Quick Three: Sky 78 Dream 69
Chicago picks up their second head-to-head win over fellow playoff competitors Atlanta in the last 8 days with a strong defensive performance in the fourth.
The Sky picked up their third win in four games on Wednesday against the Dream with a strong fourth quarter effort allowing them to pull away from what had been a tie game after three. It’s not likely to go down as the prettiest game of the Sky season, but today’s win was reflective of the progress towards instilling the culture that Teresa Weatherspoon has underlined since day one. The Sky came out on top in a number of the key hustle stats, and the accumulation of those marginal advantages created was enough to give the Sky the win. Let’s dive into what went well before Chicago returns to action tomorrow night against the New York Liberty.
1. ‘Hustle’ buckets give Sky clutch victory.
Aside from a late score and assist by Chennedy Carter that put the finishing touches on the victory, much of the Sky’s late-game execution was still far from where they’d like it to be. Even then, they still found ways to piece together the scores needed to stay in front with their work on the offensive glass and on the defensive end. Indeed, between the 5-and-a-half minute mark and Carter’s key bucket with 49.2 remaining, the Sky scored just 5 points but managed to sneak ahead by a single point after conceding just 4 points to Atlanta in that stretch with some tight defense at the opposite end. Their offense in that stretch of nearly 5 minutes came from a Marina Mabrey lay-up in transition (after a steal), and an Isabelle Harrison putback on an offensive board—meaning it was hustle, rather than precision, that kept the scoreboard turning over. The Sky can’t count on that type of execution continuing to earn them results, but they can take great pride in the fact that, with both offenses struggling, their effort and intensity was enough to make sure it was them who came out on top.
Weatherspoon also deserves credit for finding the right mix of players to win the game late on. While Kamilla Cardoso had a great second half (more on that to come), Weatherspoon made the decision to go with Harrison alongside Angel Reese in her closing line-up, and that paid dividends as Harrison scored three of the Sky’s final eight field goals from the field. Dana Evans, likewise, was chosen to be in the closing line-up and scored two of the other five buckets at the end of the game—with the assist to Mabrey also contributing to the Sky’s 24-point final frame. Evans, given the performances of Lindsay Allen over the last month, is far from a given in the closing five, but Weatherspoon’s decision to stick with what she felt like was the hot hand turned out to be extremely prescient. Evans’ energy at the defensive end was key to the Sky limiting the Dream in the clutch stretch of the game and, ultimately, picking up their 6th clutch win in 16 tries.
2. Cardoso shines in second half.
In the end, Cardoso filled up the box score with 8 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, an assist and a steal, but a stretch late in the third and early in the fourth where she scored all of Chicago’s points for over four minutes showcased just how special she can be with the proper placement of entry pass. Carter and Mabrey each found her with a pair of assists and the quality of passes they sent her way made the finishes very simple. The Sky can one day hope for Cardoso to be a back-to-basket force, but there’s plenty in her game for her to quickly put up 8-10 points every single game with this type of passing from her teammates. As the season goes on (and indeed as the Sky eventually look towards 2025), maximizing Cardoso’s baseline ability as a finisher has to be a priority for making the team’s offense as efficient and as strong as possible. Like with Reese, the Sky can work on adding the attributes needed for her to be an offensive focal point in the offseason and over the life of her rookie contract, but utilizing everything that she has ‘out of the box’ would already give the Sky’s offense a very valuable shot in the arm.
The other piece of a performance like this which is promising is the film it gives Weatherspoon to take back to her team. We often think of the bad film that a coach will use to rip into their team and teach them a lesson as being the most valuable, but there’s arguably even more to be learned from a positive example like this. Mabrey and Carter, who’ve probably been the Sky’s best entry passers, can see the blueprint to unlocking Cardoso in the plays they made today and will know that continuing to put their talented rookie in those positions will only help Cardoso (and the offense as a whole) to be as successful as possible moving forward.
3. Three-point volume trending upwards.
The Sky shot their fifth highest amount of three-point attempts (17) so far in the 2024 season today and have now shot 15.6 threes per game in their last seven games. Though their efficiency (30% in that 7-game sample) can still use some work, the uptick in quantity is noteworthy after the Sky shot just 14.2 threes per game in their opening 14 games of the season. Crucially, Chicago is also getting a wider variety of shooters to take those shots in recent games as well. Today, each of Mabrey, Reese, Carter, Allen, Evans, Michaela Onyenwere and Diamond DeShields attempted a three with all but Reese and DeShields making at least one. Of course, Weatherspoon has never wanted her team taking threes just for the sake of it, but a number of players being willing to take threes no doubt has a marginal impact on how defenses approach playing the Sky over time.
That’s not to say opposing defenses are rushing out to the perimeter to contest a shot from Carter (20% 3PT) or DeShields (19%) any time soon, but there’s subtle adjustments that happen as a team shows a willingness to take more shots from the outside. Those adjustments are numerous and vary by match-up, but they’ll all have some kind of positive impact for the Sky’s paint scoring efforts. At the same time, the variety of players shooting the ball from long-range forces the opposing defense to think differently about how they match-up against a player like Mabrey. Again, the reliability of these shots needs to be proven over a bigger sample size before we see huge adjustments, but the Sky’s three-point offense, at least for now, doesn’t seem to rest entirely on one player’s shoulders. If the Sky can keep up with this variety (and certainly if they can match the 35% they shot today which would put them in the top three in the league for the season), they figure to be a much more dangerous team whenever Mabrey can bust out of her current slump. In the meantime, the additional three-point takes (and makes) from players like Evans and Onyewnere are helping drastically improve the Sky’s odds of winning games even while their best long-range shooter struggles.