Quick Three: Sky 87 Wings 76
Chicago claims another win over Dallas thanks to a number of standout performances across the roster.
After a narrow loss to Washington on Tuesday morning, the Sky came into tonight’s game desperate to get back in the win column—and did just that with a strong, start-to-finish performance against a Dallas team they now lead 3–0 in the season series. Let’s dive into the standout individual performances and, just as importantly, how the collective effort helped seal the win.
1. Balanced Two-Way Effort Delivers Victory
The Sky have recently been fueled by several strong individual performances—particularly from Angel Reese—but tonight’s win, while still featuring one standout effort (more on that in a moment), felt more like a true team performance than perhaps any they’ve delivered all season. Seven of the ten Sky players who saw the floor scored at least five points, nine recorded an assist, and only Rachel Banham (understandably) didn’t collect multiple rebounds. On the defensive end, no stat perfectly captures a balanced effort, but Dallas’s final point total of 76 and shooting splits (36/27/71) speak to the collective intensity the Sky brought. Their help defense—though not flawless—was notably sharper than in some of their low points earlier this year, and the overall engagement level seems to be sustaining its recent uptick after a stretch of inconsistency in the first four to five weeks of the season.
Perhaps the best reflection of the Sky’s team-wide effort tonight is Angel Reese’s stat line. After her recent tear, Reese remained effective—finishing with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 11 rebounds—but she didn’t need to be at the elite level we’ve seen in recent games for Chicago to stay competitive. In fact, she recorded just one assist (after carrying a heavy playmaking load over the past month), and the Sky didn’t even win her minutes—she finished a -6. Yet, they still found a way to win. When Reese can dominate and lead the Sky to victory, that’s obviously ideal—but performances like this one, as I’ve said many times, are what really show how dangerous she can be. When a player capable of taking over in bursts—or, as we’ve seen lately, for extended stretches—can hover around the edges of the game and still quietly pile up stats without the team overly relying on her, it means the roster is functioning as it ideally should. And that makes everyone more dangerous as you have a high-caliber player spending large portions of the game as a third or fourth option.
The Wings, for all their recent improvements, aren’t exactly the WNBA’s gold standard—so it’s unrealistic to expect this kind of smooth execution every night. Still, this is the blueprint for how the Sky should aim to support Reese: not by asking her to overextend, but by surrounding her with a balanced effort where multiple players, Reese included, can shine in their own unique roles.
2. Rebecca Allen Recaptures Early-Season Form
After struggling mightily for nearly a month (25/22/67 splits since June 10), one of the Sky’s marquee offseason acquisitions finally returned to the strong level of play she opened the season with—finishing just shy of a new career high with 27 points on 9/13 shooting, including 5/7 from beyond the arc. It’s no secret that the various changes to the Sky’s rotation—which resulted in Allen sliding into the starting five—impacted her performance. But tonight’s showing, paired with her strong recent play (despite poor shooting), suggests that, like many before her, Allen simply performs better coming off the bench. In that respect, Michaela Onyenwere—who struggled with foul trouble in tonight’s game—deserves credit for making a smooth transition possible. Still, it was the momentum Allen was able to generate once she got going that proved so critical in this victory.
As in the early part of the season (when she posted solid 44/36 splits), Allen grew into the game once her threes started falling, eventually finding her rhythm in the mid-range—adding another dimension to the Sky’s offense. To their credit, the Sky’s strong ball movement allowed them to keep finding Allen, even after the defense began anticipating her touches. On the other end, she delivered a highly respectable defensive effort against Paige Bueckers, who had one of the toughest games of her otherwise stellar rookie season (17 points, 5/20 FG). For Allen, the challenge now is maintaining this form more consistently—with the evolving lineup seemingly giving her more frequent opportunities to operate in her preferred role off of the Chicago bench.
3. Cardoso Picks Up Where She Left Off Before AmeriCup
After a brilliant outing just before leaving to play with Brazil (27 points on June 24 against LA), Kamilla Cardoso returned at her best tonight—even with the somewhat unusual twist of coming off the bench. In her first appearance as a reserve since June 6 of last year, Cardoso checked in midway through the first quarter and quickly settled into the flow of the game. Within her first eight offensive possessions, she had already recorded two scores and two assists, with the Sky doing a good job of positioning her as the focal point on the block and allowing her to create from there.
The only criticism is that the Sky didn’t do enough to exploit a favorable matchup with Li Yueru and Teaira McCowan—neither of whom are strong defenders, despite their similar size to Cardoso. She added just two more made field goals and two more assists after her quick start, and the ease with which she got to her spots early suggests she could’ve piled on significantly more. That said, the decision to bring her off the bench points to a gradual reintegration—an indication that Tyler Marsh wasn’t eager to rush one of his franchise cornerstones back into the full heat of WNBA play. Whether she returns to the starting five Saturday against Minnesota or later on remains to be seen, but there’s no question Cardoso has found her best level and sustained it—even with the growth we’ve seen from others (particularly Reese) in her absence. If all the puzzle pieces come together before season’s end, the Sky could be in line for favorable short-term results—and, more importantly, a clear view of how their two young bigs are developing in tandem.