Rested Sparks face Chicago in WNBA semifinals

When the Sparks take the court Wednesday to start their playoffs, it will be 12 days since they last played a game.

The Sparks finished with the second-best regular season record in the WNBA, at 26-8, which netted them a double-bye to the semifinals of the playoffs.

Well rested, the Sparks will square off against the Chicago Sky at 7 p.m. the Pyramid at Long Beach State (TV: ESPN2) in the opener of a five-game series.

The fourth-seeded Sky beat the Atlanta Dream on Sunday to advance to the semis.

The last time the Sparks took time off was for the WNBA’s monthlong break for the Summer Olympics in Rio. The Sparks were 21-3 before the break, then lost two straight — and five of eight games — immediately after it.

Avoiding another flat return to the court is critical if the Sparks hope to win their first title since 2002.

The Sparks are led by forward Nneka Ogwumike, who was named league MVP on Tuesday. She averaged 19.7 points and 9.1 rebounds a game in the regular season and posted 18 double-doubles in 33 games.

“There’s more focus on small things, and I wouldn’t say that we’re going as hard as we were before,” Ogwumike said recently of how the Sparks’ latest break differed from the one during the Rio Games. “I think Coach [Brian Agler] understands we have to get better but also prepare our bodies physically.”

Agler added that he shortened practices and focused on getting his players’ fresh for the playoff run.

If the upcoming series does go five games, the Sparks will play fives times in nine days after not playing a game in nearly two weeks.

Chicago forward Elena Della Donne, last season’s MVP, was sidelined against the Dream because of surgery on her right thumb on Sept. 13. Her status for the Sparks series remains unclear.

The Sparks won all three of their meetings against the Sky this season.

On the other side of the bracket, the defending WNBA champions and top-seeded Minnesota Lynx host the eighth-seeded Phoenix Mercury in Game 1 Wednesday.

Now, the Sparks hope to start fast and keep up that pace throughout the playoffs.

“It’s real strange, real strange,” Agler said of waiting 12 days to start the postseason. “But we’ll be ready this time around. I mean we have to be.”

jesse.dougherty@latimes.com