CHICAGO — Eric Thibault joked before Wednesday’s game that media members would have to start chipping into a fund each time they mention that the Washington Mystics coach doesn’t talk about the standings and the playoffs with his team. However, he has been adamant that he doesn’t discuss the postseason with his group, acknowledging that the players know where things stand.
“I don’t have to explain to them the significance of the week,” he said. “I touched on it briefly yesterday of, like, all we get to control, at the time yesterday, was yesterday’s practice. And we wanted to leave yesterday’s practice feeling like we got better. We’ve taken them one at a time — that’s been the approach that’s worked for us. I have no reason to change that.”
That approach kept working Wednesday night, when the Mystics never trailed in an 89-58 victory over the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena. The blowout cut the Sky’s lead for the WNBA’s eighth and final playoff spot to one game.
The Sky, Mystics and Atlanta Dream are competing for the only playoff spot left unclaimed. Each team has four games left, and they will play one another in the stretch run.
Chicago (13-23) lost standout rookie Angel Reese for the season with a wrist injury; she had surgery Tuesday and was on the sideline in street clothes Wednesday. The Sky, which has lost eight of 10, visits Minnesota on Friday before hosting Phoenix on Sunday. It finishes the season with games at Atlanta and Connecticut.
Atlanta (12-24) hosts the Mystics on Friday before visiting Washington on Sunday. The home matchup with Chicago follows before its season finale at first-place New York.
After its matchups with Atlanta, Washington (12-24) hosts New York and Indiana. It’s nearing the postseason despite starting the season a franchise-worst 0-12.
“We just have an opportunity, and we’re just going to keep playing,” Mystics guard Brittney Sykes said. “I think we’ve done a great job of not looking too far ahead or trying to hold on to what was. Honestly, since the [Olympic] break, we’ve just approached every game as an opportunity to get better and truly see what it is like being a full Mystics roster where everybody is just a cohesive unit.”
Added Aaliyah Edwards: “Never count us out, but at the same time, we’re just patient and have got to do what we’ve got to do on the court.”
The Mystics, who have won six of their past eight, broke Wednesday’s game wide open with a 10-0 run featuring a heavy dose of Sykes for a 22-8 lead. The Sky never got within single digits the rest of the way.
Sykes was aggressive early, scoring 12 of her 14 points in the first quarter. She finished with eight rebounds and seven assists. Edwards had her most productive offensive game since she scored 16 points against the Sky on June 14; after being held to single digits in scoring in her previous 10 games, the rookie had 15 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
Ariel Atkins’s nine points gave her 2,849 for her career and moved her into third place on the franchise scoring list, surpassing Monique Currie (2,843) and only trailing Alana Beard (3,128) and Chamique Holdsclaw (2,960).
The 58 points the Mystics allowed were their fewest of the season.
“We’re just in a really good mode of helping each other and talking and having each other’s backs,” Thibault said. “... When we’re a good defensive team, we’re really, really connected. I felt that throughout the game.”
The Mystics were again without Shakira Austin, who has missed 24 of 36 games this season. On Sunday in a loss to Minnesota, she returned from a four-game absence because of a left ankle injury and played 10 minutes. She sat out Wednesday with the same injury.
Thibault said Austin didn’t experience any pain before or after that game, but she didn’t feel she had the strength and explosiveness to play like herself. She traveled with the team and, when asked, Thibault did not declare her out for the season.
Commissioner criticism
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert drew the ire of WNBA players and fans this week after an appearance on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.” When asked about the “darker” tone of online discussions that bring race and sexuality into the conversation about the rivalry between rookies Caitlin Clark and Reese, Engelbert talked about the need for the league to have rivalries and compared the situation to what the NBA once had with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
Women’s National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Terri Jackson countered with a statement that noted Engelbert missed a chance to say “vile hate, racist language, homophobic comments and the misogynistic attacks” have no place in the game. Engelbert later clarified her remarks in a social media post.
Several players criticized the commissioner’s initial remarks. That included Stefanie Dolson, the Mystics’ union representative.
“Obviously I think Cathy’s response was not the correct way to answer the question or to talk about the situation,” she said. “As much as we love rivalry in sports and that idea of creating great entertainment for fans, as the WNBPA announced, we don’t stand for that. We don’t want that in our sport. There’s no room for bigotry, racism, homophobia. None of that is appropriate, and for fans to say things like that to any player is inappropriate.
“And I think we can all stand in solidarity in terms of standing behind Angel and any other Black athlete that has felt that pain. It’s just inappropriate. I think Cathy should’ve had a better response to it, for sure. We all stand behind our athletes in this league for a reason, and we love this league for a reason. We want our fans to respect that. And if you’re not fans of the game and you’re not fans of us, then don’t watch — because at this point we have a lot of really great fans.”
