Sparks 82, Sky 77

On the night that the Sparks finally win at home again, and Sylvia Fowles is in the building, I have picture loading problems. *Sigh* But it was a good game.

They started off with the clocks set for a 12-minute quarter, but they fixed that. Candace Parker looked amazing with a new hairdo and a white pant suit. Betty Lennox was back on the bench, and trying to boost her teammates during timeouts. Fowles began with a block party - I guess she had all of her blocked shots in the first quarter.

The Sparks have become better since I last saw them a month ago. Their defense still allows too much scoring to happen, but their own offense has picked up. In the first half of the game, in particular, they were flowing. Marie Ferdinand-Harris really is the conduit on offense much of the time. LA is also getting more rebounds. They're now half a game out of fourth place in the Western Conference, which is hard to believe.

Box score.

Big ups to Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton for her career-high 16 points.

On the non-technical tip, the biggest difference I noticed was that the entire Sparks team seems more relaxed. They're letting the game come to them more instead of forcing it, and as a result, it all looked easier. I hope they continue that philosophy as they go forward.

The renewal packages are out for Sparks season ticket holders, and I wish I could put up the picture I took of the flyer they had. It's a photo of Candace Parker from the back, looking over her shoulder. Her left shoulder has a bionic-looking picture put on top and it reads that Candace will be "rebuilt for 2011." The catch question is, "She'll be back, will you?" They also got Candace and her daughter doing a spot for it on the jumbotron during a timeout. It's pretty cute.

It's nice to see things picking up for the Sparks. They walked off the court with heads up and smiles on their faces tonight.