Candace Parker

VS. PHOENIX Time: 6:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: Prime Ticket. Records: Sparks 3-5, Mercury 7-4. Record vs. Mercury (2009): 0-1. Update: Sparks forward Candace Parker will play an undetermined number of minutes off the bench tonight, after last year's most valuable player missed training camp and the first eight games of the season while on maternity leave. Doctors cleared her to fully practice since Tuesday.

Of course, the ball wasn't in Candace Parker's very capable hands all afternoon. It only seemed that way. Yet when it needed to be there most — it wasn't. The Sparks, trailing by a point against the Minnesota Lynx, came out of their final timeout with six seconds remaining. Parker did not get the opportunity to get involved as Sparks guard Alana Beard's 16-foot jumper went off the rim. Game over. Season over. And an emotional Parker pulled her jersey up over her eyes.

Candace Parker scored 24 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked three shots to lead the Sparks past the Phoenix Mercury, 81-78, Sunday in the regular-season finale for both playoff-bound teams. Tina Thompson had 16 points, Tameka Johnson 14 and Cappie Pondexter added 13 for the Mercury, who sat league-leading scorer Diana Taurasi in the postseason tuneup. The Sparks (18-16) open the postseason at home Wednesday against Seattle (20-14). The Mercury, who have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with the league's best record at 23-11, head to San Antonio on Thursday for the first of their best-of-three playoff series.

— Kristi Toliver stood, glaring, with her hands on her hips as the seconds ticked away, the Minnesota Lynx nursing its final possession in a game in which it controlled most of them. It was a fitting stance, considering there wasn't much else the Sparks could do. Their too-little-too-late effort had failed to make up for a sluggish second quarter that did them in, 94-77, in Game 1 of the WNBA Western Conference finals. Minnesota's final shot was answered with a Sparks three-pointer from Marissa Coleman, but Candace Parker and Toliver's last-chance surge fell far short and minutes later, players in purple jerseys were dusted with the wrong-colored confetti as they slumped off the Target Center court.

Candace Parker is wearing a simple white dress and the biggest smile imaginable. She is cradling her belly, which carries her unborn child, as she poses for this cover of a magazine aimed at readers who expect to see LeBron or Manny. But on the cover of the issue of ESPN the Magazine that will be on newsstands Friday it is Parker, the Sparks star, who will look the buyer in the eye beside the headline, "How Big Can Candace Parker Get?"

The Sparks finally got their revenge. After being eliminated by the Phoenix Mercury in the Western Conference finals last season and suffering two nail-biting one point losses to the Mercury over the past four weeks, the Sparks took back some of their pride. The Sparks (2-6), who entered Tuesday's game with the worst record in the WNBA, won in a dramatic fashion by defeating the defending league champion, 92-91, in front of an announced crowd of 7,993 at the Staples Center.

Candace Parker scored a season-high 27 points and the Sparks defeated Seattle, 68-62, Tuesday night at Staples Center, denying the Storm a chance to clinch a playoff berth. Parker scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including three free throws in the final minute to secure the win. Tina Thompson had 12 points and Ebony Hoffman scored 11 to help the fifth-place Sparks (13-17) remain 11/2 games behind San Antonio for the final playoff spot in the West. The Sparks have four games remaining, three at home, including a showdown next Tuesday against San Antonio at Staples Center.

The injuries have stacked up for Candace Parker, a human pincushion the last few years. Why, then, would she risk her health by signing up for an extra four weeks of basketball in Turkey and England, not long before her WNBA season ends and her annual stint in a Russian league begins? Because one of her destinations is London. Parker doesn't see knee injuries and shoulder dislocations as much as she sees five-ring symbols and another tour with Team USA after its dominant run four years ago in Beijing.

Candace Parker accepted a pass, took two steps, then jammed the basketball over the rim and through the net with her right hand. The Sparks had ended a recent practice, but their star player had stayed over for a little extra work. "I feel good," she said, smiling. That's not something Parker has been able to say very often during her WNBA career. Since her selection by the Sparks as the first overall pick in the 2008 draft, she has played in only 35 of a possible 68 regular-season games because of pregnancy and injuries.

SPARKS VS. ATLANTA When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: Prime Ticket. Records: Sparks 9-13, Dream 11-12. Record vs. Dream: 0-1. Update: Sparks star forward Candace Parker is expected to return to the lineup tonight after being sidelined for seven weeks because of a knee injury. Parker suffered a torn lateral meniscus in her right knee while trying to dribble around New York's Quanitra Hollingsworth on June 26. She had been averaging 17.7 points and 9.7 rebounds a game.

Candace Parker understood what was happening. Words weren't needed to explain a bench visit in the third quarter of a playoff game. The Sparks star forward has been around long enough to know when a message was being sent, in this case by Coach Carol Ross. "Coach was upset at me for my lack of rebounding, which she should have been," Parker said. Parker still had plenty of time to reverse course, starting late in the third quarter and pushing through with a strong final quarter, coming through to help deliver a 93-86 victory over the San Antonio Silver Stars in Game 1 of the WNBA's Western Conference semifinals Thursday at USC's Galen Center.

Candace Parker scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Sparks to a 93-82 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Friday at Staples Center. Kristi Toliver added 18 points and Nneka Ogwumike had 17 points and eight rebounds as the Sparks recorded their eighth straight win at home to improve to 14-1. The Sparks (22-10), who had defeated Chicago on Thursday night, remained two games ahead of San Antonio for second place in the Western Conference. The Sun (22-9) suffered only its fourth road loss of the season.

LONDON - On the floor of North Greenwich Arena late Saturday night after the U.S. women's basketball team had blasted France, 86-50, in the Olympic final, Candace Parker wrapped her 3-year-old daughter, Lailaa, in her arms and kissed the girl on the cheek. Lailaa responded by kissing the gold medal hanging around Parker's neck. "She asked me where the smaller one was for her," Parker said. "We'll have to try and get her one. " I could see that day coming for little Lailaa in the 2032 Olympics, when the U.S. women's basketball team still might be riding a gold-medal streak.

When: 9:30 a.m. PDT. Where: AT&T Center. On the air: wnba.com Records: Sparks 10-5, Silver Stars 5-5. Record vs. Silver Stars: 0-2. Update: The Sparks have lost their last two games by 16 points or more, including a 91-75 loss to league-worst Tulsa on Tuesday. Sparks star forward Candace Parker had only two points and three rebounds in that game. The Sparks will play for the eighth time in 14 days against a well-rested San Antonio team that has played five fewer games than the Sparks.

Following the Sparks' first back-to-back losses of the season, first-year head Coach Carol Ross had something prepared for her team a few hours before their next game. Several players later referred to it as their first "wake-up call" of the season. At the team's Monday morning shootaround, Ross said there'd be no shooting. Instead she ran five-on-five defensive drills. It puzzled her players, but the practice also sent a message that this year's team, win or lose, will be focused on how it competes defensively.

When: 5 PDT Where: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn. On the air: TV: ESPN2. Records: Sparks 6-1, Sun 6-1. Record vs. Sun (2011): 0-2 Update: The Sparks have won four games in a row and are off to their best start in nine years. They will begin a three-game trip against the Sun, which has won three consecutive games and sits on top of the Eastern Conference. Candace Parker, who is averaging 18.7 points and 9.1 rebounds, had her fourth straight double-double (23 points, 10 rebounds)