Chicago Sports Exchange: Look To The Sky... If You Want to See Competitive Basketball
Cause the Bulls are done, and so are the Hawks
Oh, this is going to be fun.
In this its silver anniversary season, it took but only a matter of hours for the WNBA to divvy up some drama. Last year’s top pick Sabrina Ionescu offered the first helping, canning a game-winning three to propel New York past Indiana, before Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi put the cherry on top with one of her own to sink Minnesota.
And there were thrills off the court too, as the Atlanta Dream’s all-Black broadcasting crew of Angel Gray, LaChina Robinson, Autumn Johnson, and Tabitha Turner became the first in league history.
Indeed, a milestone season symbolic of harmony and brilliance has started with a (Mike Breen) “Bang!”
Oh, and the Sky didn’t disappoint either.
BUY — Sky Looks Bright in Washington; Parker, Copper Lead The Way
Anticipation had been building since February, but seeing Candace Parker in the black jersey with yellow and blue trim for the first time in a game that mattered still hit different.
And so did the team she left Los Angeles for in the offseason, as the Sky pinned the Elena Delle Donne, Myisha Hines-Allen and Alysha Clark-less Washington Mystics to the third-lowest point total for an opponent in franchise history, 70-56, Saturday.
Without Delle Donne (back), the former league MVP and second-overall pick of the Sky, especially, the Mystics were working with a narrow margin of error. Frigid shooting (25% from the field, 13.3% from three) and turnovers (14) rendered that threshold virtually non-existent.
The Sky, who also turned the ball over 14 times, weren’t much better inside the arc, but connected on 47.1% of their three-pointers. Parker hit three of her own en route to a 16-point, eight-rebound, four-assist, and three-block debut with her hometown squad.
The beneficiary of three of Parker’s helpers was Kahleah Copper. The former seventh-overall pick of the Mystics poured in a game-high 19 on 54.5/50/85.7 shooting splits to go along with her eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
“I hope we don’t lose her to the Olympics for the 400 [meter dash], the 100 or 200 because she’s one of the fastest players I’ve ever seen,” Parker told reporters after the game.
“She’s that rebounding guard that comes back and is able to get those boards. It’s definitely more fun for me to be on her team.”
The Sky face Atlanta (0-1) Wednesday before returning home to host New York (2-0) Sunday.
HOLD — Bulls Roller-Coaster Season Season Closes On High Note, But With Diminished Lottery Odds
At least this one was suspenseful to the bitter end.
Well, almost.
It’s been four years since the Bulls have so much as sniffed a postseason berth this late in the year. That two games were left on the schedule after it became official that a date in the play-in tournament was not, is both evidence of improvement and impurity.
Zach LaVine’s career-best averages and shooting efficiency can’t be ignored. Neither can Nikola Vučević’s impact nor Coby White’s late-season surge.
But defensive deficiencies, wing weaknesses and the absence of an on-ball organizer stick out like a sore thumb, too.
Artūras Karnišovas promised he and Marc Eversley weren’t done remodeling the roster at the trade deadline. With the odds of the Bulls (31-41) keeping the first-round pick they sent to Orlando as part of the deal for Vučević set at 20.3% after beating Milwaukee 118-112 Sunday, their brushstrokes will likely come at the hands of trades and free agency.
It’s still crazy how the best news to surface since the team stood in 10th-place in the Eastern Conference and traded for a second All-Star is the unconfirmed report that LaVine is open to a lighter pay day in the name of roster improvements.
If that’s true, bless his heart.
If it’s not, God bless Karnišovas and Eversley’s craftsmanship.
HOLD — ‘21 Season Brings Discovery, But Questions Remain For Blackhawks
Reversals of fortune were already at the crux of the Blackhawks trudging through the tape of a 56-game schedule.
So it’s fitting that their two-goal, third-period advantage crumbled into a 5-4 overtime loss in the season-finale against Dallas a week ago.
Without context, the numbers—14-9-5 in the first 28 games, 10-16-2 in the last—paint the picture of an underachieving team. But when taken with the dose of reality that they were forced to rely heavily upon unproven players (eight of whom called this NHL season their first), the Hawks’ 24-25-7 record takes on a different meaning.
What the Blackhawks Must Do To Start Winning Again (Second City Hockey)
Surprisingly solid goaltending, Alex DeBrincat’s brilliant bounce back, Brandon Hagel’s breakout, Connor Murphy’s consistency, Pius Suter’s dynamism, and the incomparable Patrick Kane all worked in tandem to raise the floor of a team that overshot where many predicted it would finish.
Of course, there’s still questions to answer this summer.
How many of their young defenseman or forwards can take another step forward?
Despite Kevin Lankinen’s emergence, do his late-season struggles make adding a veteran goalie necessary?
What personnel changes can (will?) be made to better execute Jeremy Colliton’s defensive system?
Who will be exposed to the Seattle Kraken in July’s expansion draft?
And the question with the million-dollar price tag; will Jonathan Toews return to the ice next season?
Stay tuned.
SELL — Fire Fall Short Again, Gutierrez Impresses
The race for post-season qualification has only just begun, but the Fire are already choking on the dust of their competition.
Through the first four weeks of a six-month season, the Fire find themselves 0-4-1 and anchored to FC Cincinnati at the bottom of the Major League Soccer standings. And, with a 1-0 loss to DC United Thursday, are in the midst of a four-game losing streak in which they’ve been shutout three consecutive times.
Not only have they managed to collect just one out of a possible 15 points from their opposition, but they’ve also fallen behind even their own pace from a season ago (1-3-1).
Still, head coach Raphaël Wicky sees encouraging signs from his team that’s trying to end a three-season playoff drought.
If for no other reason then the scoring changes created by homegrown midfielder Brian Gutierrez, who made his season debut Thursday after appearing in six matches last season.
“I think he did really well,” Wicky said of 17/year-old the Berwyn native. “I think he was courageous. He wasn’t scared. He showed his talent. He showed his quality on the ball.”
The Fire will again try to climb out of the cellar against Inter Miami Saturday.
HOLD — Red Stars Dominated In Season Opener
Things can only better from here, right?
It’s hard to imagine the Red Stars catching anything on the chin the rest of this season like the 5-0 haymaker Portland landed in the National Women’s Soccer League opener Sunday.
An own goal in the fourth minute of the match and a penalty kick that skated past Alyssa Naeher’s outstretched arms less than 10 minutes later signaled an ominous start.
By the end of the match the Challenge Cup champion Thorns held a 22-4 shot advantage over the Red Stars, whose tally was entirely accumulated in the first half. Adding injury to insult was Julie Ertz having to be replaced in the 27th minute after a collision that left her hobbling off the field.
For a squad that went winless in the preseason and aspires to hoist the league title and NWSL Shield (awarded to the team they finishes with the best regular-season record) trophies, there’s much work left to be done.
Next up for the Red Stars is their home-opener Saturday against NJ/NY Gotham FC, the team that battled the Thorns to penalty kicks in the Challenge Cup Final.
But first, off the mat.
Drew Stevens is a Senior Writer for WARR Media, he lives and works in Chicago