Quick Three: Liberty 85 Sky 66
First game without Vandersloot ends in defeat with Chicago looking for offensive answers and defensive consistency.
The WNBA waits for no one and the Sky, just forty-eight hours after finding out they lost marquee offseason signing Courtney Vandersloot for the season, were back in action against the league’s gold standard—the New York Liberty—on Tuesday night. Let’s dive into the good, the bad and the ugly of a performance that, unsurprisingly, showcased a team who now face a long road ahead to the end of the season.
1. Angel Reese Steps Up Offensively
One thing Angel Reese has had through much of her career is a feel for the moment. She’s had various ups and downs early in her second professional season, but when the team needed someone to step up following Vandersloot’s injury, Reese was ready to answer the call. She was one of just two Chicago players to score in double figures (17 points) and did so with strong efficiency from inside the arc (7/10 2PT FG). Her defensive performance, like the rest of the team, had its good and bad moments (more on that later), but she was, in many respects, the only Chicago player who provided any sort of regular offensive threat tonight.
The only problem, after a really strong 22 minutes to start the game (15 points, 7/8 FG), was that the Sky offense—harkening back to its 2024 form—quickly became one dimensional and the Liberty, unsurprisingly, wised up to the lack of options. Post ups for Reese (and the occasional spot up three) were the only regular offensive actions for much of the third, and the lack of efficiency on outside shots (26.1%) meant the Sky forward never stood much chance long term.
The other concern to continue monitoring long-term? The improved offensive performance from Reese didn’t come from Tyler Marsh drawing up anything drastically different for her. Marsh continues to tell the media that he recognizes the importance of generating opportunities for Reese to operate in space and, in fairness, the three she hit tonight helps set those chances up, but there was no major follow on from the make as far as a regular dose of (possibly dangerous!) elbow touches. I can’t be too harsh on a team that’s reeling just a few days after losing its offensive hub and having to scratch many of its plans for the season, but Reese will likely continue to face up-and-down efficiency for as long as she’s left to create the majority of her offense on her own as she did tonight.
2. Porous Defense Makes for an Uphill Climb
Entering tonight, the Sky were 12th in the WNBA in defensive rating (111.1) and, though, statistically, tonight’s showing will probably see them improve in that area marginally, that’s not because it was a strong defensive showing. You can point fingers in many directions, but the biggest problem for Chicago’s defense at the moment is the lack of communication and continuity amongst the unit. At times, the Sky defense looks far more like five individuals than a collective of even two or three players (much less all five) rowing in the same direction.
The result is a load of defensive breakdowns as any one player getting beat leads to an easy score at the basket on account of the lack of team help and support defensively. Even in the moments where the Sky defense succeeds, it’s often because one or two players are delivering a standout individual performance rather than a strong, coordinated team effort across the board. It’s almost like the inverse of an iso-heavy offense where every possession breaks down to each player on an island, and their individual ability to sink or swim determines the success of the possession defensively.
Now, in some respects, that’s not the *worst* thing so early on in a season for a newly constructed team. Many of these players have very few minutes alongside one another, and years of W tape exist to show that many of the new faces like Rebecca Allen and Elizabeth Williams (new to this group in the sense that she hardly played last year) are, in fact, strong defensive players. So, while the offense may be in a difficult spot without a super clear path forward, the defensive woes are definitely fixable.
The question, really, is whether this Chicago team will fold in light of the difficult situation its currently facing. At present, I don’t think—despite the obvious frustration and disappointment over losing Vandersloot—that appears to be the case, but it’ll be harder to keep things together if the losses keep coming in such demoralizing fashion. The offense, in many respects, will take a long and arduous process to correct, but the defense can be improved quickly if the key veterans on the team (plus Reese—an excellent defensive leader when fully engaged) can raise the bar communication wise. That said, if the trend isn’t reversed, things could turn ugly quick. Defense, so often, is about pride and focus, and the next few games will be a gut check on where this team stands in those two respects.
3. Onyenwere, Strangely, Chopped from Rotation
In all honesty, there’s not *that* much to write about from this game as, in almost every phase, the Sky simply were not good. So, the choice to axe a key rotational player after just seven games, in this instance, registers as a worthy talking point. And just like last season, it’s Onyenwere who’s one of the first to see her role sacrificed when the the Sky struggle.
Now, let’s not get it twisted. Onyenwere has not had a good start to the 2025 season. Her shooting numbers (30% from the floor, 14% from three) are well below the solid numbers (42/37) she registered a season ago, and her defensive production—a hallmark of her late season breakout last year—has also been subpar. Yet, which of the Sky’s regulars has been consistently strong at both (or even one) ends of the court so far this season? Few can confidently be filed in that category and, aside from Rebecca Allen, there’s an argument to be made that no one on the bench has delivered consistently. So, what gives?
And honestly, I don’t have a great answer. Marsh’s hand was forced at the point guard position, but he decided to make a simultaneous change at the small forward position which, at least in tonight’s loss, had relatively little impact in either direction. That change, perhaps, could impact the role Onyenwere gets cast into but, if anything, you’d expect more minutes to be available for her with Nurse’s role altered on account of the need for more perimeter play. Whatever the inspiration, Marsh’s rotational change didn’t stick for the entire game as he finally pulled Onyenwere off the bench with the game out of hand early in the fourth quarter. We saw last season that Onyenwere was capable of producing even with a variable role under Teresa Weatherspoon, but I can’t see the need for her role to be variable on a team that’s heavily shorthanded with two players missing long-term and rookie Maddy Westbeld still a bit part player.