Sparks take commanding 2-0 lead over Mercury in WNBA semifinals

LONG BEACH >> Game two of the WNBA semifinals between the Sparks and Mercury was a battle between two of the all-time greats in women’s basketball. The Sparks’ Candace Parker and the Mercury’s Diana Taurasi led their teams in scoring and seemed to be competing for the most highlight-worthy play for much of the game. In the end, Parker put on one of the best shows in WNBA playoff history to lead the Sparks to an 86-72 victory.

With the win the Sparks take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Parker had 24 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals. Parker, who was the WNBA MVP in 2008 and 2013, became the sixth WNBA player in history to record a triple-double earlier this season and the first to record a triple-double with at least 11 in three different categories.

Taurasi led the Mercury with 21 points and four assists. The WNBA’s all-time leading scorer was held to six points on 10 shots in the series opener on Tuesday but got the better of the Sparks’ Alana Beard, this year’s WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Beard picked up three fouls in the first half and spent a good chunk of it on the bench while Taurasi kept up her torrid pace.

The Sparks led for most of the game as Parker put on a show. She had 19 points and 11 rebounds at halftime, becoming just the second player in history to put up those numbers in one half of a WNBA playoff game (after Lisa Leslie in 2001).

The game was intense and physical like Tuesday’s series opener. In one second-quarter sequence, the Mercury’s Brittney Griner grabbed Parker around the waist and pulled her on a play off the ball. Parker responded by setting a blindside screen on the Mercury’s Yvonne Turner at midcourt, bringing the crowd at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid to its feet.

The Sparks continued to wear Phoenix down in the third quarter as Parker and Nneke Ogwumike pushed them out to a 61-46 lead. The Mercury went on a 9-0 run in the final minute of the quarter, taking advantage of three Sparks turnovers, cutting the lead to 61-55 going into the fourth quarter.

The Mercury kept the Sparks’ lead to single digits but couldn’t cut it closer than six.

Besides Parker, the Sparks got 21 points from Odyssey Sims, 18 from Ogwumike and 15 from Chelsea Gray. The Mercury’s other top scorers were Griner with 16 points and Leilani Mitchell with 15.

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The Sparks were 16 for 17 from the free throw line.

In the other WNBA semifinal series, the top-seeded Lynx took a 2-0 lead on the Mystics with a 93-83 victory.

Game three of the Sparks-Mercury series will shift to Phoenix on Sunday. If necessary, game four would also be in Phoenix, with game five back in Southern California.