Quick Three: Mystics 83 Sky 81
Chicago drops a close contest to once-winless Washington after a series of momentum swings.
By losing to the Mystics on Friday, the Sky slumped to their third straight loss—something they had yet to do this season before tonight. With their record for the season so far falling to 4-8, Chicago is starting to endure some of the struggles that many anticipated in the preseason, but they can take solace in the fact that—once again—they nearly won despite their slow start and up-and-down play. Let’s dive into what must change before Sunday’s rematch with the Fever for those “nearly”s to turn into a victory.
1. Tight Whistle Ruins Second Half
If you showed someone who’s never watched a basketball game tonight’s second half, they’d probably come away wondering what all the hype is about. Not even on account of the two teams’ performances but based on the way the game was officiated. Everything that remotely resembled contact was a foul, and the flow of the game was completely destroyed as a result. For context, the Sky average more fouls than any team in the W (20.3 per game) and the Mystics commit just a few less (19.8 per game) for a total of about 40 per game. But tonight, they piled up 50 total—about 25% more than their averages. The result was a stop-start second half where neither side was able to establish anything of substance at the offensive end, and just two shots outside the paint were made in the final ten minutes of the game.
In general, I don’t think the flurry of calls favored one team heavily; so, I would not say the influence of the officials decided the game. However, if there’s one decision that does feel somewhat influential, it’s a late game one between Angel Reese and Myisha Hines-Allen where Hines-Allen appears to go over the back.
In a normal game, over the back is usually one of the most hit-and-miss calls from officials anyways; so, you struggle to take too much issue one way or the other. But given the way this game was called, I’d probably expect that to be called—even if it’s marginal. Regardless, the Sky can’t fully blame the flow of the game for their offensive struggles as they were hit and miss well before the whistles started in the third. That said, if the Sky were going to catch fire and flip the game in the second half (like they did last week against this same opponent), the way the game ground to a halt made doing so extremely tough.
2. Atkins Gets Hot, Mabrey Iced Out
After scoring 10 points on 4/12 FG last week, Atkins needed only one more shot attempt to score 19 more points tonight. Those 29 points represented the second-highest scoring total of Atkins’ career, and her most in a game since finishing with 32 against Atlanta in June of 2021. In other words, the Sky saw too extremes—with Atkins well below her best last week and nearly at the peak of her career tonight. I mentioned in my preview of this game how the Sky had gotten somewhat lucky with Atkins missing open looks last week, and that luck certainly balanced out in this game as Atkins hit almost everything regardless of the quality of defensive coverage. Factor in 9 trips to the line (which were all converted) and you’re painting a picture of a fantastic individual performance.
What’s more striking from a Chicago perspective, however, is how their defense struggled to keep Atkins out of the game as she started to heat up. It’s one thing to play great defense and watch Atkins hit great shots over it. That’s inevitable and will happen against the best scorers in the world—a group which Atkins (13.1 PPG in nearly 200 WNBA games) certainly belongs in. That said, it’s the fact that Atkins continued to get the ball and get to scoring positions which should be more of a concern for Teresa Weatherspoon and her staff. Contrast that with the way Eric Thibault’s staff has managed to frame Marina Mabrey out of each of the last two meetings (11 FG attempts total), and you see a pretty stark contrast between these two teams. In the early going (and in truth before the season), these look like two of the league’s worst teams. That’s nothing to be ashamed of as both are rebuilding, but it means the Mystics are a good measuring stick for the Sky in a lot of respects. If the Aces or Sun are freezing Mabrey out of a game, it’s a bit of a “what can you do” moment. They’re the league’s best and most well-established defensive teams. However, this Mystics group—especially without Brittney Sykes—simply isn’t that.
And if Washington can find a way to limit Mabrey so heavily, what’s to stop every other coach in the league from flipping on the tape, copying pieces of what Thibault had his players do and holding Mabrey to 5 or 6 field goal attempts per game? If teams can do that, where does that leave the Sky offense? It’s a bit of a doomsday scenario as the Sky have already shown—against one of those high-end defenses—that they can engineer opportunities for Mabrey to shoot the basketball, but the Mystics definitely found something with their personnel that worked to keep Mabrey away from the basketball. Thus far, Washington is the only opponent to hold her under 10 field-goal attempts in a game—meaning she can hope to get back into the flow of the Sky offense quickly against Indiana (who she took 16 FG against on 6/1) on Sunday.
3. Isabelle Harrison Changes the Sky’s Offensive Ceiling
The last time I talked about Harrison was after last Thursday’s win in DC, and at that time the dialogue was simply Harrison finding her game after a long hiatus due to injury. It’s only a week later but it’s starting to feel like Harrison’s quickly become one of the Sky’s most important players—giving the offense both variety and purpose.
The variety element is somewhat self-evident. Harrison is the best big Chicago has when it comes to shooting from outside the paint, and she’s both able and willing to let the three-ball fly. When it comes to spacing out the floor to run four and five-out looks, a center who is even a semi-believable three-point threat is a game changer. For all she adds in other facets of the game, the opposing defense simply won’t guard Elizabeth Williams at the three-point line. With Harrison on the floor, the Sky can get bodies out of the paint—opening a window for them to attack back into it. Watch even a few minutes of the NBA Finals (tonight’s game aside) and you’ll see how valuable this type of offensive process can be. In the same way the Celtics can drive and attack the paint time-and-time again to find a good look, the Sky can start to try and do the same with Harrison on the floor. It won’t be nearly as effective as when Boston does it because the Sky simply don’t have as many shooters, but it prevents the opposition from piling bodies in the paint and taking away everything Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Chennedy Carter and most of the team does best.
As for the purpose element, that stood out from Harrison’s minutes tonight. In general, the Sky’s offense—especially in the last few losses without Williams—has lacked direction for long stretches. Besides a series of entry passes to Reese and Cardoso, it’s hard to say what the Sky are going to do each time down the floor. That unpredictability feels indicative of the fact that, beyond attacking the off the dribble with one of their guards, the Sky don’t have a ton of consistent play calls in the half-court. But on a couple of occasions tonight (with Lindsay Allen—who was comfortably the Sky’s best player—as the ball handler), the Sky got really good looks as a result of some variation of a two-player game where Harrison rolled or faded for a mid-range look. At the same time, Harrison is also able to create a lot of good scoring chances by posting-up and backing-down her defender. The veteran footwork, touch and patience she adds at the offensive end seems to give the Sky a lot more reliable offensive outcomes—with the two rookies unable to deliver such a mature post game (not a criticism—this is to be expected). Much more than any other player (Carter, perhaps, aside), Harrison always gives off the impression that, when the ball gets into her hands, she knows what she’s going to do with it. For a team that’s going through ups-and-downs offensively, that type of purpose is much-needed and should be of great importance as the season wears on.