PHOENIX — You know what the best part is about starting the season 0-3?
Trick question, people. There is no best part.
The Sky lugged the franchise’s first 0-3 mark since 2010 into PHX Arena for a game against the Mercury. That 2010 team, which ended up 14-20 and at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, started 0-4 before getting off the schneid. This one? We’ll have a pretty good idea relatively soon of where it’s headed, but the wait for a first “W” was beginning to get to all involved.
“Man, I mean, I’m hungry for a win,” forward Angel Reese said before the game. “I’m not used to losing like this. I think everybody just wants to win. It would feel great. But it’s not supposed to be easy. I don’t think anybody expects it to be easy. This is a very competitive league, probably the best league in the world.”
If it’s not the best league, does that make the way the Sky played over their first three games look even worse?
Statistically, the Sky were in rough shape after lopsided losses to the Fever, Liberty and Sparks. They ranked next-to-last in the league in scoring, averaging just 70 points. They were dead last in defense, getting run over for an average 94.3 points. Toss in the league’s highest turnover percentage (24.1%) and some seriously terrible three-point shooting (28.4%) — with newcomer Kia Nurse off to a 1-for-15 start from deep — and you’ve got one foul-tasting stew.
Yes, it’s still way early. Yes, the schedule out of the blocks was brutal. Doesn’t that make everything OK?
That was another trick question.
“It’s been a bit disappointing,” general manager Jeff Pagliocca told the Sun-Times. “I don’t think we were expecting things to go this way.”
Has Pagliocca’s confidence in the team he assembled taken an early hit?
“Not at all,” he said. “We think we have the pieces here. I believe a lot in the staff. …
“This group, the continuity as people and as teammates, it’s a non-issue. They’re together. They’re locked in. We just need to play better basketball. We have to execute our stuff and follow the [scouting reports]. We can always compete harder, but we have people here that care and I think that’s what’s going to get us out of this hole.”
First-year coach Tyler Marsh has a similar big-picture view. He thinks about it a lot while he’s staring at the ceiling at night.
“You always lose a little sleep when you’re not winning,” he said.
He’s holding it together pretty well, in truth.
“Just by nature, I don’t get too high and too low,” Marsh said, “and I want our team to kind of resemble that as well. I want them to understand that we still have a lot of games to play and we’re not nearly playing our best basketball but we’re moving toward that. We’re all in a good space right now.”
Point guard Courtney Vandersloot took a few beats before the game to ponder the question of which she’d rather have, a win — any old win — or the team playing well.
“To be honest, it’s both,” she said. “When you really sit and reflect and think about it, you want it to be because we played really well. But I’d be lying if we aren’t just hungry for a win.”
Vandersloot was encouraged by pieces of the Sky’s performances through three games, including a solid effort, she surmised, for three and a half quarters of the loss to the Sparks.
“I don’t think it’s as bad as it feels, if that makes sense,” she said.
But it wasn’t winning basketball, that’s for sure.
“We’ve got to stay the course,” Vandersloot said, “and know that if we’re doing the things we’re supposed to do, the wins will come.”