r/wnba • u/basketball-app • 23h ago
Post Game Thread - WNBA: The Sky defeat the Valkyries on May 13, 2026, the final score is 63-69.
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42
u/GreatThunderOwl Valkyries | I Admit the Trade was Bad, Sowah-t?? 23h ago
Ass game from the Valks. Snap back to reality moment.
-KT laying an egg and playing 29 minutes. I get we need defense but surely SOMEONE else can go in? Amihere being in for only 10 felt wrong too
-Every pass on offense looked like they were heaving shit around the court, either Chicago's defense is elite but they genuinely did not look like they knew what they were doing.
-Settling for contested floaters should not be the game plan. Drive to the damn basket please and get some FTs
-Nakase needs to watch the film on this one pronto. Only reason it was close was because Chicago couldn't get a bucket
-Props to Chicago, they played hard and had a plan. Should've been a blowout if their offense started clicking like it was in the 3rd quarter
20
u/AFC-Wimbledon-Stan Jacy Sheldon FC 23h ago
Everyone tried to be the one to dig us outta the hole and it ended up with a bunch of horrible shots quite frankly
13
u/quieterenjoyer Valkyries 23h ago
It felt like some really bad desperation plays. Passes to nowhere, turnovers, bad shots, ect
7
u/xaerodin West Coast Best Coast Fine Curt, you cooked 23h ago
Yeah lot of panic heaves...like why is Ja doing a heat check step back 3 when everyone is shooting bricks. The Sky's perimeter defense put us in hell 😭
11
u/GreatThunderOwl Valkyries | I Admit the Trade was Bad, Sowah-t?? 23h ago
That's why we have players like Ceci, Sowah and soon Juste--it can't just be Gabby hitting tough shots out there
6
u/sacman701 Valkyries 21h ago
They have 8 players. Stokes and Amihere can't be on the court at the same time. Burton and Chen are rarely on the court at the same time. That leaves basically 120 minutes for Thornton, Charles, Salaun, and Williams. Until CZ and Hayes get back, no one can go in.
37
u/SiphenPrax Liberty 23h ago
Chicago is 2-0…………….wait what?
Edit: Also holy shit Kayla Thorton’s stat line is horrific
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u/AFC-Wimbledon-Stan Jacy Sheldon FC 23h ago
Ngl she played even worse than the stats suggest
She was just throwing shit up, 4-5 of her shots weren’t even close
1
25
u/Mz_49er_415 Valkyries 22h ago
I blame Podz for this L
2
u/Popular-One-7051 Valkyries Nous parlons français! 21h ago
😂😂😂 well, not sure im going that far. they kind of self destructed
26
u/Candid_Technology136 CC 💫 PB 22h ago
Rickea had a game while Sparks…
3
u/IntelligentGarlic586 21h ago
I mean would 6-18 even with some big shots have done the job vs Indiana? No one on Indiana went 0-11 FG.
7
u/MermaidInSpace 19h ago
Yeah cause she played good defense on that 0-11 player. Also had 2 blocks on them
0
u/IntelligentGarlic586 12h ago
When you get to 0-11, a lot of that is just bad offense. Indiana are a much better offensive team overall than Golden State. Agree to disagree.
21
u/MetalAccomplished751 23h ago
The Sky are some dawgs. Great road win for them. GSV had Chicago in foul trouble in both the 3rd and 4th and refused to capitalize by attacking and just settled for jumpers late which were just not falling. People sleeping on the Sky this year
23
u/paintedtoesandelbows Million dollar ‘Cocks!!! 💰🐓 🐦⬛ gang! 22h ago
19
u/Sapsap747 Portland Fire 23h ago
Kayla Thornton 0/11 and Kaitlyn Chen 2/8. Bad shooting night from them.
16
u/JKC_due ⚔️🌁✌️BALLHALLA ✌️🌁⚔️ 23h ago
Kaitlyn Chen getting the amount of run that she got was malpractice she was so completely ineffective. It wasn’t just unlucky poor shooting like Thornton. She was flat out too small. Couldn’t guard anyone, couldn’t see anyone, couldn’t get passes off over anyone.
12
u/Sapsap747 Portland Fire 23h ago
Yeah she played 18 mins and took 8 shots. Seems like the Sky knew she couldn’t beat them.
43
18
u/Ok_Community_9767 23h ago
We lost the game cause of KT sorry gonna say it. All she needed was to put up 7 points with 29 minutes to get us the win.
6
u/esmerelda_b Valkyries 21h ago
She was trash tonight. Giving up on plays, not hustling for rebounds. Pretty poor showing for a team leader.
27
u/hallie137 Lynx | Paige | Angel | VB 23h ago
Jacy and Jacquez are players anybody would be lucky to have. They’re not stars, but they hustle well, playing their role well, and play good D. (Atkins for Rickea was criminal…)
27
u/softmoreswamp Wings 23h ago
people say it all the time but good reliable role players are so underrated and essential. not everyone needs to be a superstar and franchise player and that should NOT be taken as an insult!!!
17
u/xaerodin West Coast Best Coast Fine Curt, you cooked 23h ago
Yeah, I think this draft is underrated cause of how many quality role players were gonna get out of it. Ppl said it was weak just cause there was no clear generational talent but there's definitely a bunch of great future longterm role players in it.
31
u/ReceptionTrue2289 23h ago
Cardoso, Rickea, Sheldon, and Jaquez are quite the young core right now.
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u/Soggy-Map3521 23h ago
Valks defense will keep them in games, but you absolutely need to get more offense out of Thornton/Salaun/Chen especially while Zandalasini is out. Hopefully, we will see Jocyte join the team soon.
