Quick Three: Mercury 94 Sky 89
Another Chicago loss comes with considerable signs of life—especially on the offensive end.
The Sky dropped their fourth straight game to start the 2025 season on Tuesday night in Phoenix, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t significant progress in several areas compared to previous losses. Let’s dive into what improved tonight—and where the team still needs to tighten up to finally get the Sky into the win column.
1. Sky Show Major Growth in Offensive Balance
While many may lean into a doom-and-gloom narrative after another loss, it’s hard to watch tonight’s Sky performance in good faith and not recognize a significant offensive step forward. Most notably, Ariel Atkins finally received a healthy dose of opportunity (21 pts, 7/15 FG), but the overall offensive balance was also much improved. All five Sky starters took between 8 and 15 shots, all five scored in double figures, and each had distinct stretches where they were entrusted with a meaningful share of the offensive load.
Atkins helped the Sky settle into the game, Kia Nurse hit the shots that kept the scoreboard ticking, and Courtney Vandersloot served as the engine that created a late-game platform for the Sky’s young frontcourt duo to shine. Kamilla Cardoso made her most notable impact of the season in the fourth quarter (12 points in the final frame), and while Angel Reese was less impactful on the scoreboard, she was also involved in several key late-game pick-and-roll actions.
Of course, with the starters producing at a higher level and the team finishing with 89 points, the Sky’s bench scoring—28.3 PPG, second-highest in the WNBA entering tonight—was bound to dip, or the total would’ve soared past triple digits. And sure enough, Phoenix controlled the bench scoring battle by a wide margin, 35–10. Part of that was due to Nate Tibbetts giving his reserves significantly more run (64 minutes) than Tyler Marsh gave his (38 minutes), but the takeaway remains: Chicago’s bench didn’t offer much offensively tonight. That said, it’s not something I’d be too worried about—bench production has been one of the few consistent strengths for the Sky so far. Just as Kitija Laksa caught fire for the Mercury (18 pts, 6/9 FG), Rachel Banham could easily do the same in a future game and swing the balance the other way.
Admittedly, Rebecca Allen’s limited usage tonight (just 9 minutes, 1 FGA) was surprising given her strong start to the season, but Nurse’s performance likely drew Marsh’s attention away from balancing minutes. Like the young players on the floor, Marsh is still learning, and I wouldn’t expect Allen to have such a reduced role again anytime soon. In the meantime, the Sky’s task is twofold: first, to repeat this level of offensive output from the starters across multiple games; second, to pair that with a strong bench performance, as was the case in games 1–3. If they can check both boxes, the offensive metrics currently ranking them near the bottom of the league should begin to shift—and they’ll give themselves more chances to win games like tonight’s down the stretch.
2. Crunch Time Offense, After First Outing, Needs Polish
Once the Sky get themselves into a tight game late, closing it out is an entirely different matter—as we saw repeatedly during the 2024 season. Vandersloot, as noted above, proved she can hold up her end of the bargain with how she orchestrated the offense in the fourth quarter, but Cardoso and Reese will need to be more precise if they’re going to be the ones taking so many of the late-game shots. A few of their misses came on rushed attempts that never looked likely to fall, but this is exactly why Vandersloot was brought in—to generate high-quality looks for the frontcourt. Tonight offered a clear glimpse that she’s capable of doing just that. Whether Cardoso and Reese can consistently convert those chances will ultimately shape much of the Sky’s—and their own—long-term success.
Some of that, of course, will come with time, as meaningful—and truly high-quality—looks weren’t often passed to the bigs late in games last season. The pair will need an acclimation period to settle their late-game nerves and give themselves the best chance to convert patiently, possession by possession.
In fairness, getting Atkins more involved late in the game would likely benefit the Sky, as she took only three deep threes—and one mid-range shot that resulted in free throws—in the fourth quarter, despite a solid eight two-point attempts in the first three quarters. Nonetheless, the marked improvement in the Sky’s overall offensive performance tonight suggests that Marsh and his staff were able to identify the issues that hampered them early in the season and make the necessary adjustments to better position the team for success. If that same approach is applied to late-game situations, we can expect tighter play-calling with improved balance across the five players on the floor. Of course, the Sky will always want to capitalize on Vandersloot’s ability to create downhill opportunities through pick-and-rolls—that’s why she was brought in—but involving more players will lead to a more dynamic, harder-to-defend offense in clutch moments, easing the burden on Reese and Cardoso.
