On what turned out to be Derek Fisher’s final possession as the Sparks’ coach, two of the team’s major offseason acquisitions watched from the sideline. Against the Mercury on Sunday, guard Chennedy Carter and center Liz Cambage played a combined 3:10 in the fourth quarter, taking merely one shot between them. Los Angeles lost by seven, marking its seventh defeat of the year and fifth by 10 points or fewer.
Afterward Fisher told reporters he held Cambage out of almost the entirety of the final period because of his team’s continued struggles defending Phoenix’s guards. (Skylar Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi scored 48 total points in the Mercury’s win.