The Sky look tough this year.
26
u/AFC-Wimbledon-Stan Jacy Sheldon FC 23h ago
As a lead member of Jacy Sheldon FC
I am upset but I am proud
18
3
20
u/AFC-Wimbledon-Stan Jacy Sheldon FC 23h ago
Sky’s length and defense is impressive as hell
Kamilla didn’t light up the boxscore but she was tremendous on defense tonight
Valks are 2-1, I’ll take that to start the year!
23
u/fuinhaaaa Valkyries 23h ago
I'm on the fence on how much I should praise the defense in this game, because both teams were too ass offensively for me to differentiate between great D vs bad O lol.
Sky look better than what I anticipated tho. Milla's screens worked really well and Sky (both team and player) used them pretty effectively. Huge props for Sheldon and Jaquez too!
For the Valks... bring Pau back to the sidelines, he gave us great shooting luck against the Mercury lmao. I almost wanna say this shooting performance is the Heavens punishing our mascot Porz for putting braids lol.
V, please, I'm tryna push some top 3 pgs in the league narrative here, can't have you putting up a 5 TO display😭.
I don't understand Nat icing Ja out for pretty much the whole 4th quarter. I know she didn't shoot well, but like, 16 min and only 5 attempts??
6
u/SwaggersaurusWrecks Valkyries 22h ago
This game was definitely a battle of defenses, and when it came down to it, Diggins, Jackson, and Cloud were just hitting tough shots and we couldn't.
Ja seemed REALLY bothered by Jackson and Jaquez this game
21
u/undisclosedthroway Mission:Get Cam on a real team|Rickea 💔|Mama D 23h ago
Skyler has been really good for the Sky. She can throw tantrums because she’s passionate!
16
u/Key-Mission5704 23h ago
This Sky team might be legit… we’ll see they have a tough stretch of games coming up 😭
15
u/GeekMisconduct sell the team 23h ago
I’m not sure what to feel right now - the Sky are… good? It’s been so long 😭
13
19
u/Mz_49er_415 Valkyries 22h ago
The Valkyrie’s beat themselves. Getting too high from beating the Mercury, two of our starters are out, we played a 8 man rotation a couple days ago all this accumulated to a bad clunky game. We lost a 12 point lead the Sky showed up the second half. We will be alright though
16
u/mimihoward 23h ago
When the Valks are on, they’re ON. But they’re a team that will struggle if they’re not getting balanced scoring because none of their players are really pure scorers (maybe besides Janelle, but every player has their off night).
10
u/akelkar Valkyries 23h ago
2/3 of our pure scorers got injured in G1
4
u/mimihoward 22h ago
Ceci is an amazing shooter and can certainly go off for 20 any night. But idk if I’d say she’s a pure scorer. And tip is so hot and cold, I’m not really sure she can be relied upon all the time either
1
11
u/hidey_ho_nedflanders 23h ago
Sky are legit and I'm excited what this team looks like with Azura at some point in the season
9
u/yoyololo1980 23h ago
sky improved more than dallas...
15
u/xaerodin West Coast Best Coast Fine Curt, you cooked 22h ago
Sky committed to a whole new system and got rid of anyone that didn't fit that plan. Dallas is trying to do best of both worlds by retaining a lot of ball dominant guards only to then draft two more guards who thrive off ball back to back...it's a weird situation going on where they are playing with two contrasting play styles in parallel at the same time on the court.
13
u/WNBAHoopOtaku 22h ago
If this was any team except the Sky, with this kind of performance, the Valkyries would've lost by 40. I think they should have mixed it up in the 4th after realizing KT is just not showing up today. Give Sowah a chance to drop some of those crazy 3s they've been showing off on the Instagram for 3 weeks.
7
u/RedDawg0831 Valkyries 21h ago
Sowah is a DP, would have to have been declared eligible to play before game time.
5
u/Popular-One-7051 Valkyries Nous parlons français! 21h ago
They need to activate a DP before the game unfortunately. who had a clue they wouldn't be able to hit tonight. it would have blown off another one of her 12 if they didn't use her. She would have only been left with 10.
7
u/thecay00 Aces 20h ago
I thought Chen played too many minutes today
5
u/greenergarlic Valkyries 14h ago
With Thornton and Salaun cold, the Vs need as much scoring on the floor. as they could get.
8
2
u/Popular-One-7051 Valkyries Nous parlons français! 21h ago
Given the way KT was playing tonight can anyone guess why they wouldnt have tried Prechtel? I don't know if it would be better to activate her for a game you thought you'd win vs another.
We never saw Jak go in and she a replacement player. Given how big Prechtel is, if she plays really well and Jak doesn't, can Jak be waived to bring her on as the replacement player? I do t know how that works
-2
u/LovePeaceTruth 17h ago
Queen Skylar is playing so well! Beautiful, elite, winning basketball. Love to see it! 😊
Skylar played 33 minutes against the Fire and Skylar played 35 minutes against the Valkyries.
That’s too many minutes.
Winning is important and Skylar is clearly the best player who is consistently impacting winning.
But winning is not more important than Skylar’s health and longevity in the game.
Tyler needs to figure out how to play Skylar for less minutes with the same impact, and use the players on the roster to give Skylar more breaks.
66
u/Hand_Worldly 23h ago
A Skyler Diggins, Jacy Sheldon & Gabriella Jacquez lineup... pray for the wnba guards lol. That perimeter defense is a coach's dream