Sparks vs. Storm: Nneka Ogwumike's 23 and 12 Lead Los Angeles Past Seattle 90-74

The Los Angeles Sparks did not bother easing into their final game before the FIBA World Cup break. They scored the first 13 points on Sunday afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena, never surrendered the lead, and beat the Seattle Storm 90-74.

Nneka Ogwumike was the steadying force with 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Rae Burrell went 8-for-8 at the free-throw line on the way to 22 points. Seattle got 19 from Flau'jae Johnson and a 17-point, 15-rebound double-double from Dominique Malonga, but the Storm's outside shooting never showed up.

Thirteen-Zip Before Seattle Scored

The Storm's first points did not arrive until Los Angeles was already up 13-0 with 5:52 left in the opening quarter, and the AP counted the whole opening burst as an 18-2 run. The Sparks led 25-11 after one. Seattle clawed within 28-20 early in the second, and then Los Angeles slammed the door again with 11 straight points, capped by a Dearica Hamby layup with 5:45 left in the half, for a 39-20 cushion.

It was 52-33 at halftime, and the numbers explained why. Per the AP, the Storm made just 12 of their 38 first-half shots and 2 of their 11 attempts from deep, which is the kind of shooting that makes a coach start drawing plays on a napkin.

The Storm did make it interesting late. Down 70-47 in the closing minutes of the third, Seattle scored 11 unanswered to make it 70-58 early in the fourth, and Johnson's running layup with 4:34 to go trimmed the deficit to 80-69. That is when the Sparks remembered how this game started. Cameron Brink drilled a 24-foot 3, Ogwumike buried another from the same distance, and Burrell finished a driving layup and the free throw, a 9-0 burst that made it 89-69 with 2:26 left. Erica Wheeler assisted on both of those 3s. Malonga kept Seattle afloat inside with five offensive rebounds, and Zia Cooke supplied some scoring punch off the bench, but every Storm push ran into an answer from the perimeter.

Ogwumike Runs the Show

Ogwumike did a little bit of everything. She shot 9-of-17, including 4-of-7 from deep, and pulled down 12 rebounds, 11 of them on the defensive end, while adding three assists and two steals. She did not commit a single foul in 29 minutes and finished with a plus-25.

Burrell's 22 points came in a funky way. She went 0-for-6 from 3-point range, but she attacked the rim relentlessly, shooting 7-of-18 overall and making all eight of her free throws. Hamby scored only six points but grabbed 11 rebounds and four steals, and Wheeler was a quiet star: nine points on three 3-pointers, four assists and a game-best plus-31 in 19 minutes. Brink finished with 11 points, but she needed 15 shots to get there. The bench chipped in from outside, too: Chance Gray and Monique Akoa Makani each went 2-of-3 from deep for six points.

Johnson led Seattle with 19 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter according to the AP, while Malonga battled for her double-double on 8-of-21 shooting. Cooke added 14 points but went 6-of-17. The Storm also lost Jordan Horston in the third quarter; per the AP, she took an awkward fall around the midway point of the period, limped off to the locker room and never came back. Awa Fam and Natisha Hiedeman did not play.

The Turning Point: The Opening Five Minutes

This game was effectively decided in the first five minutes. The Sparks' 13-0 start forced Seattle to chase all afternoon, and a team shooting this poorly from the outside is not built for chasing. Los Angeles led wire to wire, and its biggest lead reached 26.

What makes the result fascinating is that Seattle won a lot of the traditional battles. The Storm outrebounded the Sparks 43-40, grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and won the paint 44-34. They took 82 shots to Los Angeles' 73. None of it mattered because of the 3-point line: the Sparks hit 12 of 31, the Storm hit 4 of 22, and that 24-point swing from deep was more than the final margin. The Sparks also won the transition game 19-14 and turned Seattle's 16 turnovers into 17 points, which helped erase whatever the Storm earned on the offensive glass.

Stats That Matter

• 12 of 31 vs. 4 of 22: The 3-point gap, worth 36 points to 12 for Los Angeles.
• 13-0: The Sparks' opening run, part of the 18-2 start the AP tallied.
• 44-34: Seattle's edge in the paint, which still was not enough.
• 14 of 15: Los Angeles' free-throw shooting, with Burrell perfect on eight tries.
• Plus-31: Wheeler's plus-minus, the best in the game.

What It Means

The Sparks improved to 15-25, 8-12 on the road, and have won two straight heading into the break. Los Angeles also clinched the season series with Seattle, 2-1, in the final meeting between the teams. Their previous outing was an 88-82 home win over Washington, so the momentum is real. Next up for the Sparks is a Sept. 17 trip to Dallas.

Seattle fell to 8-32, 6-14 at home, after beating Toronto 90-78 in its previous game. The AP noted the Storm are 1-18 against Western Conference opponents this season, with the lone win coming at Los Angeles, 82-64, on July 6. Seattle returns to action Sept. 17 at home against Las Vegas.

Closing Take

The Storm did a lot of the dirty work and still lost by 16, which is the basketball equivalent of studying all night and then forgetting your calculator for the exam. Los Angeles had the shooters, the steady veteran in Ogwumike and the hot start that made every Seattle run feel like it was uphill. The Sparks head into the break with a two-game winning streak and a reminder that in this league, the math from beyond the arc usually wins the argument.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.