The statistics say the Los Angeles Sparks are in the upper half of the WNBA defensively. The impression they left in their most recent game makes that difficult to believe.

After giving up 38 points and blowing an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter in their last outing, the Sparks will try to avoid losing their third straight home game on Thursday night when they take on the Minnesota Lynx.

Los Angeles (10-5) had reeled off six wins in seven games, including the first two of a season-high seven-game homestand before meeting Washington last Thursday. The Sparks led by four after three quarters, but were held without a point in overtime and lost 77-74.

They had an even bigger lead after three quarters on Tuesday against New York. But Los Angeles - which gives up 74.7 points per game, sixth-best in the league - was outscored 38-16 in the final 10 minutes and lost 89-78.

"We're not picking up our defensive assignments and digging deep to finish a game,'' said Sparks forward DeLisha Milton-Jones, who had 15 points. "Then when we go on offense, there's no continuity. There's confusion."

It's the second time Los Angeles has blown a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter this season. The Sparks were outscored 32-10 by Phoenix on June 6, and lost 85-79.

"At this point of the season, we should be clicking on all cylinders," Milton-Jones said. "But right now, there's a lot of guesswork.''

The Sparks hope they'll be able to get more from Lisa Leslie - the league leader with 9.5 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game - than the 11 minutes she was limited to because of foul trouble against New York.

Leslie is second on the team in scoring (15.9 points per game), behind rookie Candace Parker, who's averaging 17.2.

Minnesota (8-8) won its first five games and six of its first seven, but has struggled since. The Lynx lost five in a row from June 10-21, then after winning back-to-back games, they've lost their last two.

On Tuesday at home, Minnesota led Chicago 46-43 at halftime, but scored only 25 points in the second half - six in the third quarter - in a 73-71 loss.

One positive for Minnesota was the return of leading scorer Seimone Augustus (18.6 ppg) after the All-Star guard missed Saturday's loss at San Antonio with a toe injury. She scored a season-low 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

"We came out to start the third and I know Seimone missed a wide-open 12-footer,'' coach Don Zierden said. "We also missed at least two layups. You can't afford to miss layups in the WNBA."

Los Angeles has beaten Minnesota five straight times at Staples Center.