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Starting Five (Six): Thoughts on Chicago Sky winning first-ever WNBA championship

Photo Credit: Stacy Revere/Getty Images

This year’s WNBA Finals only needed four games to complete – and when all was said and done, a new city was added to the list of locales that can call itself a WNBA championship city.

The Chicago Sky, in front of their home fans, staged a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Phoenix Mercury in Game 4 of this year’s finals, topping the Merc by a final of 80-74.

The climb from 14 points down in the third quarter appeared to be daunting, but the Sky, ironically, got Arizona hot while the Mercury, ironically, got Windy City cold down the stretch.

In a winning Sky effort, Allie Quigley finished with 26 points and that was complimented by the double-double posted by the hometown hero Candace Parker (16 points, 13 rebounds). Courtney Vandersloot and Finals MVP Kahleah Copper each finished with 10 with Vandersloot also dishing out 15 assists.

In what was a final showing from Phoenix in 2021, Brittney Griner led all scorers with 28. Skylar Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi each contributed 16 (with Diggins-Smith adding eight assists). Brianna Turner hauled in 12 rebounds.

Typically, we have written a Starting Five, but since Chicago’s flag has six stars instead of the customary five, we expanded said Starting Five into a Starting Six – as in six thoughts on the Sky’s first-ever ring and how this year’s WNBA Finals played out.

Hometown Hero

Candace Parker is already a WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medal winner. She already had established a Hall of Fame career with the Los Angeles Sparks.

And while Tinseltown will always love its CP3, she is Chicago-born. She played her high school basketball in the area. Parker winning a championship for her hometown has elements of when Akron’s very own LeBron James returned to Cleveland and delivered a championship to the Cavaliers.

Parker is one of those all-time greats who changes a locker room’s culture simply by getting her. We knew that with CP3 the Sky had established themselves once again as firm WNBA contenders. She got it done in her first year donning blue and yellow.

Kahleah Freakin’ Copper

Kahleah Copper could not have asked for a better coming out party during this 2021 playoffs and Finals.

Often underrated by many a WNBA pundit, many likely assumed that to stop the Sky they would have to contain its big three of Parker, Vandersloot and Allie Quigley.

Except James Wade and the Sky had a secret weapon in the form of the Rutgers alum.

And … she gave us all a memorable moment with Sophie Cunningham that will be memed for a good bit.

The CHI

One thing we could count on with the Sky’s playoff run is how the team had the city rallying behind them.

Chicago is a city used to hoops success. For many in the stands at Wintrust Arena, the Sky’s playoff run had to bring memories of the days in the 1990s when the Bulls, led by Michael Jeffrey Jordan, had the NBA at its knees.

GOAT? Or Goat?

Of course, Taurasi is going to be a focal point of any game or playoff series Sandy Brondello’s team is involved in.

But this was a playoff series where she actually drew a fair share of criticism. Taurasi shoved referee Tiara Cruse in Game 2 and many noted that the WNBA’s own rulebook stated that such an act is supposed to result in a one-game suspension.

Instead, Taurasi was only fined $2,500.

And even though Taurasi did congratulate the Sky players after the game, it appeared she let her frustrations out behind the scenes.

One thing is for certain, Taurasi would not have had a reaction to losing Game 4 of the Finals in the fashion that Phoenix did, on top of getting blown out by Chicago by 36 points in Game 3. We can take a safe guess that Taurasi will be returning to the WNBA in 2022 – and that the Mercury will once again be championship contenders.

Phoenix has not won a championship since 2014 – this season was the closest the Mercury got to tying the Houston Comets, Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm, all perched atop the WNBA’s championship food chain with four rings apiece.

Goats?

And the Mercury will be thinking long about these last two games.

On paper, it would have appeared that the Sky and Mercury were evenly matched. Phoenix looked like fish out of water in Game 3 in that 86-50 rout courtesy of Chicago. But the Mercury had a Game 5 in its sights it appeared in the third quarter of Game 4.

Brondello’s bunch had a 14-point lead and all the momentum. They knew that a Game 4 victory would put all the pressure back on the Sky in preparation for a series-deciding Game 5 at Footprint Center.

Chicago was determined to not allow this series to go back to Phoenix knowing the circumstances. The Sky kept chipping and chipping and chipping away at the Mercury lead, eventually tying and taking the lead against their adversaries from the desert – and claiming a WNBA championship for the City of Broad Shoulders.

From Taurasi to Griner to Diggins-Smith to Cunningham to Turner to Shey Peddy to the rest of the Mercury roster (including the injured Kia Nurse), this loss will be on their minds throughout the offseason/overseas season. Plenty a WNBA player will be traveling overseas soon and for the international coalition of the Mercury, they will be thinking about Game 4 at Wintrust Arena for a while.

To Talk or Not To Talk?

A noteworthy detail of the postgame happenings was that the Mercury declined to talk to the media.

While many tried to mention how the Mercury are supposed to be professionals in defeat, we are talking about athletic competitors here. It is not like Phoenix played like they did not want to win a WNBA championship – they wanted to win a WNBA championship badly.

The Mercury, down 2-1 after a mentally excruciating Game 3, figured it had Game 4 won, which would have evened the series at two apiece and would have been a huge lift for its championship hopes with Game 5 in Phoenix.

Instead, Phoenix went cold at the wrong time that the Sky played its best basketball.

The last thing an athlete wants to do after a heartbreaking loss is put on a poker face for the media. Taurasi reportedly breaking that locker room door at Wintrust Arena should be all the media needs to know about what the mood was in that Mercury locker room after the game.

We mentioned so much earlier this year about how athletes, especially Black women athletes are taking better care of their mental health. The Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles stories have told us this. Sports are more a mental affair than a physical one.

Losing big games like that gets athletes emotional. Think about Diggins-Smith, one of the WNBA’s all-time greats and a cultural ambassador for the league, who is coming off her first WNBA Finals.

If answering questions about how Game 4 went would have made the Phoenix players uncomfortable, then they are not entitled to answer questions. We have to remember from the Osaka and Biles stories that athletes are still humans first – and that the emotions of humans will be amplified during athletic competition.

In the end, the Mercury players wanted it badly and came up short. But Phoenix will certainly be one of the teams to watch out for in 2022. The veteran-laden Mercury are not calling it a rebuild just yet.

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