The Chicago Sky team that won five of eight games to begin the WNBA season has all but vanished in the past two weeks.
Sloppy offense, a decaying defense and a lack of team-oriented play have Chicago (5-9) in the doldrums of a six-game losing skid ahead of its matchup with the visiting Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday.
“Our mindset is not very altruistic,” Chicago coach James Wade told the Chicago Sun-Times after Thursday’s 80-59 home thrashing at the hands of the Washington Mystics. “We’re not playing selfless. We’re shooting bad shots, and we’re not working their defense.”
Sunday’s outing against the East-leading Connecticut Sun started out promising, but the Sky’s 27-26 lead after the first quarter deteriorated into a 96-72 defeat that replaced Thursday’s setback as Chicago’s most lopsided loss of the season.
The Sky have committed 57 turnovers against 56 assists throughout their past three contests and have not posed a threat from distance during that span, shooting a frail 25 percent from 3-point range. Opponents, meanwhile, have shot 47.6 percent from the floor during Chicago’s longest losing streak since 2021.
“All of the turnovers are with good intentions,” guard Kahleah Copper said, per the Sun-Times. “We have to continue to play together, learn where everyone’s spots are and know how they want it. Some people want the bounce off the curl. Some people want it in the chest.”
Copper energized the Sky with a career-high 29 points against Connecticut. She leads Chicago with 16.6 points per game, while Marina Mabrey contributes 16.2 points.
Alanna Smith led Chicago with 19 points in the team’s first loss of its current losing streak, a 77-62 final at Los Angeles on June 9.
The Sparks (7-7) cruise into Chicago after sweeping a pair of home dates with the Dallas Wings.
All-Star Nneka Ogwumike dazzled in both contests, following up her 20-point effort in Los Angeles’ 76-74 comeback win on Friday with a 27-point, 12-rebound display to lead the Sparks to a 93-83 win on Sunday.
Destanni Henderson, meanwhile, has been splendid since signing a hardship contract on June 16. She notched a career-high 18 points off the bench on Friday and supplied nine more in Sunday’s win, which pulled the Sparks back to .500 after they dropped the first three games of their five-game homestand.
Ogwumike and Henderson have perhaps overshadowed the season Jordin Canada is having for coach Curt Miller’s squad.
The guard’s 13.5 points per game are a career-high, as are her team-leading 5.8 assists. Canada’s been a stout defender, too, racking up 1.9 steals per game while keeping opponents’ top scorers at bay.
“Defensive players of the year are always going to be the shot blockers and the defensive rebounders and they get all the votes,” Miller said, per the Los Angeles Times, “but if there’s a little guard guarding better than Jordin Canada right now, I need to see it on film.”
–Field Level Media
