“I really have been disappointed in our focus defensively and at times our effort on defense,” Washington Coach Trudi Lacey said. “As you can see, in the first half a lack of focus defensively. In the second half we were focused defensively and we were able to get shots. We’re a team that we have to focus defensively for 40 minutes.”
The goal Lacey sets forth for her players is to allow a maximum of 17 points per quarter, which would lead the Mystics to giving up around 68 points per game. Thus far, Washington is allowing 21.5 points per quarter and 86 points per game.
The Mystics gave up 51 points in the first half Saturday while allowing Chicago to shoot 64.3 percent from the field and make six of eight three-point attempts. According to Lacey and players, the defensive shortcomings ranged from the broad (insufficient communication and intensity) to the narrow (slow rotations, poor ball denial into the paint, unacceptable three-point defense).
But all agreed the defensive issues that troubled Washington on Saturday were ones the team had attempted to address before.
The Sky “were moving the ball really well and hitting shots,” forward Crystal Langhorne said. “They were hitting everything because our defense wasn’t that good. We got down in a hole and that was hard to come back from.”
A similar sequence played out during Washington’s 98-90 overtime win Thursday at Atlanta. The Mystics gave up 47 first-half points and trailed by seven at halftime before making the necessary defensive adjustments.
On Saturday, the halftime deficit was significantly larger, and the defensive adjustments Washington made weren’t as crisp. Chicago shot 54.5 percent from the field in the second half.
“Credit to them; they shot really well,” forward Marissa Coleman said. “But a lot of it has to do with our defense and letting them get a lot of open shots. You give a professional team those kinds of open shots, they’re supposed to knock them down.”
Spurred by Coleman and guard Matee Ajavon, who is starting in place of the injured Alana Beard (left foot sprain), the Mystics knocked down more shots of their own after the break. Coleman scored all 13 of her points during a second-half surge in which Washington cut Chicago’s lead to three with just more than three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. But that was as close as the Mystics would come.
According to Lacey, the team’s defensive struggles stem from a lack of understanding of certain schemes, which leads to a lack of execution. Those problems flared up late in the game as Washington was trying to complete its comeback. The Sky fired several open shots on sequences in which a Mystics defender was en pursuit but a step or two away.
Washington has held its opponents to 17 or fewer points in three regulation quarters thus far, an average of one per game. That, the team knows, simply won’t suffice.
“In order for them to only score 17 [per quarter], we have to really get stops,” said Ajavon, who tallied a game-high 24 points. “And we haven’t been doing that.”
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SILVER STARS 86, DREAM 74: In San Antonio, rookie Danielle Adams scored 32 points and San Antonio remained the WNBA’s only undefeated team. The Silver Stars (3-0) are off to their best start in franchise history. Angel McCoughtry led Atlanta (0-3) with 19 points.
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FEVER 86, LIBERTY 80: Tamika Catchings scored 18 points, Katie Douglas had 17 and Indiana scored the last nine points to beat New York in Newark, N.J. Rookie Jeanette Pohlen had 14 points as the Fever (2-1) spoiled the Liberty’s opener at Prudential Center, their home for the next three seasons. Essence Carson scored 23 points to lead New York (2-1).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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