Game Location: Wintrust Arena, Chicago, IL
Game time: Tuesday, August 23rd, 7 pm
The Chicago Sky will face off against the Washington Mystics Friday night at Wintrust Arena for their third meeting of the season.
The Mystics have come out on top in both games this season, winning 103-85 in the first outing and 81-74 in the second meeting.
Led by superstar Elena Delle Donne, the Washington Mystics are currently on a six-game win streak and also hold the league’s best record at 20-7.
The Chicago Sky, meanwhile, are fighting for playoff positioning. They currently sit at fifth in the league standings with a 16-11 record. However, the Sky have been one of the hottest teams in the league, winning nine of their last 12 games this season.
Friday’s game will be a battle of the league’s top offenses as, coming into the matchup, Washington and Chicago rank #1 and #2 in league offense, respectively.
Washington currently leads the league at 88.6 points per game, 21.7 assists per game, and an offensive rating of 112.4.
Chicago is right behind Washington at 82.6 points per game, 21.2 assists per game and an offensive rating of 99.9.
*Offensive rating is a measurement of offensive efficiency that takes into account points scored, field goals, point differential, etc.*
The city of Chicago is still eagerly waiting for the Sky’s first win against Delle Donne as Chicago is 0-8 against Delle Donne since they traded her to Washington back in 2017.
Chicago can pull off a win against Washington if they can withstand Washington’s scoring runs and limit their turnovers.
In both meetings this season, Chicago and Washington were playing a close game until the second quarter, where Washington would go on a run that the Sky could not recover from.
In the first game, Washington went on a 24-8 run which led to an early 21-point lead for the Mystics. In the second meeting, Washington went on a 7-0 run to start the quarter and take a 10-point lead that the Sky would never regain the lead from.
Also in their last meeting, Chicago turned over the ball 17 times, resulting in 17 points for the Mystics. Those points were very costly in what ended up being a seven-point margin of victory.
In the post-game press conference, Chicago head coach James Wade addressed the turnover situation, “You can’t win games like that in this league. Seventeen turnovers is what killed us.”
The next time these teams will take the court against each other will be September 9th in Washington for the regular-season finale.