Too Much Sun for the Dislocated Sparks

On Thursday, soon after the announcement that Candace Parker, the Los Angeles Sparks influential forward, would not play for the rest of the 2010 Season was more than a mere blow to the arteries for Parker's career as well as the Sparks. Parker dislocated her left shoulder coming down for a rebound getting tangled up with a Minnosta Lynx in the 1st Half last Sunday..managing a win without Parker over the Lynx, 88-84. Parker's overdue surgery has now been forced to be scheduled soon.



After giving birth and finally assessing that nagging shoulder injury, here's hoping that 3rd time is a charm -- that Parker will come back to truly flip the WNBA around for the better.



According to Sparks Media Relations, it is "very likely" she will also miss the World Championships in Sept. Candace Parker averaged 20.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game this season.

"Losing Candace is definitely a huge loss for us and the league in general," L.A. Sparks general manager Penny Toler said. "We still have a great team that is led by two Olympians and loaded with talent. Our goal, as always, is still to win."

And Toler couldn't be more on the money.

However, Friday night turned into its own soap opera in the Sparks' 1st (full) game without Candace Parker. Tina Charles had career highs of 26 points and a team-record 19 rebounds and the Connecticut Sun rallied from a 16-point deficit for a 78-75 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks.

Sandrine Gruda added 12 points for the Sun (7-3), who moved within one game of 1st place Atlanta in the Eastern Conference.
Tina Thompson had 24 points and Marie Ferdinand-Harris added 16 points for the Sparks (3-8), L.A. is currently 5th in the WNBA's five-team Western Conference.


The Sparks took on the Connecticut Sun on the Laker championship ground(at Staples Center); Kristi Toliver took a moment (on Gospel Night) to announce Parker would "not be playing (the rest of the season)..Lets get this win for C.P.!"..Which no doubt became painfully clear it was not an easy convince to articulate to the crowd, yet inspired a new level of excellence to be achieved. Candace Parker sat with the Sparks bench in support while retiree Lisa Leslie rooted from the other side of the court.

The game looked promising as Tina Thompson scored her 6,000th career point in the 1st quarter making her only the 2nd in WNBA history, trailing behind Lisa Leslie with 6,263 career points. The momentus achievement certainly made for a nice momentum booster as Thompson kept her game face on focusing on the task at hand - getting the "W." L.A. continued to lead at the half 43-36.

It wasn't until the 3rd quarter where the girth of body was noticeable missing. The Sparks lead was blown with the Sun's Kara Lawson, Tina Charles, and Gruda consistently shooting from the outside. Sparks failed to score for more than 6 minutes that later allowed the Sun rally to take place from a 16-point deficit enhancing the drama thoroughly taking it down to the wire.

..Into the 4th quarter proved to be a battle where the slightest of mistakes (i.e. giving away shots in the 3rd) could be the deciding factor in the end. After Gruda made a jumper with 54 seconds on the clock, Sparks' Marie Ferdinand-Harris made a questionable basket that appeared to be a 3-pointer that could have tied the game at 76-76 with 1.5 seconds left. After the crowd assumed it was a 3, there was celebration and disbelief the Sparks could come back once again with such a clutch play. Due to the annoying, yet reliable nature of technology - instant replay quickly became available for the officials to review... the crowd slowly was silence waiting in anticipation. The officials went with the 2-pointer leaving the Sun to keep their lead at 76-75. Tina Thompson's 0.5 second hail mary shot was no good, and the Sun (7-3), closed it out in LA LA Land with a win over the Sparks (3-8), 78-75.





Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press/STATS LLC