Candace Parker and the Chicago Sky did the damn thing, taking the WNBA title in four games with an 80-74 win. They were down 14 at one point in the second half, but roared back through some Allie Quigley threes, some tight defense, and some blown layups from the Mercury, including stalwarts Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi (who didn’t handle it all that well). It’s Chicago’s first championship in five years, and their first basketball one in 23.
Parker went for 16 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists. Courtney Vandersloot had 15 assists, and the capper with this magical ball fake:
Griner nearly ended up in the sixth row. The enduring image will be Parker trying to hold back the tears for the last 10 seconds of the game, or her running to her family when the clock struck zero, and if that’s what you take from all of this, that’s fine. I’ll remember this three:
It tied the game after the Sky’s comeback, and it’s one of those rare sports moments where everything just lines up. Almost as if it were being scripted. The momentum for the whole playoff run channeled into that comeback and that comeback into that three. Parker the ultimate glue that kicked the Sky off when she returned from injury, just in time., it all funneling to her and that tying three.
Even in the offseason, when Parker came home, it felt like things lining up in a way they don’t usually. One of our few hometown stars choosing to come back and play here. Dwyane Wade did, of course, and it was just this side of disaster. Both were meant to bring a team out of the wilderness, as the Sky hadn’t really been relevant in some time.
It all just kept falling into place for Parker and the Sky, and that three...it’s that time where you can hear and feel the click. Everything snapping into place, in a cosmic way. A true MOMENT, someone exactly where they’re supposed to be. Glad I tuned into the Sky’s run just in time to appreciate it in some small way.
#SkyTown, baby.