On Friday, we got some news that shouldn’t have surprised anyone - Candace Parker is planning on making her first appearance of 2009 against the Mercury this Sunday.

Why doesn’t that surprise me? 3 reasons…

• It’s at home, and the Sparks haven’t lost at home all season
• She dunked the ball in practice this week
• It’s a nationally televised game on NBA TV

Some may think she’s rushing it, but Gaines has been preparing for the game Sunday as if both Parker and Leslie would play. “They’re saying Candace and Lisa won’t play, but I don’t believe that,” Gaines said at practice Friday morning before the official announcement came out that Candace will, in fact, play. “I’m prepping the team and staff as if they’ll both play.”

After Sacramento beat the Lynx on Thursday, the Mercury jumped into a two-way tie for 1st place in the West with Seattle just a 1/2 game behind.  With as tight as the race is, it just makes every game that much more important. “With basically a three-way tie for 1st, we just have to keep looking forward,” Gaines said. “There is no easy game in the WNBA.”

After a tumultuous start to the season, mostly due to injuries and absent players, the Sparks are now 3-5 and suddenly healthy again. Candace won’t need much time getting acclimated to the speed of the game again and Lisa Leslie could return in just a few games. In their absence however, L.A’s bench has really stepped up. “Oh, their bench is amazing,” Gaines said. “They are so deep that their bench players would be starters on other teams.”

In order to hand the Sparks their first loss at home, the Mercury will once again need to do what they do best - score. “We just have to play Phoenix basketball,” Temeka Johnson said. “We’ve had some great practices and if we play our style of basketball we are hoping it will carry over in L.A.”

In their last game against the Sparks, the Mercury needed a big run late in the game to secure the win. Fueled by Temeka’s 10 points in the period, the Mercury ended up going on a 13-2 run with just under 3 minutes left and won the game 89-80. In spite of being out-rebounded by 17, giving up 22 2nd chance points, 21 offensive rebounds, and allowing 40 points in the paint the Mercury found a way to win.

However, with Candace back in the line-up, Phoenix won’t be able to rely on a run to end the game. “They’re coming off a big win against Seattle,” Diana Taurasi said on Friday. “It’s going to be a tough game but we’ll be ready.”

Key Player - Temeka Johnson

The Mercury go as Temeka goes, both offensively and defensively. They’ll need her to be her usual energetic and passionate self on Sunday and allow her to distribute the ball to her teammates, something she does exteremely well (averaging 5.1 assists a game).

In the last game versus the Sparks, Meek virtually won the game for Phoenix scoring 10 of her 18 points in the 4th quarter to go along with her 7 assists and 3 rebounds on the night.

When Temeka dishes out 6 assists or more, the Mercury are unbeaten.

Key Stats - Scoring and Turnovers

When the Mercury score over 90 points a game, they haven’t lost. The Sparks have improved their defense of late and now hold opponents to an average of 69.9 points per game so the key for the Mercury will be spacing and keeping their turnovers below 10.

On the road the Mercury average 18.3 turnovers which is good for 2nd in the league.

Keys to the Game

• Limit turnovers on the road
• Floor spacing
• Getting out in transition and pushing the ball for a full 40 minutes
• The usuals: rebounding, 2nd chance points, and points in the paint

July 4th, 2009 9:56 AM