Quick Three: Lynx 91 Sky 68
Chicago returns from the All-Star break with another short handed loss to the league-leading Lynx.
After a brief All-Star break, the Sky returned to action Tuesday night—but the pause in the schedule wasn’t enough to heal their depleted roster. Missing several key players, Chicago faced an uphill battle against the league-leading Lynx, and the challenge proved too steep. Let’s take a look at where things unraveled—and see if there’s anything to salvage from an otherwise dreary defeat.
1. Sky Struggle to Get Out of Their Own Way
For stretches of tonight’s game—particularly in the first and early second quarters—Chicago looked like the better team. But things unraveled due to the same issue that’s plagued them all season: turnovers. Even by the standards of their many high-turnover outings, this one felt especially sloppy. Turnovers come in many forms, and the type often dictates how easily an opponent can capitalize. Tonight, the Sky’s were largely unforced—loose passes, sloppy screens, and a general lack of engagement from players who didn’t seem in sync with the offense. Most concerningly, too often it looked like players didn’t know where the play was going when they acted—never a good sign.
As the Lynx pulled away with an extended 33-11 run spanning halftime, Chicago’s turnovers shifted from a periodic inconvenience to a full-blown threat to their offensive stability. The Sky gradually lost the ability to string together functional possessions, with lapses in individual focus disrupting everything they attempted in the half court. As a result, high-quality scoring opportunities became increasingly rare. The Lynx deserve credit for their consistent one-on-one pressure, which forced its share of mistakes. But many of Chicago’s turnovers felt more self-inflicted than imposed.
Playing without Michaela Onyenwere, Ariel Atkins, and even injury fill-in Marquesha Davis, the Sky were always going to face challenges on offense. But once again, it wasn’t just the absences—it was the self-inflicted mistakes, rooted more in a lack of focus than a lack of personnel or talent. Against the best team in the league, expectations may have been tempered, but Chicago’s strong start showed they had the potential to keep things competitive. Instead, the game slipped away due to their own errors. With a playoff spot—clearly a preseason goal—still within reach, the Sky can’t afford to keep dropping games this way. With a somewhat softer schedule ahead (almost anyone is, compared to Minnesota), Tyler Marsh and his staff need to urgently address these mental lapses if they hope to stay in the hunt over the final seven weeks of the season.
2. Offense Inefficient Inside and Out
Even setting aside the turnovers and the generally disjointed offense, the Sky simply weren’t efficient enough when they did manage to get shots up. From deep, there’s still a long way to go. Entering the All-Star break, Chicago ranked just 10th in three-point attempts per game (21.0)—a noticeable jump from last season’s league-low 14.9, but still below par. They attempted just 16 tonight (again, without Atkins), and while the efficiency was respectable (43.8%), the volume wasn’t nearly enough to meaningfully shift the offensive balance. That lack of perimeter threat continues to put an outsized burden on the team’s ability to generate points in the paint.
On a night like tonight, that offensive burden was simply too heavy. Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso salvaged some efficiency with a decent fourth quarter (3/6 FG together), but their combined shooting through the first three quarters (5/14 FG) told the story: they never found a rhythm inside, and Minnesota’s defense—led by Napheesa Collier—kept them off balance from the start. In the previous three matchups this month, Reese had her share of standout moments (19 PPG, 54.5% FG), even as Collier, Alanna Smith, and Maria Kliundikova each had stretches of strong individual defense. But tonight, the Lynx looked like a team that had fully absorbed the lessons from all that recent film. They were ready for Reese’s tendencies, forced lots of mistakes (9 turnovers) and took away much of what had worked for her in earlier games.
The overall gap in paint efficiency (62% for Minnesota vs. 39% for Chicago) would be decisive on most nights—and with the Sky’s limited perimeter scoring, it was more than enough to seal the outcome in this game.
3. Hailey Van Lith Continues to Have “Moments”
If you looked only at the box score, tonight wouldn’t stand out as a strong performance from the Sky’s rookie point guard. She finished with 7 points on 3/11 shooting and 4 assists. But beyond the numbers, her overall play was steady. Defensively, she’s still working toward consistency, but her impact is clear in flashes—both in the box score (3 steals) and the intensity of coverage she applies on the perimeter. Despite her size disadvantage, her ability to disrupt opponents with effort and tight pressure is quickly emerging as one of her standout traits.
Offensively, her presence on the floor can sometimes add to the Sky’s overall lack of direction—but there are also moments when her evolving feel for the game, as both a scorer and creator, helps bail the team out of otherwise broken possessions. Take, for instance, a messy set from the first half: the offense starts in disarray, and Van Lith arguably holds the ball a beat too long. But she ultimately salvages the possession with a sharp read and a composed finish, turning a disjointed sequence into a positive outcome.
Consistency remains the key challenge for Van Lith, as she still has a long way to go before becoming a reliable rotational piece on a winning team. That said, she rarely looks overwhelmed either. In a season when—if Courtney Vandersloot had been healthy—Van Lith might not have seen the floor at all, her positive moments so far inspire confidence. With continued development and growth in her game, there’s reason to believe she can carve out a lasting role in a WNBA rotation.