Quick Three: Sky 83 Wings 72
Chicago gets back to winning ways despite a late surge from Dallas + Ogunbowale.
The Sky snapped their four-game losing streak and picked up their second win against the Dallas Wings in the 2024 season thanks to three strong quarters of defensive basketball on Thursday. A thirty-three point effort for Dallas and their superstar guard Arike Ogunbowale means Teresa Weatherspoon will be far from happy with the way the fourth quarter played out, but the Sky’s 24-point effort in the final frame was enough to ensure they still got the victory. Let’s examine all that went well in Chicago’s 5th win of the season and highlight some continued areas for improvement as they look ahead to another match-up with the Fever this weekend.
1. Sky Finding Offensive “Go-Tos”
One of my concerns with the Sky’s offense at times has been how it feels that they sometimes lack “go-to” offensive actions. Last year’s team, of course, had its flaws, but Emre’s pick-and-roll heavy scheme meant that they always had some fundamental offensive sets they could fall back on when the going got tough. Of course, those ‘go-to’ actions don’t always work, but it’s nice for a coach and their players to know that they have something semi-reliable up their sleeve. As we approach the halfway point of Weatherspoon’s first season, we don’t necessarily know what those fundamental sets are yet, but today’s game gave an important flash towards what they could be (or are already becoming). One “go-to” is high-low actions involving Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.
These, of course, were not new today. Since Cardoso returned from injury, the Sky have gone to some variation of a high-low—usually with Reese as the passer—multiple times a game. And in this instance, the screen by Diamond DeShields creates a perfect scenario for it to thrive. Reese has a virtually uncontested pass because Teaira McCowan has been sent the wrong way, and Sheldon switches back given she has no chance of stopping Cardoso in the restricted area. This is a special set of circumstances (it’s usually not so easy), but there’s still a lot to like about these looks for the Sky. By moving Reese and her defender away from the basket, the lane is more open for Cardoso (or Harrison) to operate 1-v-1—with the potential for Reese to attack off of the dribble also on the table.
As with anything else at the offensive end, some extra shooters around the perimeter or a reliable mid-range shot in Reese’s repertoire would make this action even more dangerous, but I like that Weatherspoon is going to this so frequently—even if the results are mixed. For obvious reasons, Cardoso and Reese have to be given individual opportunities to practice this type of style if it’s ever going to be super reliable, and the fact they can do it so often with the exact partner they’ll hope to do it with for the next decade makes the practice exponentially more valuable. Because, while learning how to consistently get the ball past a WNBA defense is a good first goal, the long term aim is to know just where the recipient wants the ball to have the easiest shot possible. In the long run, Weatherspoon will look wise beyond her head coaching years if the Sky’s front court duo can perfect this action and make it a bread-and-butter scoring opportunity.
2. Pick-and-Roll Dominance Rules the Day
I’ve highlighted it time-and-time again, but the Sky (like almost every WNBA team) are simply better when the ball is moving. One way to nearly force the ball to move is to go to the pick-and-roll sets that Chicago ran so often a season ago. And against the Wings, the Sky looked a lot like their 2023 selves (minus both Williamses and Vatansever of course). Their first offensive set was a pick-and-roll that led to a Lindsay Allen score, and Chicago built much of their offense from that point on around screens from Cardoso. Dallas’ perimeter defense, while somewhat improved thanks to first-round pick Jacy Sheldon, has been an area of weakness for some time, and the Wings struggled mightily to find a balance that allowed McCowan and their other bigs to properly support the backcourt players while also keeping tabs on Cardoso. The result? 19 team assists which, while their second lowest winning total this season, was still above the Sky’s average of around 17 assists per game in their 9 losses.
Crucially, Weatherspoon didn’t go away from the pick-and-roll once she saw it work a handful of times. In many cases, an offense can become predictable by repeatedly returning to the same look, but the pick-and-roll’s variety of options (and the inherent flaws Dallas’ current personnel has with defending it) makes it difficult to stop even when you can anticipate it coming (hence it’s widespread popularity). The variety of the Sky’s guards—each of whom got at least a couple of reps as the ball-handler in a pick-and-roll look—also adds to the effectiveness it can bring. Between the patience and pass-first mindset of Allen, the pace and downhill nature of Dana Evans and Chennedy Carter, and the mid-range ability of Marina Mabrey, there’s a different type of defense needed to counter each ball handler. Thus, Dallas—already struggling for continuity with their patchwork lineup—had almost no chance to settle into a consistent strategy for defending the Chicago pick-and-rolls. With Cardoso key to the Sky’s long-term future and such a capable option in the pick-and-roll because of her size (for screens) and mobility and hands (for rolls), I suspect this won’t be the last we see of the pick-and-roll, and it may not be too long before this is another of the “go-to” options.
3. Mabrey & Carter Lead Strong Defensive Effort
Mabrey and Carter finished as the Sky’s joint-leading scorers with 19-points each, but it was their respective efforts at the defensive end which were more eye-catching. For Carter, this is nothing new. She’s frequently been tasked with guarding the opposition’s best player, and she saw plenty of time on Ogunbowale today. However, it doesn’t mean that defensive performance doesn’t deserve our continued attention. Because of her play style, it should come as no surprise that Carter is a relentless defender, but it’s her use of her physical tools which is so impressive. The straight-line speed and incredible balance that she has moving forward as an offensive player translates smoothly into moving backward as a defender (which isn’t the case for all fast players).
For Mabrey, the defensive performances, unlike those of Carter, have attracted all the wrong types of attention. And while she has had occasional dips on defense, I think they’ve been blown massively out of proportion—with today’s game an excellent example of what she can offer at her best. Mabrey is big and physical for a two—something that allows the Sky to regularly run three guard line-ups, but she’s able to do her best work when matched-up against true guards who are smaller and more susceptible to that extra size she offers at 5’11”. In their review of today’s film, I’m sure Weatherspoon will want some tweaks to her team’s late-game approach (especially communication) to stopping Ogunbowale who, as she always seems to do, eventually caught fire, but both Mabrey’s size and Carter’s agility contributed to her needing 24 shots (and 16 three-point attempts) to get her 31 points over the course of the forty-minutes.