On Sunday (Aug. 29 ET), for the third time in a fortnight, the Chicago Sky were taking on the WNBA's defending champions in the Seattle Storm and for a third time, they come out victorious.
However, unlike the previous two encounters this time, the Sky beat the Storm by a convincing franchise-record margin of 32 (107-75). The previous two games were decided by a combined six points including an overtime contest on Aug. 15.
Former two-time league MVP Candace Parker was the game's leading scorer with 25 points and was one of six Sky players in double figures. The 25 points are a season-high for Parker as she also tallied nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks while shooting 11-of-17 from the field.
This is Sky's third straight victory and the fourth in six games since the Olympic break, which improves their record to 14-12. As the sixth seed, they now lead the seventh-seeded Dallas Wings by 3.0 games with both teams having only six games remaining on their slate.
As a team, the Sky shot 56.2 percent from the field while tying the franchise record for 3-pointers made as they knocked down 15 at an efficiency of 68.2 percent. Meanwhile, they held their opponents to shooting splits of 45.3 percent (29-of-64) from the field and 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from beyond the arc.
For the Storm, while reigning Finals MVP Breanna Stewart was the top performer with 19 points, six rebounds and two assists, five-time Olympic Gold Medalist Sue Bird moved past Tamika Catchings on the league's all-time leaderboard for field goals.
The Seattle franchise has had multiple moments to celebrate since returning from the break, a couple of which came last week. First, on Aug. 12, they beat a competitive Connecticut Sun handily to become winners of the inaugural WNBA Commissioner's Cup.
Then, last Tuesday (Aug. 24), they celebrated their 2020 title with a visit to the White House where they were hosted by the 46th President of the United States Joe Biden. A day later, they became the first team to book their spot in the 2021 WNBA playoffs.
Having said that, the other results on the floor haven't been great since the break. This loss to the Sky is their third straight and fifth in seven games since the Olympic break.
With only four games remaining, they are most likely out of contention for the top two seeds which could have sealed them playoff byes.
That's not all, close on their heels are the fourth-seeded Minnesota Lynx and fifth-seeded Phoenix Mercury. They Lynx trail them by a game having played four fewer games while the Mercury trail them by 1.5 games having played three fewer games.
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