Closing time. A requiem for a season that could have been
September 13, 2009 by Max Rottenstein
The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. This is the side of sports no one likes to be on: being in the place where hope has died...especially after being shuttled there from a place where moments ago that hope seemed to spring eternal. That hope was the Chicago Sky going to the WNBA playoffs for the first time in the history of their franchise.
With everything on the line with this one last game, I knew to guard my optimism. Even with the Sky holding a commanding 41-22 lead over the Detroit Shock going into the half, news came in from Washington that the Mystics had beaten the Atlanta Dream. This meant even if the Sky had won last night's game, if the Mystics beat the New York Liberty today as well they would wrest that last precious playoff berth from Chicago.
The game mapped out by Sky Coach Steven Key is now a sad matter for the record books and somehow I wonder how a 19 point lead at the half and potential first for a franchise was engineered into the 80-69 prototypical disaster that spelled the end of the Sky's season.
Waiting outside the locker rooms, my fellow writers and I confirmed the worst: the Chicago Sky were statistically eliminated from the playoffs. I would have liked to have been in the locker room, if only to hear what Coach Key had to say to his team.
With everything on the line with this one last game, I knew to guard my optimism. Even with the Sky holding a commanding 41-22 lead over the Detroit Shock going into the half, news came in from Washington that the Mystics had beaten the Atlanta Dream. This meant even if the Sky had won last night's game, if the Mystics beat the New York Liberty today as well they would wrest that last precious playoff berth from Chicago.
The game mapped out by Sky Coach Steven Key is now a sad matter for the record books and somehow I wonder how a 19 point lead at the half and potential first for a franchise was engineered into the 80-69 prototypical disaster that spelled the end of the Sky's season.
Waiting outside the locker rooms, my fellow writers and I confirmed the worst: the Chicago Sky were statistically eliminated from the playoffs. I would have liked to have been in the locker room, if only to hear what Coach Key had to say to his team.
Sky Coach Steven Key walks off the floor after the team's 80-69 loss to the Detroit Shock to end their season.
For some reason I had this comedic vision of Coach Key, defeated and distracted, foregoing the usual 'well, we did our best' talk. I see him holding papers in one hand and golf pencils in another and saying to his players, "Ladies, I have this end-of-the-season survey for you to fill out about your experience with the team. There are multiple choice questions as well as a section for you to write in any suggestions you may have for how the team can improve next season. I'll hand them out and leave the room so you can complete them. You don't have to put your name on them...in fact I'd rather you not even put my name on them."
Now this wasn't a college class, but Steven Key isn't tenured and his job in now very much on the line.
If you look at this season from that cold engineering point of view, Coach Key had all the tools he needed to take the Sky where they had never been before.
One of the more glaring misuses of this toolkit has to be that of rookie reserve guard Kristi Toliver.
To me, Toliver truly put herself on the map in the August 18th loss to the Mercury. Sylvia Fowles had sprained her ankle in the last seconds of the previous pyrrhic victory over Minnesota and the Sky's hopes for making it into the playoffs were truly called into question. But in that 99-106 loss to Phoenix that Tuesday night, as I sat on the floor clicking my camera next to the Sky bench, seemingly out of nowhere came these three-pointers from the opposite corner, one after another, only they weren't coming from Erin Thorn.
Now this wasn't a college class, but Steven Key isn't tenured and his job in now very much on the line.
If you look at this season from that cold engineering point of view, Coach Key had all the tools he needed to take the Sky where they had never been before.
One of the more glaring misuses of this toolkit has to be that of rookie reserve guard Kristi Toliver.
To me, Toliver truly put herself on the map in the August 18th loss to the Mercury. Sylvia Fowles had sprained her ankle in the last seconds of the previous pyrrhic victory over Minnesota and the Sky's hopes for making it into the playoffs were truly called into question. But in that 99-106 loss to Phoenix that Tuesday night, as I sat on the floor clicking my camera next to the Sky bench, seemingly out of nowhere came these three-pointers from the opposite corner, one after another, only they weren't coming from Erin Thorn.
