Latest News
The Chicago Sky outrebounded the Indiana Fever 40-29, had three more free-throw attempts, shot 22-of-60 from the field to Indiana’s 23-of-63 Tuesday (Aug. 6) in a WNBA game at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. And the Sky lost 64-58.
Tamika Catchings had a game-high 18 points against the Sky.
The Sky (13-7) did have Elena Delle Donne — who won rookie of the month honors for July (she also won for June) — back in the lineup after missing two games and the WNBA all-star game because of a concussion. She had 12 points. Center Sylvia Fowles had a game-high 17 rebounds and team-high 14 points for the Sky. Epiphanny Prince added 11 points. Tamika Catchings led Indiana (101-10) with 18 points. Shavonte Zellous added 14 and Karima Christmas 10.
“I was extremely disappointed on so many levels because if you’re scoring in the low 60s at home, that should be enough to win basketball games, but if you don’t play with the mental toughness and the physical toughness, you’re not going to find success,” Sky coach Pokey Chatman said.
“We caught them at a time when Delle Donne is not back at full speed and we’re starting to play really, really good defense,” Fever coach Lin Dunn said. “That’s how you win when you’re not shooting the ball well. We didn’t even do well on the boards, but we defended so well.”
“We did play really solid defense and that usually gets it done,” Delle Donne said. “Offensively we couldn’t get into a flow. You’ve got to give Indiana credit, they weren’t letting us get into a flow.”
Delle Donne said — other than being a little winded — she felt no after-effects of the concussion.
“Don’t underestimate what it’s like for a key player to be out what seven or eight days,” Dunn said of Delle Donne. “And so now get her back in the mix where she gets comfortable again. I thought there was some times where maybe she seemed a little tentative or not quite sure where to go. But that’s typical. I know we have had people come back from concussions where they weren’t even sure who we were playing. So just give her some time.”
Maybe the entire Sky offense was concussed. Or at least not moving the way it has in games where it functioned much more effectively.
“First of all we missed eight free throws (12-of-20),” Chatman said. “We are a team that shoots 80 percent from the free-throw line. When you miss eight, you start there, and we’ve done a relatively decent job with turnovers this year. We’re averaging 12 a game, and we gave up 15. When you give up 15, four of them will turn into a quick eight points for them. When you turn it over, you don’t get a chance to set up your defense, and I think that’s because they got physical and switched and smothered us and we got small. I mean I’m in there saying stuff like ‘Don’t pick up your dribble.’ ”
Back to basics. And quickly. The Sky travels to Connecticut for a game Friday. But before all that, here is some postgame video:
Art Donovan’s 1959 Topps football card.
Usually on Wednesdays, we find a way to make mention of the Thursday staple “Sports & Torts” on Talkzone.com with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon Central time. And then we find a photo of an attractive female to accompany. It’s a tried-and-true approach that seems to work. Or at least is reasonably fun to do.
This week — rather than using that template — we will run a photo of one of the guests on the show. Art Donovan played for the Baltimore Colts in the 1950s and ’60s. He died Sunday. David Spada and your humble correspondent had the pleasure of chatting with him a few weeks ago. That chat will be part of the Aug. 8 show. Also a guest on the program will be another Pro Football Hall of Famer, kicker Jan Stenerud. The show also will become available later Thursday via podcast on Talkzone.com.
Here is where we go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the enlightened efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com and their willingness to define “gratuitous” in a delightful manner):
Advertising opportunities are available on ElliottHarris.com. For information and rates, contact sales@elliottharris.com.