Sky's 4-game winning streak skids to screeching halt
Screeeeeeeech!
Imagine a car slamming on its breaks and coming to an abrupt stop.
Just that fast, the Sky went from being one of the hottest teams in the WNBA to as cool as the other side of the pillow.
The Sky had a golden opportunity on Tuesday at Allstate Arena, but instead saw it tarnish at the hands of the New York Liberty, which delivered a punishing 85-70 defeat that hurt in more ways than just the lopsided margin.
Had the Sky won the game it would have improved to better than .500 for the first time this season. And had the Sky won the game, it would have become the hottest team in the WNBA with five straight victories.
Instead, the loss drops the Sky to 4-5 on the season and snaps its franchise-best four-game winning streak that came on the heels of an 0-4 start to the season.
"We played uninspired basketball," a disappointed Sky coach Steven Key said after the game. "That's basically what it was, nothing else. I'm not sure why, but we will definitely find a way to fix it. If somebody doesn't want to play we will find somebody who does want to play."
There was no question that New York Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter was willing and able to play.
The former Marshall High School star put on a show for her hometown family and friends by draining 14 of her 18 shots to finish with a back-breaking 31 points. The Sky began the game making life difficult for Pondexter but Pondexter was relentless and simply took over eventually.
"I just came out aggressive," Pondexter said. "After awhile I was like, 'You know what, I'm on a roll.' And that mindset carried over to my team. When I'm going like that, everyone else is, too, and everyone is confident."
The Liberty (3-4) got scoring from all 11 players and double figures from Taj McWilliams-Franklin (10 points), but perhaps even more important was its defense in the paint.
Sky center Sylvia Fowles, the reigning Eastern Conference player of the week, got off to a good start with 11 first-half points. But New York put the clamps on and kept her scoreless for the rest of the game.
The only reason that void wasn't felt even more is that the Sky got 20 points (14 in the second half) from guard Epiphanny Prince off the bench.
"I don't know what to say," said Fowles, who is averaging 19.9 points per game and scored a career-high 32 points in the Sky's victory over Tulsa on Saturday. "Defense wasn't on point, offense was all over the place.
"It comes to executing. When things aren't going well, it's not easy, but like coach said, that's the time when we're supposed to come together and cheer each other up and we were just acting like the game was over with and nobody acted like they really cared.
"That was the aggravating part. But tomorrow is a new day and we have to get ready for Washington on Friday. We shouldn't have lost this way, but you can't sit there and pout about it."