Quick Three: Fever 91 Sky 83
Chicago falls to Indiana for the second time in two weeks despite a new starting line-up and a much improved first-half performance.
The Sky (4-9) dropped their fourth straight Sunday in Indiana and now sit second from bottom in the WNBA standings with only the banged-up Wings (3-8) behind. In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Teresa Weatherspoon made a change to her starting line-up less than 48 hours after seemingly nixing the idea by leaving her post-game press conference in DC early after a follow-up question on the matter. In any case, the choice to insert Chennedy Carter and Lindsay Allen into the starting line-up made practical sense given their recent performances and had the desired impact as Chicago produced a solid 26-point first quarter. Let’s dive into what triggered that early improvement + takeaways from the three quarters that followed where the Sky were loss convincing.
1. Sky, Fever & Famous Rookies Show Improvement
Before we jump into the doom and gloom of the Sky’s current losing streak, it’s worth noting just how good of a game this was. Chicago’s aim is to win games not produce an exciting product, but the increase in quality from rookies Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and their young teams between the last time these two teams met on 6/1 and today’s game was substantial. A big part of that was the defensive energy that both teams showed. There was some great defensive moments between the two sides two weeks ago, but there was also a lot of bad offensive execution. This time around, the majority of the “bad” offense stemmed from the energy and enthusiasm that the other team was showcasing on defense. Even then, the teams combined for 33 more total points than in the previous meeting—meaning they found ways to execute in spite of the strong defense. Take this possession for instance:
I don’t think Christie Sides could (or should) ask any more from her players who executed a brilliant defensive possession. Marina Mabrey just found a way to hit a shot with an extremely high degree of difficulty. There was quite a bit of that tough shot making required throughout today’s game, and the Fever (NaLyssa Smith in particular) likely won because they found a way to make a few more of those looks than the Sky. For Indiana, the performance of Clark today also stands out. Coming into the league, her ability to play make stood out, and it seems like she’s starting to better measure where her world-class vision and touch can and cannot fit a pass through the tight windows that WNBA defenses create. She also scored very efficiently today—slashing 64/43/100 on her way to a 23-point outing. Couple that with Smith’s impact and a more efficient game from Aliyah Boston and it’s not hard to see why Indiana won today.
Overall, the improvement both teams showed bodes well for their ability to improve as the season goes on. The compact schedule in the period before the Olympics means the season is quickly sneaking up on the halfway mark, but that still leaves plenty of time for these two teams to make important progress towards their 2025 goals in the final 25 or so games of 2024.
2. Chicago’s Transition Defense Out of Sync
For whatever reason, the Sky never looked in rhythm defending against Indiana on the break today. The stats show that the Sky actually won the fast-break scoring battle 17-12, but the eye test tells a very different story. Of course, Chicago still has explosive players like Carter and disruptive defenders like Allen and Dana Evans who create easy looks on the break, but they lacked the defensive coordination as a unit to stop the Fever from doing the same today. On more than a few occasions, the Fever simply out hustled the Sky down the floor and created a numerical advantage that’s difficult to overcome if the team in possession is careful moving the basketball. Even when the Sky did have the numbers needed, their organization wasn’t good enough and open looks followed as a result.
This play, where Boston gets an easy look early in the fourth, is a perfect example of the overall disfunction that was present throughout the game.
The Sky have the bodies needed to match-up 1-v-1, but each of Allen, Carter and Mabrey commits towards Clark by at least a step. Clark can pass the ball either way and leave her teammate with an open look, and Carter’s closeout shows just how much work is left to be done if Lexie Hull decides to pull the trigger. Then, if you go all the way back to the start of the play, Cardoso actually has a step or two head start on Boston but has relinquished inside position by the time they get in the front court. Once Boston catches the ball so close to the basket with no real help at the rim (Allen is nearly a foot shorter), the outcome is basically decided. Now, this is just one possession and defending in transition is challenging; so, it’s not worth overreacting to this. However, when you see plays like this happen again and again throughout the course of the game, it’s worth considering why.
One problem I noted on multiple occasions was players looking for their match-up in transition. This wasn’t a factor in the play above, but there was a handful of times where Boston or another Fever player blew right by a Sky defender who had their head turned looking for their true positional match-up. It’s nice to find match-ups and avoid a mismatch when you can, but it’s not realistic to do so every time in transition. Finding a body of any kind often allows your defense to survive the initial attack and work your way back to natural match-ups as the possession goes along. On too many occasions today, the Sky got caught trying to find specific match-ups and let someone else’s assignment get a wide-open look as a result.
Communication is also key to transition defense, and the Sky’s defense—for all its successes today—definitely needed a little more volume in key moments. The late game basket by Smith that killed off Chicago’s chances to win is a great example. Carter and Reese are guarding the same player for a few seconds with no attempt of any kind made to move towards Smith. You’d think one of Carter or Cardoso—who have Reese guarding no one in front of them—would’ve called that out and Reese would be scrambling to find the open player. Instead, both Carter and Reese are flat footed when the pass is thrown—suggesting no one has made the needed call out.
3. Marina Mabrey Keeps Shooting
After the loss on Friday in Washington, there was a lot of dialogue (albeit from some unreliable voices) about whether the change to the Sky’s starting line-up should involve Mabrey moving to the bench, but that simply doesn’t make practical sense for Chicago—as evidenced by their star player’s performance today. No matter what happens with her efficiency, the Sky need Mabrey to keep shooting until she finds her groove again. Whether it’s due to a dip in confidence, bad luck or great defense against her, the version of Mabrey that is passive and not shooting the basketball is nowhere near her best. Of course, there’s a delicate balance—especially when a team is as intentional about framing her out of the game as the Mystics were on Friday—between continuing to get shots up and forcing up looks that have no hope of going in, but there’s no solid evidence in Mabrey’s past two seasons with Chicago that she’s the type of player that will continually force up looks that have no chance to go in.
Mabrey started well—hitting 3 of her opening 5 shots—but only hit one of the next five before halftime, all while being heavily targeted by Indiana’s guards off the dribble at the opposite end. Out of halftime, Weatherspoon deserves a lot of credit for going right to a designed play that got Mabrey a clean look which she made—restoring her confidence and leading to a 10-point third. The uptick in shot-making after the break also seemed to have a positive impact on Mabrey’s defense as she was far more resolute in the second half and was admirable in working through the variety of physical screens that Indiana sent her way. In total, the message in today’s 22 pt bounce-back performance was clear: Mabrey remains the Sky’s best and most important offensive player and doesn’t belong anywhere other than in the starting five.