zone

It seemed no lead was safe during the Sparks’ matchup against the Mercury on Tuesday night before Phoenix rallied for a 94-87 win at the Galen Center, snapping its three-game losing streak.

The Sparks have lost nine of their past 11 games, but both teams are still fighting for a playoff spot with fewer than a dozen games remaining. Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said pregame that the players know what is at stake during the final stretch of the season.

The Sparks (12-20) sit in 10th place, one spot ahead of the Mercury (13-22) and outside of the eight-team playoff cut line, with 12 games remaining.

Kelsey Plum, who was recently traded from the Sparks to the Mercury, did not play during the first matchup against her former team because of a lower left leg injury.

“There are no gimme games in this league for anybody, whether you are in first or last — every game is hard,” Roberts said.

Dearica Hamby and Rae Burrell led the Sparks with 19 each and Nneka Ogwumike added 18 points and nine rebounds. Cameron Brink finished with seven points and five rebounds off the bench.

After a slow start during a loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Sunday, the Sparks splashed 23 points in the first quarter.

The Sparks claimed a 47-44 halftime lead after a steal by Burrell, which she followed with a crafty reverse layup in the final seconds.

The teams traded the lead throughout the third quarter.

The Sparks pulled ahead in the fourth, but Phoenix tied it 81-81 with 3:33 remaining after a bucket from the Mercury’s top scorer Noémie Brochant.

Brochant led the team with 24 points and five steals, making it difficult for the Sparks to rally.

Ariel Atkins cut the deficit to 90-87 after banking in a three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining, but the Mercury made their free throws and pressured the Sparks’ offense.

The Sparks had difficulty solving problems caused by the Mercury’s zone defense. And dominating the paint for stretches of the game, Hamby had four turnovers, including two in the fourth.

“It was kind of those one-on-one on the inside before they went zone,” Hamby said. “I feel like the second half was every time I went to my move, they were right there and on time with the turnovers.”

Roberts said that she expects to see the same zone defense on Thursday when the Sparks travel to New York to face the Liberty (20-14).

“The ball did not move. We were trying to throw dimes when you need to make the easy play,” Roberts said. “But that’s what zone does, you know? If we had shot better, they probably would have gotten out of it.”

The government plans to enact a special law this year to designate special zones for investment projects related to artificial intelligence (AI), the presidential chief of staff said Monday, as Seoul seeks to accelerate their implementation.

Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik unveiled the plan at a press briefing following a meeting presided over by President Lee Jae Myung to assess progress on the projects.

The Lee administration announced the “three megaprojects” in late June that outlined plans for large-scale investments in a semiconductor production cluster, physical AI and AI data centers in regional areas.

Under the chip cluster project alone, the two leading chipmakers — Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. — have pledged to invest a combined 800 trillion won (US$564.9 billion), marking the single-largest investment plan to date in the southwestern city of Gwangju and the surrounding Honam area. The initiative also includes large-scale investments in Chungcheong Province and the southeastern Yeongnam region.

Through the envisioned special law on megaproject zones, the government will help streamline licensing and approval procedures, as well as environmental impact assessments, the chief of staff said.

The special law will also allow the government to swiftly establish infrastructure for electricity and water supplies, as well as living conditions for workers, including transportation, housing and education, Kang said.

At the start of the meeting, Lee urged the government to make every effort, including through deregulation, to implement the investment initiative as soon as possible.

Lee said all necessary administrative steps should be pursued simultaneously to shorten the time needed to implement the initiative while stressing that regulations should also be improved to ensure the implementation can be carried out as quickly as possible.

“We are in a situation where we must go beyond being speedy and move with the speed of lightning,” the president said.

He also instructed officials to transfer the functions of a military airport in Gwangju to other temporary facilities by 2028 to facilitate the speedy transformation of the regional airport into a semiconductor production hub.

The government earlier designated the military airport as the site for the envisioned chip cluster.

The ultimate goal of the investment initiative should be to distribute the pillars of growth across the country and make regional areas new centers of future industries, the president insisted.

“I hope that benefits from achievements garnered through the capabilities of the entire community will not be limited to certain companies or regions,” Lee said.

He said the following year should be a “golden time” that will open up a totally new world for South Korea depending on “how we prepare,” urging officials to make every effort.

Kang said that the government plans to complete the transfer of the Gwangju military airport’s functions to temporary facilities by 2028.

The government will also kick off the implementation of the investment projects in the Chungcheong and Yeongnam regions this year, worth 246 trillion won and 107 trillion won, respectively, he said.

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