“I said, ‘If we lose by one, you’re going to hear it.”

That was the warning Coach Lynne Roberts gave the officials during the LA Sparks’ game against the Toronto Tempo on Friday. Thankfully for the referees, the Sparks escaped with a 99-95 victory. But what exactly warranted that warning from Roberts?

The controversial moment came late in the second quarter, when the Sparks got a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul for illegal substitution. However, as it turned out, the situation was not really the fault of the Sparks at all. Instead, it stemmed from an officiating error.

“The horn went, but the official that’s supposed to bring in Ta’Niya (Latson) never waved her in,” she explained after the game. “And they put the ball in play. KP [Kelsey Plum] was already off the floor. So they said they had to give us a technical, even though they admitted it was their error.”

To better explain the sequence of events, the incident occurred with under 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Sparks guard Erica Wheeler was at the free-throw line, while Kelsey Plum headed toward the bench to check out of the game. The substitution horn did sound as Ta’Niya Latson stood waiting at the scorer’s table to enter. However, the specific official responsible for beckoning substitutes onto the floor failed to wave her into the game.

Now, because Plum had already gone to the bench while Latson remained stuck at the sideline, the Sparks briefly found themselves playing with only four players on the floor. Realizing the issue, Latson ran onto the court during live play to join her teammates. Since she entered without being officially beckoned in by the referee, the officiating crew assessed a “non-unsportsmanlike” technical foul against the Sparks for illegal substitution.

Even though the technical foul only happened because of the officiating mistake, the Toronto Tempo were still awarded a free throw, which is the standard penalty for technical fouls in the WNBA. And they converted it. That is why Roberts issued her warning to the officials.

If the Sparks had lost by exactly one point, then that free throw, which resulted directly from the referees’ own error, would have made all the difference.

And even more frustrating is the bigger picture surrounding the result. Had the Sparks lost that game by one point, they would have started the season with three straight defeats. The officials truly would have heard it from Coach Lynne Roberts.

Lynne Roberts Acknowledges Sparks Survival Effort in Narrow Win Over Toronto Tempo

The LA Sparks’ 99-95 victory over the Toronto Tempo was indeed a close one, as the scoreline clearly showed. But it was also the kind of game where, in Coach Lynne Roberts’ words, they “had to do what they had to do to win.”

In the first half, Roberts was making quick substitutions and rotating players frequently. However, in the second half, especially during the fourth quarter, she leaned heavily on her starters and kept them on the floor for longer stretches.

For Roberts, though, that was simply what the Sparks had to do against a Toronto Tempo team that refused to go down easily. As she explained after the game, “I think you have to credit Toronto there. They were making a run and you got to go with the first group. So, obviously that’s not ideal in a long season, but you got to do what you got to do to get a win.”

Even though the Sparks opened the game dominantly, starting the first quarter with an explosive 10-0 run and eventually stretching that lead into a massive 21-2 advantage, the Toronto Tempo still managed to fight their way back into the contest. The expansion side cut what was once a 20-point deficit down to just a two-point game. 

Roberts acknowledged that effort during the postgame press conference and even issued a warning to the Tempo ahead of their upcoming rematch on Sunday. “They’re going to come in here on Sunday and try to beat us. It’s not going to be easy,” Roberts said. “Sunday’s going to be just as hard, if not harder.”

Even though the Tempo are an expansion team playing in their very first WNBA season, they are very much capable of pulling off an upset. Hopefully, for Coach Roberts and her Sparks side, they will be able to grind out another win when both teams meet again on Sunday.