At the beginning of this week, the Sky were 5-2 and atop of the Eastern conference. Everything was falling into place with the Sky, even though they were plagued with injuries. They seemed to have an answer for any adversity thrown at them.
Azura Stevens proved to be a good fit in the starting lineup in place of Jantel Lavender, who is out this season after having foot surgery. Cheyenne Parker has been taking advantage of her extra minutes as a starter with Stefanie Dolson still recovering from an ankle injury.
Then there’s Kahleah Copper, the Sky’s leading scorer, who’s easily the biggest breakout star for the team this season. She is starting for Diamond DeShields, who remains limited because of knee inflammation.
During the first two weeks of the abbreviated season, the Sky changed the narrative around them. They went from being pegged as a middle-of-the-pack team to a serious championship contender.
But then the Storm rolled in earlier this week and gave the Sky a reality check.
“I don’t know if we [bought] the Kool Aid that people think we’re good, but we’re just not a good defensive team right now,” a frustrated James Wade said Monday after the Sky’s 89-71 loss, their biggest defeat this season. “We’re trying to find some solutions, but it all comes down to effort.”
This week, Wade put an emphasis on being more disruptive on defense and protecting the ball. The Sky are averaging 17.4 turnovers per game this season, the second-most in the league. And their defensive rating (101.7) is middle of the pack.
“We’ve been working on finding our identity defensively,” said Copper, who feels the team has played “relaxed” on defense at times this season. “We’re going to try to get our defensive energy up, try to get disruptions and try to make it just as hard on them as other teams make it for us.”
The Sky don’t have a lot of time to address their mistakes, as they’re in the midst of playing 10 games in 20 days, with the 77-74 loss to the Sun Friday being their sixth game of the stretch.
Several of the Sky players said they’re trying to not focus on the fatigue they might be feeling this season.
“The biggest thing is just getting rid of the whole narrative of sustaining this season, we have to focus one game at a time,” Courtney Vandersloot said. “If I need to be out there for 30-plus minutes for us to get the win, that’s what I’m willing to do. ... Whatever it is, I’m going to figure out how to be there every single game. The season is too short to focus on minutes, we need to focus on winning games.”
Vandersloot has done her part to help the Sky be successful. In her 10th season, Vandersloot, who was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday, is averaging a league-leading 8.3 assists per game this season. She’s also one of five Sky players averaging double-digit scoring.
But when she’s off the court, there’s a huge drop off in the team’s performance.
“We just have to find an identity, without her when she’s on the bench,” Allie Quigley said. “We have to really figure out how to play good without her and that’s using each other. We have to move the ball. We have to just do what we’re good at, and we have to figure that out as a team.”
