What Sky Can Learn From Lynx Defeat
The Chicago Sky entered Monday's matchup against the Minnesota Lynx at 7-13, having previously defeated the Lynx 87-81 on July 12th, and were looking for back-to-back wins against the West's best. They did not come up with the victory this time, dropping the contest 91-78 and dropping their overall record to 7-14 heading into Wednesday's matinee matchup against the Atlanta Dream.
The Sky seriously struggled in a few key areas against the Lynx on Monday and it threw off their rhythm and the Sky could never recover in time. These areas seriously need to be improved if they want any chance at beating the Dream on Wednesday.
tough one, but we’ll bounce back.@UChicagoMed | #skytown pic.twitter.com/CTviAmzycF
— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) July 15, 2025
Turnovers
A big reason why the Sky dropped the second game against the Lynx is because they turned the ball over a lot and were careless with it. Angel Reese and Rachel Banham both turned the ball over 5 times each and did not do a good job at protecting the ball.
The Sky turned the ball over a total of 19 times to the Lynx 12 and that is a recipe for disaster against a team of that caliber. You cannot turn the ball over that many times and expect to beat one of the best teams in the league, that is a recipe for disaster.
Steals
Steals also count as turnovers but the Lynx absolutely dominated the Sky in taking the ball away and going down to the other end for an easy bucket. The Lynx forced 14 steals to the Sky's 3 and that is also a major recipe for disaster and is something that will lose you a lot of ballgames.
Steals and turnovers really sent the Sky down a path that will cost them games if they lose these battles to top teams.
Blocks
When you face a team like the Lynx, you're going want to do everything you can to get as many open looks as possible. That was not the case in Monday's defeat, as the Lynx blocked 6 shots to the Sky's 1. The Sky could not seem to get going and getting 6 shots blocked is not something that will bring them success.
It is tough to beat a top team twice, especially in your own house twice, but losing the turnover battle, the steals battle, and the blocks battle, will lose you games 99 times out of 100.
The Sky will need to figure these things out before Wednesday's matchup.
Tyler is a 25 year old Journalism graduate from Georgia Southern University. Tyler is a big fan of hockey, baseball, basketball, and football, and also is a staff writer for Fansided.