Los Angeles at Dallas

We had the Sparks at a plus number against Minnesota Wednesday and cashed comfortably, Los Angeles playing loose without the pressure of protecting a lead, covering a spread built for a team that hadn't needed to run one up nightly. That same shorthanded look is back today. Kelsey Plum remains out with the lower leg injury that's now kept her sidelined for the better part of a month, and the Sparks showed exactly what that costs Friday in Chicago, shooting six of 26 from three and coughing up 18 turnovers in a loss that wasn't as competitive as the final score suggested. Dallas, meanwhile, is playing its best basketball of the season, winners of five straight and getting monster efficiency from Paige Bueckers, who has topped 20 points in seven of her last eight games. The gap in form is real, and so is the number. But I like a team already missing its go-to scorer to play loose and cover a spread built for someone else's ceiling, the same look that let LA hang around in a game it had no business staying in earlier this week. The Sparks are the right side this afternoon.