Sky open season with an offensive bang, win 95-72 over Fever
The Sky unveiled its 2014 Eastern Conference championship banner high up in the rafters of Allstate Arena on Friday night.
Then, the Sky unveiled its new look. And the 8,123 energized fans in the stands certainly had to like what they saw in the Sky's breezy 95-72 season-opening victory over the Indiana Fever.
Questions about how the Sky would operate without all-star center Sylvia Fowles dominating the paint were asked often during the preseason.
Fowles, who spent all seven years of her WNBA career with the Sky, demanded in the off-season to be traded to the Minnesota Lynx. No deal has been worked out yet. And she has said that even if a deal is never made, she will sit the entire 2015 season.
Her presence inside certainly gave the Sky a clear focal point offensively over the last seven years, but her absence gave the Sky intriguing new options. Open were driving lanes and gaps that may not have been there in the past. The offense flowed freely; thus, the near 100-point game.
"We get to play a little bit with our post players away from the basket," Sky coach Pokey Chatman said. "We can put the ball in the middle of the floor and that's what's fun. You get to move people around. There's a little more space to work with some more dribble handoff action, some isolation plays that just free some things up."
Forward Elena Delle Donne found many of those open driving lanes and gaps en route to a game-high 31 points. She hit 11-of-20 shots and 9-of-10 free throws and grabbed 8 rebounds.
"It was nice to get out there again," said Delle Donne, who hadn't played in a game since last season. Unlike most WNBA players, she does not play overseas during the off-season. "I just really liked how well we played together."
Point guard Courtney Vandersloot added 13 points and 4 assists for the Sky while forward Jessica Breland came off the bench to pull down a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Sky was up 51-38 at halftime and pushed its lead to as many as 26 points in the second half.
Chatman was as happy with her defense as she was her offense. She noted that in the first half alone the Sky had 19 deflections that helped pave the way to 11 Fever turnovers. The Sky turned those turnovers into 17 points.
On the game, the Fever finished with 20 turnovers and the Sky scored a total of 29 points off those turnovers.
"I really liked the way we worked together on defense," Chatman said. "We were switching well and helping well and we had that timing down. It's nice to see that so early in the season."
The Fever, under new head coach Stephanie White, who was once a Sky assistant, was without former Stevenson High School star Tamika Catchings, who will miss the first few games of the season to nurse an injured right knee.
Forward Marissa Coleman led the Fever with 18 points on three 3-pointers while former Notre Dame star Natalie Achonwa came off the bench to score 10 points.