Enigma Software Group Custom Removal In Action. You have reached a degraded version of ESPN.com because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer. For a complete ESPN.com experience, please upgrade or use a Michelle Smith, Contributor, espnW.com 160d Defending champion Sparks remain 'work in progress' as All-Star break nears, Alana Beard had never experienced the elation and satisfaction of winning a championship until last October, but after more than a dozen years in professional basketball, she understood the reality. At some point, after the celebration dies down, you have to get your team together and try to do it again. The Los Angeles Sparks, who improved to 14-5 with Monday's home victory over the Indiana Fever, host the Chicago Sky on Thursday in their final contest before Saturday's All-Star Game in Seattle (ABC, 3:30 p.m. As the midseason break approaches, Los Angeles has a solid grip on the No. 2 spot in the standings behind the league-leading Minnesota Lynx (15-2). The Sparks have hit a couple of rough patches -- a pair of two-game losing streaks, one early in the season and another earlier this month -- but are largely playing good, steady basketball on a path toward the playoffs.

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The core of last year's championship team returned with Candace Parker, 2016 MVP Nneka Ogwumike, Beard and Jantel Lavender primed again for significant roles. But there was also substantial change: Point guard Kristi Toliver left for Washington and was replaced in the starting lineup by Chelsea Gray, a starter for the first time in her career; Riquna Williams, who missed 2016 with an injury, and talented, young guard Odyssey Sims were brought in. Sparks coach Brian Agler admits he knew more about his team last year at this point than he does this season. But that is not a bad thing.

'We are moving in the right direction,' he said. 'It's a puzzle. Even though we had a lot of people back, we had several new people, and it's been an ongoing process to put it all together. But I didn't expect any different.'

Neither did Beard. 'If you didn't understand that we were going to be a different team this season, you were not living in reality,' Beard said. 'But I don't mind not knowing, I'm confident about where we are.'

Ogwumike said the Sparks have been going through a 'spring cleaning' during the first half of the WNBA season. 'We are working on ourselves, focusing on what we can do better as a team and what individual people can do to contribute,' Ogwumike said. 'There are definitely some things that are a work in progress for us, but we are building off last year in our own way. In some cases, that requires starting from scratch.' Beard, who led Duke to consecutive Final Fours in 2002 and 2003, said she came into the season with an open mind and a big smile after winning the first title of her career. And with the awareness that it guarantees nothing going forward. If the Sparks want to become the first team in the WNBA to win back-to-back titles since Los Angeles did it in 2000 and 2001, they are going to need some of the same things that got them there last time -- and quite a few different ones.