The Phoenix Mercury were hovering around .500 at this point in 2007, before going on an end-of-the-season tear that culminated in their first WNBA title.

They'd love to make a similar run this season, but their recent play hasn't left much reason to believe they can.

The Mercury will look to avoid dropping their fourth straight game on Thursday when they conclude their season series with the visiting Los Angeles Sparks.

Phoenix (9-12) was 12-10 last season before winning 11 of its final 12 games and eventually taking home its first league championship. The Mercury have the league's two leading scorers, Diana Taurasi (23.6 points per game) and Cappie Pondexter (23.3 ppg), but they're also far and away the WNBA's worst defensive team, allowing opponents to score an average of 90.1 points.

Defense has been Phoenix's downfall during a three-game losing streak that's left it tied with Houston for last place in the West. The Mercury are giving up 97.0 points per game during the slide, including a 97-87 loss to conference-leading San Antonio on Tuesday.

"It's just giving people easy points," said Taurasi, who scored 23 in the loss. "It's like every game we play in people get 30 easy points. They don't even have to think or play hard, they get 30 easy points."

Phoenix has been at its worst within its own conference. The Mercury are 7-3 against the East, but just 2-9 versus the West.

One of those wins against the West came in their first trip to Los Angeles. Phoenix turned in one of its best defensive performances of the season on June 6 at Staples Center, limiting the Sparks to 10 points in the fourth quarter and rallying from 16 down in the final period to win 85-79.

Los Angeles (13-8) has topped the Mercury in the teams' others two meetings, winning 99-94 in Phoenix on May 17 and 91-80 at home on July 6, when Taurasi scored a season-low eight points.

The Sparks are starting a six-game road trip before the league takes a month-long break for the Olympics. They've dropped three straight away from home, including their last two games by an average margin of 18.0 points.

At Staples Center on Monday, Los Angeles got 24 points and 10 rebounds from rookie Candace Parker en route to a 75-62 win over San Antonio.

"We know that we are very close to where we want to be,'' said the Sparks' Lisa Leslie, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds. "We've just got to keep tweaking a few things to get it finished. Regardless of whatever the records are, we still feel good about ourselves and our chances."

Leslie is averaging 19.7 points and 14.0 rebounds against the Mercury this season. Parker, who scored 34 points in her WNBA debut at Phoenix on May 17, is averaging 28.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in the season series.