Phoenix beat Los Angeles 85-80 Sunday.
It took 17 minutes for Los Angeles to build a 47-29 lead, then 10 minutes to trail 58-57.
Falling back to points after turnovers as the Sparks’ bugaboo, the hosts made four turnovers in the last 2:54 of the first half, resulting in four Phoenix points. Those four points were part of that 18-point lead shrinking to 13 at the buzzer.
The Mercury won the third quarter 24-9. Balls got loose, players crashed to the floor, messes were made.
Around the turn of the ’10s, I followed Coach Roberts’ Pacific team on a road trip to UC Irvine and Cal St. Fullerton. The Tigers conducted one practice in a gym in a junior high school or community center.
It was a shockingly bad practice. I don’t think the venue had anything to do with it, because a gym is a gym is a gym. For whichever reasons, Pacific looked terrible in that practice, and I did not maintain a poker face.
“What. What is it you’re not saying”, said Coach.
Perhaps I had the same look on my face after the third quarter against Phoenix.