Toliver would put up 22 points that night and even though it was in a losing effort, it was a sign. Athletes are not universally interchangeable and Toliver stepping up would not be a 1-for-1 parity for Fowles' absence, but 20 or so points a game would certainly help
Now I love a cliffhanger as much as the next sports fan, but not like this; and when I speak of engineering I'm not talking about Kristi Toliver and that loss to Detroit, I'm talking about what necessitated that cliffhanger being last night and not somewhere else down the road...into the playoffs I might even dare to ponder.
I look to a quote in a Lacy Banks article in the Sun-Times last Friday. He used a quote from Coach Key after the Sky's victory over the Mystics on September 4th, a game where Toliver did not play. We were both there in the press area but got two different explanations from Coach Key as to why Toliver did not play that night.
We were both told that by Key that "we did not need her tonight." Coach Key pointed out to me that K.B. Sharp and Dominique Canty were "running the show."
Key told Lacy Banks that, "She's a great outside shooter. But we needed defense, which is something she has to work on." Oh the quote I missed. Granted, at 5-foot-7 Toliver isn't a defensive dynamo, but citing that as that primary reason for withholding
her from so much playing time seems akin to Snoop Doggy Dogg being kept out of the world series of rap to work on his operatic skills.
I'll leave the subject of Kristi Toliver on these two points. Number one, Toliver's offensive contributions in the recent road losses against Los Angeles and New York might have narrowly averted the Sky's "all-in" moment being last night against Detroit. And two, beyond a potential playoff show, this may very well have negative consequences down the road on Kristi Toliver as a Sky player.
I look to a quote in a Lacy Banks article in the Sun-Times last Friday. He used a quote from Coach Key after the Sky's victory over the Mystics on September 4th, a game where Toliver did not play. We were both there in the press area but got two different explanations from Coach Key as to why Toliver did not play that night.
We were both told that by Key that "we did not need her tonight." Coach Key pointed out to me that K.B. Sharp and Dominique Canty were "running the show."
Key told Lacy Banks that, "She's a great outside shooter. But we needed defense, which is something she has to work on." Oh the quote I missed. Granted, at 5-foot-7 Toliver isn't a defensive dynamo, but citing that as that primary reason for withholding
her from so much playing time seems akin to Snoop Doggy Dogg being kept out of the world series of rap to work on his operatic skills.
I'll leave the subject of Kristi Toliver on these two points. Number one, Toliver's offensive contributions in the recent road losses against Los Angeles and New York might have narrowly averted the Sky's "all-in" moment being last night against Detroit. And two, beyond a potential playoff show, this may very well have negative consequences down the road on Kristi Toliver as a Sky player.
Kristi Toliver smiles after the Sky's 86-79 win over the Indiana Fever
After all, she was picked by Chicago and did not choose to be here. As for consideration for the WNBA's Rooke of the Year, Toliver's time on the bench this season has almost guaranteed her relegation to honorable mention at best. One can only wonder how the outcome of this season will affect a young player as hungry, capable, and competitive as Toliver.
The Chicago Sky join hands one last time before walking off the floor.
So that's it. It is closing time, you do not have to go home but you can't stay here. That goes for everyone: players, coaches, fans, and media. We all disband for the next 8 months or so until next season.
Next season will be different that is for sure. Not only will the Sky have the Allstate Arena to call home, but team CEO Margaret Stender will be faced with the challenge of packing the house as well.
In addition, since I am writing here in an op-ed function, I can tell you that a rumor that has been circulating for some time appears to be most likely true: next year WNBA teams will only be allowed one assistant coach.
I have a few more WNBA stories to file here, but I hope that when the SC Media team reassembles to cover the Sky next season that I will have the privilege of seeing some of the amazing things I have seen this season, only better.
I think I'm going to find Sky Guy and give him a big hug.
Next season will be different that is for sure. Not only will the Sky have the Allstate Arena to call home, but team CEO Margaret Stender will be faced with the challenge of packing the house as well.
In addition, since I am writing here in an op-ed function, I can tell you that a rumor that has been circulating for some time appears to be most likely true: next year WNBA teams will only be allowed one assistant coach.
I have a few more WNBA stories to file here, but I hope that when the SC Media team reassembles to cover the Sky next season that I will have the privilege of seeing some of the amazing things I have seen this season, only better.
I think I'm going to find Sky Guy and give him a big hug.
