Sparks Beat Fever 106-92, Setting a Franchise Scoring Record Without Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink

LOS ANGELES. Lynne Roberts wasn't dressing up the problem before Tuesday's game. Her team is missing 36 points of production a night without Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink, she said, and there's no single substitute who fixes that.

"It's got to be the sum of the parts being bigger than the whole," Roberts said. "We've got to be connected."

Two nights later, that same shorthanded roster put up 106 points, the most the Sparks have ever scored at home, breaking a mark that had stood since a game against San Antonio on Dec. 25, 2006. It wasn't against a bad team, either. Indiana came in at 12-9. Los Angeles scored 30 on them in the third quarter alone and closed it out from there.

The final score is not really the story. A team that has spent weeks talking publicly about what it doesn't have just posted its best offensive night in nearly 20 years. The question that follows is obvious: what does this roster look like once Plum and Brink are actually back on the floor.

It would be easy to write this off as a hot shooting night against a team that couldn't guard anyone. The Sparks did shoot 50.6 percent from the field and 45 percent from three. But the more telling number is how the scoring was spread out. Five players reached double figures. Three scored 20 or more. Nneka Ogwumike led with 24 points, Rae Burrell matched her own career high with 22, and Dearica Hamby added 21 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Nobody carried this team by themselves. That's harder to explain away as a one-off.

It wasn't only the starters, either. Roberts spent more time talking about her bench after the game than she did about the final score. Kiana Williams ran the offense and helped guard Tyasha Harris. Alissa Pili, back after seven months away from the game, gave the team a physical presence Roberts said had been missing. Jihyun Park, who Roberts called "the unsung hero," kept creating extra possessions. Emma Cannon hit a three when the Sparks needed one. None of them is being asked to replace Plum or Brink on their own. Together, they were a big reason this team looked whole for a night.

The pace numbers back up what Roberts has been asking for all season. Los Angeles scored 27 fast break points and outscored Indiana 10-1 in transition in the fourth quarter alone. That's not luck. That's a team running because its coach has told it to run.

None of this changes what the Sparks are actually missing. Plum's shot creation and Brink's rim protection are not things a team simply plays around indefinitely, and Roberts knows that better than anyone. But this game complicates the idea that Los Angeles is just waiting out an injury-heavy season until help arrives. A team down 36 points of production just set a scoring record against a good opponent. Whatever is left on this roster once Plum and Brink return might be more dangerous than anyone expected.

The Sparks host Chicago on Friday.