#Chicago sky roster full#
#Chicago sky roster series#

A potential explanation lies in what Candace Parker said after the team’s second-round playoff victory: “we’re a team that does things when we have to.” Perhaps the Sky needed the pressure of the playoffs to reach their full potential.Ĭhicago certainly showed signs of their championship upside during the regular season. However, injuries don’t fully explain the team’s. To that end, the team’s best four-player lineup ( Courtney Vandersloot, Quigley, Kahleah Copper and Parker) played just 243 minutes together in the regular season before playing 209 minutes together in the playoffs, basically doubling their minutes per game. James Wade also had to experiment with his roster to figure out the right fit and who he could rely on. Only five players played in 30 or more games for Chicago with Parker, Allie Quigley and Stef Dolson all missing significant time. Injuries and absences had a lot to do with the team’s regular season struggles. They had a 32-point win against Seattle immediately followed by a 20-point loss to Phoenix. However, the Sky was still up and down with a 6-6 record to end the regular season. The team would settle in to win seven straight games and looked poised to climb the standings after the Olympics. After a 2-0 start, Chicago dropped seven straight games and traded their 2021 first-round pick, Shyla Heal, for a player drafted later in the same draft, Dana Evans. The Sky opened the season with a beatdown of the Washington Mystics and looked something close to our expectations, but they couldn’t reach their potential for most of the season. Adding Parker to a veteran team with a ton of experience together should have yielded immediate results. There aren’t many close comparisons across American basketball history outside of the 1977-78 Washington Bullets and their 44-38 record.Ĭhicago’s regular season was pretty disappointing, especially considering the buzz that Candace Parker’s homecoming brought to the franchise. The 2004 Seattle Storm previously held that distinction with a 20-14 record (0.588).

500 winning percentage, the Sky holds the worst regular season record of any WNBA champion by a pretty wide margin. Wade won by being named on the most ballots (11).We will start in the regular season, even though Chicago wildly outperformed their record in the playoffs. The voting panel is made up of one basketball executive from each WNBA team, with each representative submitting top three choices. She was looking to join teammate Courtney Vandersloot, Lisa Leslie and Margo Dydek.Ĭhicago Sky coach and general manager James Wade was chosen as the WNBA Executive of the Year on Monday. Parker fell just short of the fourth triple-double in WNBA playoff history. That euphoria didn't last long though as Chicago scored the next 16 points, including consecutive 3-pointers by Quigley to end the run and put the game away with just over 4 minutes left.īetnijah Laney scored 15 points and Ionescu and Natasha Howard each had 14 for the Liberty. New York hadn’t made the semifinals since 2015. This was New York’s first home playoff game since 2017 when the Liberty lost in the second round to Washington. New York scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, including a five-point possession by Sabrina Ionescu to get within 68-65 that brought the sold out lower bowl of Barclays Center to its feet. Chicago led 25-20 after one and extended the advantage to 54-42 at the half as Parker had seven points, six assists and seven rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. Chicago routed New York by a WNBA playoffs record 38 points in the second game, racing out to a 31-10 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looking back. The seventh-seed Liberty shocked the Sky by taking Game 1. Chicago has now won four consecutive elimination games dating to back-to-back single-elimination games last year en route to the franchise's first WNBA championship.

#Chicago sky roster series#

The defending champion Sky await the winner of the Connecticut-Dallas series that will have its deciding Game 3 on Wednesday.Īllie Quigley and Kahleah Copper each added 15 points while Courtney Vandersloot had 14 points and 10 assists for the second-seeded Sky. NEW YORK - Candace Parker had 14 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Chicago Sky over the New York Liberty 90-72 Tuesday night in the deciding Game 3 to advance to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.