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It is the stuff of legends. Or legends in the making. Except it wasn’t a stuff; it was a three-pointer. But you get the idea. And the Chicago Sky got the victory 94-86 against the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday (Aug. 11) at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
Elena Delle Donne enjoyed a memorable game Sunday against the Minnesota Lynx.
Sky rookie Elena Delle Donne drained a three-point field goal with 4.5 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime with her brother Gene and father Ernie — among others (attendance was announced at 6,297) — cheering in the stands.
As Delle Donne made her way back to the bench before the start of overtime, she wore something unusual: a smile. She similarly smiled as she reached the bench for a substitution after blocking a first-quarter shot.
The Sky was less than all smiles after falling behind 65-53 in the third quarter. A 13-2 run to open the fourth quarter gave the Sky a 82-69 lead that became a 79-76 deficit that set the stage for Delle Donne’s three-pointer (she was 4-of-5 from three-point range, 9-of-15 overall and made all 10 of her free-throw attempts).
Delle Donne had a career-high 32 points. Sylvia Fowles (10-of-13 from the field and 11-of-11 on free throws) added 31 points for the Eastern Conference-leading Sky (15-7), Courtney Vandersloot had 13 points and a game-high nine assists and Epiphanny Prince had 10 points. Seimone Augustus had 26 points, Maya Moore 19, Linsday Whalen 16 and Rebekkah Brunson 14 for the Western Conference-leading Lynx (17-5).
“It’s definitely a statement game for us,” Delle Donne said. “This is a huge win, and we’re able to see where we stand right now.”
“It’s big for us because first of all they’re a very good team,” said Sky coach Pokey Chatman, who showed some frustration when she tossed a clipboard during a third-quarter timeout when the Lynx was overcoming a 46-45 deficit to take a 12-point lead. “It’s a lot easier said than done to execute a game plan, yes. But also we need to maintain some consistency, protect our home court.”
“I thought it was a great game,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Obviously Delle Donne and Fowles played great. They made their free throws, made their shots, Delle Donne hit a big three at the end there. I’m disappointed with our execution defensively because we had played great up to that point, we had gotten a number of stops, got rebounds. We didn’t get that done, went to overtime and it was tough to overcome. It was also tough to overcome 33 free throws, 16 in one half, 17 in another. That’s a really challenging situation. I give our players a lot of credit. I thought we fought through those discrepancies, and we fought hard. I thought it was a great game between the No. 1 team in the West and the No. 1 team in the east.”
Delle Donne certainly had the Lynx’s number.
“I really enjoyed the pace of this game,” she said. “It was a fun game. You know, everybody dreams of playing in games like these, so I really enjoyed this game and had a great time.”
Especially the game-tying three-pointer.
“That’s when it helps to be 6-5 sometimes,” she said. “I was able to elevate and kind of just shoot it over. But there were also three screens set on that play for me, so it was a team effort to get that shot up and that’s the shot we wanted, so you just take it with confidence and know it’s going to go in.”
“You know, E — off of a concussion and everything — I thought she just started the game very aggressive. Then sometimes when you feel like you’re getting hammered a little bit, pushed around, you’re trying to get your feet underneath you and sometimes the tendency is to not be so aggressive, but I thought everyone stayed aggressive. Everyone had their moments.”
Delle Donne set a Sky rookie record for blocks. She has 42; Fowles had 39 as a rookie.
But the legend that Delle Donne will be will be more about her offense than her defense.
“We wanted it to end up in her hand, but there were like four different screens before it even got to her,” Chatman said of the shot that forced overtime. I credit Slooty [Vandersloot] because she had some heat on her, and 25 feet, and it was a misdirection play so she had to really deliver and she did.”
The Lynx could have fouled Delle Donne before the shot but did not.
“I think when you’re a team as good as Minnesota, you have confidence in your players to get stops and confidence in your system to get things down, and I thought that’s what they did,” Chatman said. “We were just fortunate on that one play with Elena.”
“No big deal at all,” Delle Donne said with a smile. “This feels incredible. I think this would definitely be the biggest [shot of her career] so far.”
With bigger and better yet to come.
Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com — which, like the Sky, worked overtime Sunday):
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