{"id":706365,"date":"2026-06-15T23:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/706365\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T23:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:38:09","slug":"skylar-diggins-knows-small-mistakes-will-cost-sky-against-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/706365\/","title":{"rendered":"Skylar Diggins knows small mistakes will cost Sky against Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s one thing that sticks out to Sky<\/a> point guard Skylar Diggins about the Liberty \u2014 aside from their sheer amount of talent \u2014 it\u2019s their length.<\/p>\n

The Liberty\u2019s frontcourt features Breanna Stewart (6-4), Jonquel Jones (6-6) and Satou Sabally (6-4), all of whom are forces inside. On the perimeter, Leonie Fiebich (6-4) and Pauline Astier (5-11) take away passing lanes and make every shot difficult.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018That\u2019s the theme of what I see,\u2019\u2019 Diggins told the Sun-Times after practice Sunday. \u2018\u2018Deflections, steals, blocked shots.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The Liberty \u2014 who will visit Wednesday \u2014 have the third-best record, second-best defense and fourth-best rebounding mark in the WNBA. They\u2019ve done it while adjusting to a new coach and rarely playing at full strength.<\/p>\n

Sabally still is coming off the bench as she works her way back from an extended recovery from a concussion. All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu recently returned after missing seven games with back soreness.<\/p>\n

Coach Chris DeMarco, a longtime Warriors assistant, took over after the Liberty fired Sandy Brondello, who led them to the 2024 title.<\/p>\n

The injuries and new system meant the Liberty didn\u2019t immediately meld into championship form, even though many preseason power rankings put them at the top of the league. They dropped a few surprising games early, including two to the expansion Fire, but have won seven in a row since.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018They\u2019re clicking right now,\u2019\u2019 Sky coach Tyler Marsh said Monday. \u2018\u2018They\u2019re getting their rhythm back. Having Sabrina back in the lineup helps them. They\u2019re a championship-caliber team, and we always knew that coming into it. It was just a matter of time before they got used to a new system and new coaching staff.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The Liberty will test the Sky where they\u2019re weakest. The Sky rank last in the league in rebounding, too often failing to finish otherwise-solid defensive possessions. They also have struggled to get their bigs, Kamilla Cardoso and Azura Stevens, out to contest opposing post players on the perimeter.<\/p>\n

The Liberty can punish them on both fronts. Sabally and Jones each are shooting around 40% from three-point range.<\/p>\n

Given the Liberty\u2019s shooting, length and star power, Marsh said applying pressure is key.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018We can\u2019t afford to sit back and let them run action freely,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u2018\u2018We\u2019ve got to be disruptive and allow them to feel our presence.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Ball pressure has helped keep the Sky in games when their offense waffles<\/a>. But even that hasn\u2019t been consistent, especially when their best perimeter defender<\/a>, Natasha Cloud, gets into foul trouble. Cloud fouled out of an overtime loss last week to the Fever.<\/p>\n

The Sky have lost seven of their last eight games and still haven\u2019t figured out whom they are after losing leading scorer Rickea Jackson to a torn ACL. They also remain without two key pieces in Courtney Vandersloot and DiJonai Carrington.<\/p>\n

This week, which features difficult matchups against the Liberty and Wings, will test whether the Sky\u2019s recent fight can stay consistent. They have built some momentum in the last two games, taking two playoff teams down to the wire.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018I guess if we\u2019re talkin\u2019 about moral victories, we played harder,\u2019\u2019 Diggins said Sunday of the last two games. \u2018\u2018Showed a lot of grit in those games. We know that can be our identity. I know we spoke early about wanting to have that type of identity. We have kind of fallen short.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

In the end, grit is only a starting point. Diggins said she wants the Sky to prove they can finish and commit to fixing the details that keep costing them, especially on the glass.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of practice Monday, Diggins stopped the session to make sure the Sky were executing their rebounding scheme on free throws, too. She called it a tedious detail but wanted to make sure it sank in.<\/p>\n

The message was clear: We\u2019re already struggling with this. Let\u2019s not make it worse with small mistakes.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, the Liberty will make them pay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If there\u2019s one thing that sticks out to Sky point guard Skylar Diggins about the Liberty \u2014 aside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-706365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}