Candace Parker delivers another classic to lead Chicago Sky to series-evening win over Connecticut Sun

CHICAGO — Behind a vintage performance from 14-year vet and two-time WNBA champion Candace Parker, the 2-seed and defending WNBA champion Chicago Sky evened their best-of-five semifinal series against the 3-seed Connecticut Sun at 1-1 with an 85-77 win Wednesday night at Wintrust Arena.

In her second of consecutive dominant playoff outings, Parker finished with a team-high 22 points, four rebounds, four assists and three blocks — marking her 25th career 20-point playoff game. It ties her with Tamika Catchings for third in WNBA history behind Maya Moore (28) and Diana Taurasi (43).

Across the Sky's first-round series win over the New York Liberty and the first two games of the semifinals versus the Sun, Parker — a two-time WNBA MVP — is averaging 16.8 points, 11.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, making her just the second player in league history to average 15/10/5 over a five-game span in the WNBA postseason, according to Elias.

But when the 36-year-old Parker was asked whether she agrees with some onlookers who believe this is the prime of her career, she disagreed.

«I don't think so,» Parker said postgame. «I think younger CP in the playoffs was more dominant. But I think just mentally understanding moments and things that I didn't understand when I was fighting to get to the Finals or fighting to win in the playoffs [is the difference].»

Regardless, one thing is for sure: «I'm happy to play with her in this series,» teammate Emma Meesseman said, «because going against her is not fun, I think.»

Parker's memorable performance happened concurrently with that of another all-time sports legend: In what's expected to be the final tournament of her storied career, 40-year-old Serena Williams defeated Anett Kontaveit, the