The Chicago Sky exposed a hole in the mighty Los Angeles Sparks offense in their Game 3 matchup on Sunday. A 2-3 zone shut down the Sparks’ sizzling shooters who torched the Sky to 53 percent shooting in the series’ first two games to under 37 percent.
The Chicago Sky found a way to slow down the LA Sparks
L.A.’s MVPs couldn’t score against Chicago’s 2-3 zone. The Sparks better figure that out before they run into Minnesota.
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It was a tale of halves for Chicago’s swarming defense, getting beat in every way at the basket in the opening half, allowing 23 first-quarter points to L.A. including 12 to MVP Nneka Ogwumike. The last two quarters told a much different story as the Sparks were limited to 27 points total after Sky coach Pokey Chatman let a rampant 2-3 zone defense loose.
Eliminating backdoor cuts, establishing better position for rebounds and keeping the MVPs in Ogwumike and Candace Parker out of the paint, an Elena Delle Donne-less Sky team, which allowed the second-most points per possession with the star, was able to win without her. That should frighten Sparks fans as they look towards a Finals matchup against the Minnesota Lynx.
Jumping out to a 15-point lead in the second quarter up 2-0 in the series, it looked like a sweep was inevitable for L.A. over a beat-up Chicago team. Candace Parker, who has never triple-doubled in her career, was on watch after the first 10 minutes of play and Ogwumike hit double-digits in points in the same time span. Things were going as they had been as the two combined for 57 points in a 20-point win in Game 1 and 38 points in a 15-point win in Game 2. Then the zone hit.
Chicago made full use of 6’7 rookie center Imani Boyette as the anchor down low and sent guards Courtney Vandersloot, Jamierra Faulkner and Cappie Pondexter to contest mid-range shots and apply pressure on the best three-point shooting team in the regular season. L.A. looked flustered, and couldn’t use its default late-in-the-shot clock tactic of dumping it inside to Ogwumike either. She struggled to get many touches at all.
Ogwumike does most of her scoring around the rim. Using her speed, she blows by defenders without the ball to get open for looks where Parker can find her. That outlet wasn’t an option with three defenders planted down low. Fronted by Tamera Young, Erika de Souza and Clarissa dos Santos, posting up became more difficult as well, with an inevitable second defender ready to help stop her. She scored just six second-half points, taking only two shots in the third quarter.
Every Sparks player in the post was affected by the zone, and as a team L.A. was held to two points in the paint in the final 20 minutes after scoring 22 in opening half. Parker was held scoreless entirely in the second half.
With post entry passes seemingly impossible, L.A. attempted to exploit the weakness of any 2-3 zone: Three-point shooting. That didn’t work either as Chicago applied pressure on the ball off the catch rather than sinking back in the zone. With two of the league’s best deep-ball threats in Parker and Kristi Toliver and Sixth Player of the Year Jantel Lavender a long-two specialist, they had to defend the arc.
L.A. struggled to move the zone and find open looks, instead playing into Chatman’s scheme. To open up shots, ball fakes and quick passes should’ve been made to exhaust the pests at the top of the zone. Instead too much dribbling or time spent holding the ball caught the Sparks scrambling to rush off contested shots from deep before the clock expired. After taking 18 three-point attempts in Game 1 and 23 in Game 2, L.A. fired 33, connecting on a dismal six. Toliver and Parker combined to shoot 4-of-18.
The zone also helped keep the Sparks’ scoring off offensive rebounds in check. With bigs of Parker and Ogwumike’s skill set lurking around the rim for second-chance opportunities, the zone forced Sky defenders into positioning. Instead of going 1-on-1, Chicago could shift two bigs to either side of the paint to seal the offensive rebounders. Though L.A. still managed to grab 8 offensive rebounds in the second half, at the very least they were given poor chances to finish easily, with a defender in position to protect the rim.
The Chicago Sky probably won’t win this series or even send it to Game 5, but they did expose a real issue in L.A.’s diminished post-Olympic break offense for the Minnesota Lynx to capitalize off in the Finals. Trade rookie Boyette in for multiple-time Defensive Player of the Year Sylvia Fowles and swap Chicago’s guards with Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen, and the Sparks could be in for a rough series.
