swatted it away. Shoves were exchanged. Jackson, hands held high like a prize fighter on the defense, began to retreat as her veteran teammate Dearica Hamby played peacemaker.

Dearica Hamby with the quick reaction time.

Rookie Rickea Jackson has been ejected with 18.8 seconds to play before halftime — here at Crypto, we were just noting that she'd played every second so far. https://t.co/FCJVhMMarj

— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) September 18, 2024

Jackson’s backpedal wasn’t a sign that she feared Griner, nor that she regretted showing her colors as a gritty player, rather in that moment, she suddenly realized that she didn’t need to come at the league’s most lauded enforcer to earn her peers’ reverance. She has already done that with her consistent improvement this season. When she got caught up in the heat of that fracas, she lost the chance to show that once again.

The fourth overall pick and the Mercury’s three-time Olympic gold medalist were both ejected.

“I told her to hang in there,” said Sparks head coach Curt Miller, who acknowledged during his postgame press conference that he had yet to see a replay of the scuffle.

With Jackson gone, the Sparks lost their calm, and with it, conceded a 19-2 run. They committed 20 turnovers, their sloppiness overshadowing Li Yueru’s career-high 19-point performance. The Mercury (19-20) scored 31 points off turnovers and handed the Sparks (7-32) an 85-81 loss – their eighth straight – in their final home game of the season.

The Mercury’s plan was to muck up the game from the outset, to make the young Sparks uncomfortable with quirky defensive looks. They played more zone, Miller said, than the Sparks had seen in the last 2½ months.

“To their credit, they made the game really ugly,” Miller said. “I didn’t think that the first unit shared the ball particularly well. I thought it was sticking.”

He subbed in Yueru and Crystal Dangerfield at the 4-minute mark of the first quarter. Those two, and Jackson, played the remainder of the half – apart from those final 18 seconds – and they found chinks in the zone.

Yueru stretched the court, knocking down a 3-pointer from the left wing and then an 18-footer. Her presence deterred Griner from crashing the offensive boards as she grabbed 12 rebounds to record her first double-double on a night in which the Sparks grabbed a season-high 49 boards. With four minutes left in the second quarter, she outlet a defensive rebound to Dangerfield, who found Hamby (team-high 21 points) for a transition layup.

“She gave us a presence on both sides,” Miller said of Yueru’s performance. “We really needed her.”

The Sparks’ reserves provided a 47-26 scoring advantage.

With the Sparks leading by nine, the Mercury pressed full-court. Dangerfield lofted a desperate pass over Griner to Hamby, who found Zia Cooke for a 3-pointer. The Sparks handled that early pressure as Cooke knocked down two more 3-pointers to put the Sparks ahead 34-25.

Before leaving the game, Jackson scored eight points and was just 2 for 11 from the field, but was a plus-7. Her composure, a key factor in the Sparks building their lead. When she and Griner parted the game, it seemed the Mercury had a contingency plan, while the Sparks collapsed.

“They scrambled around and pressed without B.G.,” Miller said.

Despite playing just 14 minutes, Griner tied Sophie Cunningham for a team-high 14 points, shooting 7 for 8 from the field, but for all her positives, Griner lacks nimbleness.

Most of the rest of the Mercury players have it.

Their press became more effective. With Griner out and a smaller unit in, the Mercury turned the Sparks over 10 times in the third quarter. Cunningham picked Azura Stevens’ pocket to give Phoenix its first lead since the 2:27 mark of the first. In the half-court, Diana Taurasi picked apart the Sparks’ defense, scoring 10 points in the period.

“She has meant so much to this league,” Miller said about Taurasi, as speculation about the 42-year-old’s possible retirement continues. “She continues to play at an extremely high level, and is one of the torch bearers for our league.”

Jackson, sure could have learned a thing or two from guarding Taurasi, who Miller referred to as the G.O.A.T on multiple occasions, if she hadn’t been kicked.

The rookie learned a multitude of lessons on Tuesday night.

It’s not that she shouldn’t test veterans in this league, or react accordingly when Griner gets in her face. It’s that, to compete in the waning moments of games, the Sparks desperately need her presence.

Instead, the defense of Clarese Taylor, who had five steals, and Natasha Cloud, who turned an errant pass from Dangerfield into a fast-break layup with 4:27 remaining, controlled the outcome. Cunningham hit a 3-pointer to extend Phoenix’s lead to 79-66.

Hamby scored five points as the Sparks mounted an 8-0 run to cut the margin to five with two minutes left before Mikiah Herbert Harrigan answered with a pull-up from the left wing for the dagger.

The Sparks, yet, again blew a sturdy lead. It’s easy to wonder if the minimal margin of defeat could have been avoided altogether had Jackson been available.

Originally Published: September 17, 2024 at 10:42 p.m.

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Sparks can’t survive Rickea Jackson’s ejection, drop home finale to Mercury – Orange County Register

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