Stewie won the battle by a long shot with Parker this night despite Parker's numbers. The number of forced time running out shots and clock violations the Sparks had were a result of Parkers over dominance of the ball. She has a really good two man game going with Nika so I believe when Nika is out she really has no one else she can consistently distribute the ball too, so she then feels justified in looking for her own shot. She is not the type of player who facilitated offensive ball movement. Too often Parkers individual stat success comes at the expense of her team mates production. This is what I was referring to in a previous post on what Parkers role should be with the Sparks. Parker's over dominance of controlling the ball made her slack off in effort on the defensive end. She lost her man continually.
I think games like this provides the perfect example and justification for why she was not picked for the USA team.
Doug Collins once referred to Carmelo Anthony as a “ball movement killer,” implying that because Anthony would dribble around excessively prior to shooting the ball, his frustrated teammates would end up standing around watching. Parker has the same inclination at times.
It’s OK once and awhile, so long as a player is making shots. But if a star player is cold, or dominates the ball, it can cause problems on a team.
