The Chicago Sky (13-22) went 2-1 on the week and sit alone at 8th in the WNBA standings after snapping a 7-game losing streak with wins over the Los Angeles Sparks and Dallas Wings.

The Sky will also be without Angel Reese for the rest of the WNBA season with a wrist injury that Reese later disclosed as a hairline fracture on her social media.

With the win over Dallas, the Sky officially eliminated the Wings from the postseason.

Offense rides the Chennedy Expressway

The Chicago Sky were without Chennedy Carter for several games due to health and safety protocols. She made her return to the court for the Sky’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Sept. 6 and was a main catalyst for the Sky’s 92-78 win over LA.

“I haven’t been at this place, this moment in my career I don’t think ever,” Carter said after getting a standing ovation from the fans during the win over the Sparks. “So to feel that from not only the fans, but my teammates and my coaches make me feel love, make me feel valued. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Carter flirted with a triple-double in her first game back with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, spacing her offensive contributions evenly throughout the game. She then posted 28 points in the Sky’s 92-77 win over the Dallas Wings on Sept. 8, with 11 of those points coming in the opening quarter.

During Carter’s absence, the Sky only put up an average of 18.7 points in the first quarter. With Carter in the starting role, the Sky average 20.8 in the opening quarter. In her two games back, the Sky put up 19 points against LA and 33 points against Dallas.

“That type of energy [Carter has] is contagious,” head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said after the Sparks win. “She does an incredible job of getting to the rim, you know, really breaking defenses down and then giving our players easy access to the rim. She makes life a little bit easier because of the attention that she draws. 

“She plays very low. It’s hard to guard when you’re playing that low and turning a corner, getting downhill, and she creates the advantage. So it makes it a lot easier for us on the offensive side of the ball.”

Carter’s explosiveness offensively has prevented the Sky from having to dig out of holes early and keeps the team competitive early. Her quickness and improv ability on the floor has been sorely missed for a Sky team that’s trying to fight for the last spot in the playoffs. 

Keep the ball moving

The Sky sit in the middle of the league when it comes to their 5.0 assists average a game. However, in the two wins, the Sky put up a total of 43 assists. 

Chicago is 12-9 when it puts up 19 or more assists in a game this season; it is 1-13 when it puts up less than that and it showed in the Sky’s 90-71 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Sept. 3.

“It makes it very difficult for people to defend us, and this is something that we haven’t been the best at,” Weatherspoon said after the Sparks game. “You know. If you look at the stats, we’re not one of the teams that’s in the tops of standings, but tonight was huge to have 24 assists. 

“So it lets you know that we were moving the ball, and there was a pass coming for someone to get a bucket which is really good. So it doesn’t look like we were more of an ISO team. We were moving the basketball.”

When those assists numbers are high, so is the score. The Sky average 74.2 points when they put up under 19 assists compared to the 81.9 when they hit the magic number of 19 or more. Those high assists also lead to more feeds inside to Kamilla Cardoso. Cardoso averages 9.7 points a game when the assists numbers are high this season. Since the Olympic break, Cardoso has averaged 10.8 points a game when assists as a whole are 19 or more.

“I think we have a lot of special weapons that we haven’t even got unlocked yet, and so just playing off them, seeing where they’re going to be ultimately unlocks my game,” Carter said after the Sparks win. “I’m not someone that always has to have the ball. So I can play off other people, and we’re seeing that.”

Looking ahead at the postseason picture

With 5 games left, the Sky took control of their path to the playoffs with 2 wins this week and Atlanta going 1-2 on the week.

As a refresher, the top 8 teams at the end of the WNBA season will punch their ticket to the postseason. These are the standings as of Sept. 9:

1. New York Liberty – clinched
2. Connecticut Sun – clinched
3. Minnesota Lynx – clinched
4. Las Vegas Aces – clinched
5. Seattle Storm – clinched
6. Indiana Fever – clinched
7. Phoenix Mercury – clinched
8. Chicago Sky
9. Atlanta Dream
10. Washington Mystics
11. Dallas Wings – eliminated
12. Los Angeles Sparks – eliminated

With 3 teams fighting for the last playoff spot, they all play each other over these last 5 games. Washington and Atlanta play each other twice while Chicago plays Washington on Sept. 11 and Atlanta on Sept. 17.

For the Sky to have some security, Wednesday’s game against the Mystics is an absolute must-win game. A loss to Washington still keeps the Mystics in the playoff race and the ability to jump up to No. 9. 

After Wednesday, a lot will ride on those two games between the Dream and Mystics on Sept. 13 and Sept. 15. The outcome of those matchups will determine how important the Sky’s game against Atlanta on Sept. 17 will be. 

Looking at who the Sky will face after Washington, they hit the road to play Minnesota on Sept. 13 and then host Phoenix for the final home game of the season on Sept. 15. If the Sky can pull out just 1 win out of those 2 games, the look towards the postseason will be fully in Chicago’s control. Losing to both Phoenix and Minnesota then means scoreboard watching for the Sky before the season-deciding game against the Atlanta Dream on Sept. 17.

Stats and Notes

• Reese’s double-double against Las Vegas put her with only Alyssa Thomas as the only two players in WNBA history to have 25 or more double-doubles in a season
• Reese surpassed Tina Charles for 2nd on the WNBA’s all-time rookie defensive rebounds list with 274 vs. LA