As a first attempt at closing out a late game, tonight included the expected speed bumps. However, the Sky having a go-to action—Vandersloot’s two-player game with Cardoso—and generating several quality looks from it was encouraging and bodes well for their chances of success in clutch situations as they continue to improve.
3. Attention to Detail Needs Improvement
While my focus has been on the offense, it’s clear the Sky’s defense has plenty of room for improvement. After the first three games of the season, Chicago ranked last in points allowed per game (94.3), field-goal percentage allowed (an alarming 47.3%), and three-point percentage allowed (an equally brutal 45.1%). The Mercury narrowly missed surpassing all three marks tonight, scoring 94 points on 42.3% shooting and 40% from beyond the arc. Even as the Sky escaped some early damage thanks to open misses, it quickly became clear that Phoenix was generating the quality three-point looks they needed to eventually start converting. The result? The Mercury took 18 of their 33 second-half field goals from beyond the arc, knocking down 12—including an impressive seven threes in the fourth quarter alone.
For any team—and especially Tibbetts’ three-point heavy squad—in today’s WNBA or NBA, a string of early misses won’t lead to a slowdown in attempts from deep. The days of teams giving up on the three-ball just because it’s not falling are long gone. If a defense can’t disrupt the offense’s ability to create high-quality looks, the offense will keep firing until the shots start dropping, just like Phoenix did tonight. That said, without diving into a full defensive breakdown, there’s no single glaring mistake that explains Chicago’s struggles in preventing those three-point opportunities—aside from the undeniable brilliance of AT in generating open looks for her teammates.
Instead, what stands out is an overall lack of attention to detail—a subtle but concerning issue that has the potential to fester over time. To illustrate, take a look at these four plays:
The first two plays highlight the Sky’s struggles to adequately match up in transition. This has been a creeping trend I’ve noticed since the preseason, though there have been some strong stretches of fast-break defense early on as well. Still, if you struggle to match up to this degree—especially against a player of Satou Sabally’s caliber, as seen in the first clip—the long-term consequences will be punishing.
The third clip, however, is more concerning—though we lack full context due to the late camera cut, it comes across as lazy. After a solid post score, Cardoso spots the early potential for a Thomas pass and sprints in an attempt to stop Kathryn Westbeld’s lay-in. But why should Cardoso need to sprint when Thomas and another Phoenix teammate are still behind the play? Even without Cardoso, the Sky have a numerical advantage (4-on-3) and shouldn’t allow either the pass into Phoenix’s attacking half or the subsequent lay-in. Without seeing everyone’s positioning as the pass is made, it’s hard to assign blame, but at least one Chicago player must have temporarily switched off for this to happen.
Lastly, in clip four, an offensive possession breaks down due to a lack of awareness of the late shot clock. This kind of mistake happens periodically throughout nearly every team’s season, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. In this instance, the Sky bring the ball in just in front of their own bench after multiple substitutions by both teams. With their coaching staff only a few feet away and a significant pause in play, there should have been ample time to communicate the urgency and call a play for a quick shot. Instead, the possession stalls with Allen attempting to feed Cardoso—a questionable choice given that the Brazilian would likely need to take a dribble to settle before turning and shooting, far too much to do with only a second or two remaining on the clock.
There are two reasons I highlight these smaller details. First, a strong defense is often built on dozens of individual habits and decisions—when standards slip, defensive performance usually follows. Second, the Sky—despite shipping all those threes—still lost tonight’s game by just five points. The five points, along with two free throws they essentially handed to Phoenix in these clips, and the wasted offensive possession—at the highest level—represent the margin of the game. Of course, the butterfly effect means it’s not so simple to hand the Sky a win if these moments went differently, but early signs suggest this team won’t be given any victories on a silver platter. They’ll need to nail these details every night to have a real shot at winning games.