Sparks finish road trip against Sun in TD Garden
Rey Moralde
Host · Writer
BOSTON — The Sparks will be playing against the Sun in front of large crowd in TD Garden at Boston.
10 games remain in the season for the Sparks (12-22). The playoffs are a pipe dream at this point as they play out the string in 2026. But the team wants to finish strong as the team is likely to miss the playoffs for the sixth straight year.
So what's the focus these days?
"At this point in the season, especially we've been playing every other day for a long time, it's about recovery and rest and it's mental," Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said after their loss against the Mystics on Saturday. "It's what we can learn film as a group, film with individual coaches, and then just taking care of our bodies and making sure that we're mentally, physically ready to roll."
One of the best things this year for the Sparks? The breakout season of Rae Burrell. Her scoring average went from 7.5 last season to 14.1 this season and she's certainly one of the candidates for Most Improved Player in 2026.
Still, the losing has certainly taken a toll. The Sparks have dropped their last four games.
"Nobody wants to lose. I'm competitive," Burrell said. "I'm glad I'm able to help the team but, obviously, it's not the result we want, but like I said, I'm still getting put in good positions and I'm still just trying to work on my game as well. And that's important as well.
"You just got to keep rolling. And like Lynne said, if we keep fighting and doing what we need to do, then the result will take care of itself."
The Connecticut Sun are doing their best to keep rolling. They're in a lame duck season as the franchise is moving to Houston to revive the Comets in 2027. They are 8-25 but still doing their best to have a memorable last season in the Northeast.
The legendary Brittney Griner (questionable for Tuesday) signed with them in the offseason. She became the WNBA all-time leader in total blocks earlier in the year. Leila Lacan is a hell of an exciting guard on both ends of the floor. Olivia Nelson-Ododa is one of the more improved players in the league. Diamond Miller is also doing her best to resuscitate her career. And for the L.A. locals, two Bruins from last year's national champs play for the Sun in Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens (who Roberts coached in Utah before transferring to UCLA).
The Sun got the better of the Sparks earlier this season so Los Angeles will have revenge on their minds. The Sparks have had trouble closing games this season; can they do it against a Sun team that has struggled to win games? Sparks have lost 11 of their last 13 games and nine of those losses were in single digits.
As mentioned, Burrell has been on fire; she's averaged 22.3 points in her last three games, including a career-high 28 points against the Liberty last Thursday. Dearica Hamby has been her usual quiet consistent self; she's scored double figures in her last 20 games. And the Sparks will continue to see what they have in Tonie Morgan, who signed a rest-of-season deal with the team before their game against the Mystics; she ended up having a good floor game with seven points and six assists.
The Sparks are playing for pride at this point. They're hoping to finish the season on a good run so they can build on 2027.
It obviously wasn't the initial goal for them this year but plans tend to change a lot of the time.
