Quick Three: Lynx 91 Sky 78
Chicago starts strong but can't back up marquee weekend win against Minnesota after Atkins injury.
After an impressive win over the Lynx on Saturday night, it was always going to be an uphill climb for the Sky tonight, and they couldn’t find a way to beat the league’s best team twice in 3 days when all was said and done. Let’s dive into where things went wrong, and what to watch for moving forward.
1. Chicago Offense Runs Out of Steam Without Atkins
After an impressive performance on Saturday and another strong opener (46 first half points) tonight, the Sky, understandably, struggled to keep up the pace without Ariel Atkins in the second half. It’s not even that Atkins was dominant in the first half (1/3 FG, 2 pts) like in Saturday’s win, but the way she was able to unsettle Minnesota was key to the Sky keeping them off balance—even after the league’s best recovered from one of its more shaky performances last time out. Her ability to poke and prod with the defense and, crucially, create doubt in the minds of defenders in the pick-and-roll is something that no one else on this roster is nearly as effective at doing, and that was evident in the second-half.
To their credit, the Sky kept going—doing their best to avoid falling completely into hero iso-ball—but they clearly struggled to find anyone besides Angel Reese who could reliably put the ball on the floor and create defensive shifts significant enough to create the quality of looks for others that Atkins’ do. And even when Reese did give the Lynx some trouble with her work off the dribble, she’s not someone who works as a pick-and-roll ball-handler (at least not at this point in her career); so, the options to get multiple players on the move in the same action were limited. The result? More opportunities for the defense to stagnate at the rim, and—thus—more difficult scoring chances for Chicago inside. On a statistical basis, that comes through: both in the decreased inside productivity (-4 paint points in 2H) and the dip in efficiency from outside (-25% from three) on account of fewer or lower quality kick-outs.
We’ll see what the future holds as far as Atkins’ injury, but the Sky, whether now or in the future, need to have second and third options (aside from Reese, who needs to be in or around the paint to profit from drives) who can keep the defense off balance in order to avoid becoming too over-reliant on Atkins.
2. Turnovers Rear Their Ugly Head Once Again
Even when they got into something positive tonight, the Sky were just too sloppy with the basketball again tonight. They committed 20 turnovers—their fifth such game already this season—and the Lynx punished that with 24 points off of TOs. For a team that so often creates advantages in bench scoring, paint points, and second chance points, points off of turnovers are one massive weak spot for this team. They allow the most (19) points off of turnovers per game—a mark leaving them a full point behind the next closest team and 5 points behind the Lynx who sit second in the league.
For a team that typically gives away points at the three-point line—mostly as a result of roster construction (something that won’t change), the room for error in other areas is limited, and this is a far more controllable one that continues to cost them heavily in games. In fairness, things have gotten better (down to 13.7 TO per game in the last 9) after a horrible start (17.3 in the first 12), but it remains an area of concern—with key players like Reese (5 TO tonight, 2nd in the W in TO per game) and Rachel Banham (5 TO) failing to protect the basketball. For Reese, especially, it’s all a learning experience, but that frequency of giveaways can’t continue long-term—even if there’s an obvious correlation between high usage and a high TO rate
3. Rebecca Allen Continues Resurgence
It’s little solace on a night where the Sky hoped to collect victory, but the continued uptick in form from the Australian certainly registers as a positive to take away heading into the Sky’s last game before the All-Star Break on Wednesday against Atlanta. She’s not a ball-dominant enough player to give Chicago the volume they need attacking the paint, but the times when she did drive were often positive ones—with the continued movement by others like Reese putting her in a position to turn playmaker (3 assists).
As was the case earlier in the season, the Sky can’t (and shouldn’t) expect Allen to be a dominant player in any one area, but her ability to be an above-average contributor in basically every area makes her extremely valuable in plugging the gaps the team has on any given night. To their credit, the Sky bench, as a whole, once again did their job of providing valuable scoring—chipping in 25 reserve points (a +13 compared to Minnesota)—led by Allen’s 10 on 3/5 FG and 2/2 3 PT.