SAN FRANCISCO — Beating the Fire in the regular-season opener was a good sign for the Sky.
Sure, the Fire are an expansion franchise that won’t sniff the playoffs this season. But you don’t scoff at any wins if you’re the Sky. Not when you scraped together only 10 of them last year. Not when four of your top eight players were watching in street clothes.
You can earn a few stripes beating a bad team short-handed.
But you really earn your “good-team” credentials by beating other good teams.
The Sky get their shot Wednesday night against the Valkyries. Another sellout crowd, another hostile environment. The first real chance to prove they belong in the playoff conversation.
Plenty to worry about until then.
The second half against the Fire flashed a few warning signs. Shooters left wide open in transition. Point guards dribbling the length of the floor without anyone stepping up to stop them.
At practice Monday, coach Tyler Marsh called it “coverage slippage” that needed to be cleaned up.
It will need to be squeaky clean against the Valkyries.
Golden State is well-coached, on a mission, and dangerous at every position. Their backup center, Janelle Salaun, makes it rain from deep in ways most Sky starters don’t. Guards Veronica Burton and Gabby Williams make a living getting into the paint.
“A lot of their offense is based on engaging two,” Natasha Cloud told the Sun-Times. “Coming off ball screens, engaging two defenders and they’re really great at [making the extra pass]. As much as we can, we’ve got to guard our yard and take pride in our individual defense so that we’re not coming into our secondary and third level of help.”
Having a versatile defender like Cloud back will certainly help. But the Valkyries’ offense challenges the exact two weak points of the Sky’s defense last season: containing dribble penetration and defending the arc. Time to show that this year is different.
Sky players and coaches keep pointing to the athleticism, quickness, and length on the new roster as reasons to believe they can be better defensively. Those are solid ingredients, but they won’t come together without a recipe. Does Marsh have one?
Wednesday will give us a clue.
For now, there’s enough from the Fire game for Marsh to feel good about.
The offense looked cohesive. The Skylar Diggins-Kamilla Cardoso pick-and-roll was cooking.
And when the Sky looked like they were about to throw away a lead — like they did so often last season — they said, no, actually, we’re not doing that. Not this time.
This year, they have Diggins’ leadership to fall back on. Someone to step up and hit a big fourth-quarter three — not even her specialty — then throw her head back, stick her tongue out, let the crowd know the party is over.
The Sky also got a clutch performance from veteran center Elizabeth Williams, who came off the bench to deliver blocks and buckets when it mattered most.
Those are foundational elements to build on.
“We got to come with the same level of focus and be able to clean up the areas that we need to, but also stay true to the things that we did well coming out of Portland,” Marsh said.
Clean it up and stay true. The Valkyries are waiting.
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