The Chicago Sky battled hard in the first half of their contest against the Atlanta Dream, taking a 39-38 lead into halftime. A fourth-quarter collapse led to a nightmare finish in an 88-70 loss to the Dream in front of 3,296 fans at Gateway Center.
After earning their first two wins of the season against the Dallas Wings, the Sky have been blown out by a combined 64 points in losses to the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty, and Dream since June 7.
On Tuesday, Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca called out Angel Reese’s production, saying the second-year forward needed to score more consistently. She led Chicago with 17 points against the Liberty, but went 4-of-10 shooting for 12 points with nine rebounds, three assists, one steal, and three turnovers on Friday night.
Reese was a minus-14 on the court against the Fever.
The Chicago Sky are making Jeff Pagliocca worried
Per an interview with Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune, after his comments about Reese went viral, Pagliocca voiced an update on his concerns about the Sky’s recent blowouts, saying that they should “embarrass” people into playing harder. He thinks the season-ending injury to Courtney Vandersloot will force a change in the locker room.
Amid a 2-7 start, Pagliocca is worried about his job with the Sky. He knows his job and head coach Tyler Marsh’s job are under fire while the team is losing games.
“We’re going to get killed until we start winning games,” Pagliocca said. “Tyler will get killed, I’ll get killed. We’re used to it. … And I’m going to be way more angry and disappointed than (ownership) ever could be. They shouldn’t be happy — they should be disgusted like I am — but we still have to solve the problem.
“We will not stop. We are working hard. Players are staying longer. They’re recognizing they need to be looking in the mirror. … There’s only (35) games left. How patient can you be?”
Angel Reese and the Sky have a favorable schedule upcoming
The Sky have a very winnable schedule upcoming that Reese and the team need to show they can play competitive basketball. Chicago will travel to play the 2-7 Connecticut Sun at 11 a.m. CST on Sunday berofe hosting the 4-7 Washington Mystics on Tuesday at least 7 p.m. CST.
Per ESPN analytics, the Sky have a 50.6% chance of defeating the Sun.
Following back-to-back day games against the Phoenix Mercury on June 21 and the Dream on June 22, the Sky will finish the month against three sub-.500 teams: LA Sparks (4-7), Golden State Valkyries (4-5), and Sparks (4-7).
Chicago needs to win some of these games to show Pagliocca and Marsh are competent, because not everything going wrong on the floor can be attributed to the players. Roster construction and scheme have been an issue in lopsided losses.
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