{"id":1922,"date":"2022-05-23T02:52:10","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T02:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/?p=1922"},"modified":"2022-05-30T23:39:24","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T23:39:24","slug":"candace-parker-makes-history-as-mystics-fall-to-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/23\/candace-parker-makes-history-as-mystics-fall-to-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"Candace Parker makes history as Mystics fall to Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It was a battle of the WNBA Champions when the Washington Mystics took on the Chicago Sky at the Entertainment and Sports Arena on Sunday afternoon. The first half started off in the Mystics favor but the Sky\u2019s chemistry was the difference maker that led them to a 82-73 win. Candace Parker also recorded a historic triple-double that catapulted her into WNBA history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specifically, with the triple-double being the second of her career, she is now just one of three players in league history with multiple triple-doubles, joining Sheryl Swoopes and Courtney Vandersloot. At 36 years old, she is also the oldest player in WNBA history with a triple-double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Candace Parker\u2019s triple-double vs. the Mystics is the 2nd triple-double of her career, making her just 1 of 3 players in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WNBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WNBA<\/a> history with multiple triple-doubles, joining Sheryl Swoopes &amp; Courtney Vandersloot. She is also the oldest player in league history w\/ a triple-double. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZMmzsrfIKf\">pic.twitter.com\/ZMmzsrfIKf<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Double Take Sports (@dbltakesports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dbltakesports\/status\/1528518439345836032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 22, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have a lot of good things to say,\u201d Mystics coach Mike Thibault said afterwards. \u201cOur offense is just not smooth at all right now. Defense was good in stretches and it was bad in stretches. We saw a team that won a championship and kind of knows how to play together right now. They played in championship form and we weren\u2019t good enough in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game also marked the return of former Mystic Emma Meesseman who finished the game with 11 points. Although they were competitors on the floor, there was still a lot of nostalgia about her time in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEmma is a great player,\u201d Ariel Atkins said. \u201cWe all know that. We\u2019ve watched her play in the W and around the world so that\u2019s no shock to anybody. But I miss Emma as a person more than anything. That\u2019s my friend. I like having good humans around me and she\u2019s somebody that fits that role.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without <a href=\"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/16\/alysha-clarks-adversity-leads-to-key-self-revelation\/\">Alysha Clark<\/a> in the starting lineup, the Mystics dominated in the first half, holding the Sky to 38 points in addition to containing their stars and controlling the pace of the game. Shakira Austin was also having her way. The Sky didn\u2019t have an answer for Austin as she went into halftime with 12 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shakira Austin was a bright spot for the Mystics in the first half. Coach Mike Thibault shares his thoughts on her performance.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Mystics25?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Mystics25<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WNBATwitter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WNBATwitter<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Yu8z7AZjLP\">pic.twitter.com\/Yu8z7AZjLP<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Double Take Sports (@dbltakesports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dbltakesports\/status\/1528517213392711680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 22, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the Mystics offensive woes began to show up late in the third quarter and that\u2019s when the Sky\u2019s magic started happening. Candace Parker led the way with 16 points followed by Azura Stevens (13) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/33952458\/chicago-sky-activate-wnba-finals-mvp-kahleah-copper\">Kahleah Cooper<\/a> (12 pts), and Rebekah Gardner\/Emma Meesseman (11 pts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Atkins, the lack of stops and inability to make shots was the deciding factor in the team falling apart down the final stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think we were allowing them to do whatever they wanted on the other end,\u201d Atkins explained. \u201cWhen you allow a team like Chicago to get going and to get that confidence and chemistry, it\u2019s a hard thing to stop. Then when you got us playing the way we\u2019re playing on the other end, it\u2019s a hard combination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With four three-point field goals today, Atkins (222) passed Alana Beard (220) for the second-most three-point field goals made in franchise history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2021 WNBA champions were a good test for the Mystics who learned some tough lessons from the loss. Now they have to apply it to the Atlanta Dream when they\u2019re back at home for another matchup on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Candace Parker recorded a historic triple-double as the Washington Mystics fell to the Chicago Sky 82-73 in a battle of the WNBA Champions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mystics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/MysticsSky2_sc.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1922"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1927,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions\/1927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}