Candace Parker displays many sides of her game in Sparks’ Game 1 win over Sky
There were a few different Candace Parkers at the Pyramid in Long Beach on Wednesday night.
There was scowling Candace Parker after two first-quarter fouls. There was screaming Candace Parker after a hard-fought layup. There was smiling Candace Parker after she poured in 19 first-half points.
And then there was smirking Candace Parker, who ducked into the lane, finished a flashy layup and glanced at a leaping Magic Johnson before running back on defense.
It was that kind of night for the veteran forward, and it amounted to a 95-75 victory for the Sparks in a playoff opener against the Chicago Sky.
Parker shined with a game-high 30 points on a day when teammate Nneka Ogwumike was honored as the WNBA’s most valuable player, and Jantel Lavender was selected the league’s sixth woman of the year. Ogwumike also backed up the MVP honor, collecting 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
The Sparks will host Game 2 of the best-of-five conference semifinal series at 7 p.m. Friday in the Staples Center.
“When she handles the ball in the middle of the floor there’s a lot of positive things that can happen,” Sparks Coach Brian Agler said of Parker. “And it’s not just her scoring.”
The Sky was without star forward Elena Delle Donne, who led them in scoring during the regular season with 21.5 points a game, because of a right thumb injury. And with Delle Donne looking on, Parker scored eight first-quarter points before turning it up in the second.
The 6-foot-4 forward started with a three-pointer. Then she executed a textbook pick and roll with Ogwumike, flipping a pass through two defenders to help Ogwumike finish the front end of a three-point play.
Then the Sky decided to double-team Parker, and she quickly decided she didn’t care. She threw a crossover between her legs, scooped the ball toward the rim with one hand and finished a finger-roll layup in traffic. Johnson, sitting courtside as a co-owner of the team, jumped to his feet. Parker offered a sneaky smile over her shoulder.
When Parker’s first-half highlights were added up, they included this: The excited approval of an NBA Hall-of-Famer and a 15-point lead for the Sparks.
“It’s always good to see big boss at our games and getting hype for us,” Parker said of Johnson.
In the third quarter, Parker completed a three-point play and later nailed a three-pointer with 11 seconds left in the quarter. In the fourth, when the Sky cut the Sparks’ lead to 11, Parker high-stepped through the lane for a layup and hit a turnaround left-handed hook two possessions later.
Whenever the Sky started to get back into the game, Parker was there to push the visitors right back out of it.
“She’s an MVP-type player, she’s had a chip on her shoulder all season. I credit players who step up,” Sky Coach Pokey Chatman said of Parker.
“That’s what big-time players do.”
As the final seconds ticked away, scowling, screaming, smiling, smirking Candace Parker sat on the bench as the Sparks’ reserves closed out the contest.
At that moment she became settled Candace Parker. If only until Game 2 tips off and it starts all over again.
Twitter: @dougherty_jesse
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