Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Candace Parker Serves It Up!

It was about six years ago when it first happened, but now another Los Angeles Spark player has done it again. In a game against the Miami Sol, the Sparks' Lisa Leslie received a pass from her team mate Latasha Byears on a fast break, took it to the hole, dunking for the first time in WNBA history. The crowd and the team went crazy.

Well, over the weekend rookie extraordinaire Candace Sparks matched that historic moment. In a game against the Indiana Fever, after a missed shot and long rebound, Parker ran the court, found herself alone and dunked the ball, making it her first dunk in a WNBA game and only the second dunk in WNBA history (Lisa's dunk came in a playoff game).

"Just trying not to miss," Parker told the LA Times of her approach on the dunk. "It's exciting to do it in front of Los Angeles, at home and on the same basket that Lisa did it on."

3 comments:

Malcolm said...

Although not surprising, it's still amazing how fast Candace Parker's star has rose in the WNBA. Even though she's a rookie, I think that she's already the face of the league.

I saw Candace's dunk on Around the Horn and PTI and I thought it was kinda cool. In this Sportscenter world that we live in, I think the WNBA is going to need more dunking/highlight worthy plays in order to boost interest.

Have you ever seen her brother Anthony (who plays for the Toronto Raptors)? To me, he looks just like Rashaard.

pjazzypar said...

Hey Malcolm,

Candace was a big deal before she came into the league, so her arrival was much anticipated. I am glad she has lived up to the hype. I love the WNBA; however my feelings are bitter sweet because by the time there was a successful league for women, the Cheryl Millers and Pam McGees were too mature to participate as athletes. I think Pam did play for a year. Last time I saw her she was one of Laimbeer's assistants.

Anthony does look a little like Rashaard.

Malcolm said...

There's no doubt about Candace being big before she came in the league. I started to mention that I watched several of her college games during her years at Tennessee. However, it didn't flow with the rest of my comments and I was too lazy to do a decent edit job. :-)

You made an excellent point about the WNBA coming too late for some of the greats like Cheryl Miller. I think alot of people forgot just how good she and some of her contemporaries were, which is a shame.