Defense is the Chicago Sky’s key to turning around the WNBA semifinals — despite snubs from the All-Defensive teams

When the WNBA announced its All-Defensive first and second teams Tuesday, not a single Chicago Sky player was voted to either team.

The omission drew a mix of frustration and indifference from the Sky after improved defense anchored the team’s 26-10 season. The Sky finished near the top of most defensive statistics: second in blocked shots (4.3 per game), third in defensive rebounds (27.6 per game) and fourth in defensive rating (99.7).

Sky captain Courtney Vandersloot noted the team’s emphasis on balancing the defense might have detracted from potential individual honors.

“We play team defense. We don’t have one person that’s out there as our defensive stopper. We focus on five-on-five,” Vandersloot said. “But we’re the fourth-best defense. I think that says enough about itself. I don’t really get caught up in who votes for who. As long as we’re getting stops and we’re winning games, that’s what I care about.”

End-of-season awards are often flummoxing for WNBA fans and players — and complicated by a structure that requires voters to select players by their position despite the position-less nature of modern basketball. For instance, Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas received only enough votes to make the All-Defensive second team despite also being voted runner-up to Las Vegas Aces forward A’Ja Wilson for Defensive Player of the Year.

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Vandersloot and two-time All-Star Kahleah Copper shrugged off the lists, while coach James Wade said the snub will serve as additional fuel for the Sky defense in the semifinal series against the Sun, which resumes with Game 2 on Wednesday at Wintrust Arena (7 p.m., ESPN2).

“I’m just happy to have all these non-defenders on my team,” Wade joked.

Despite being known for their scoring, defense will make or break the Sky’s quest to repeat as WNBA champions.

Their perimeter pressure flipped the script in the first round against the New York Liberty, silencing top scorer Sabrina Ionescu after an upset loss in Game 1.

And though they also lost Game 1 of the semifinals, the Sky were able to contain one of the league’s most physical teams in holding the Sun to 68 points.

Copper created a spark on both ends in the first-round series, leading the team in scoring while also spearheading the increased pressure on the Liberty’s young guards. Her ability to cloak opposing guards with her length while forcing errors through frenetic pokes and prods at the ball forces teams to speed up their offense, which plays into the Sky’s preferred style of play.

“I’ve embraced being that two-way player because you don’t see too many of those in the league,” Copper said. “I can go get you a bucket and then I can come down and get you a stop.”

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While Copper forces turnovers and mistakes on the perimeter, Candace Parker protects the core of the Sky defense in the paint. Parker led the league with 11.3 defensive rebounds per game in her 15th season, moving more to the five position after the offseason acquisition of Emma Meesseman.

Parker’s rebounding reflects how defense can feed the Sky offense. Copper led the league in transition baskets in part because of Parker’s preternatural ability to find and pass to her teammates in transition, often lofting full-court passes as Copper blows by opposing players.

Parker was the lone line of defense against the Sun’s crushing pressure on the offensive glass in Game 1, capturing 17 of the Sky’s 29 defensive rebounds.

The Sun were the best offensive rebounding team in the league at 37.1%. That trend continued in Game 1, in which the Sun snagged 12 rebounds in the upset win.

Parker’s presence in the paint helped to nullify second-chance opportunities, a key focus for the Sky in the remainder of the semifinals.

“She’s just super talented and super skilled, and she’s elite when it comes to timing of the ball,” Wade said. “She’s been doing it for so long, and even though (she’s) not as respected as other players and she’s not as respected in the league, she’s just unique in what she does.”

The Sky prefer to play fast and run with their opponents — especially against a bigger team such as the Sun, who slowed down Game 1 and bruised the Sky in the paint with their powerful frontcourt.

The best way to set the pace is to force turnovers early and often, a lesson the Sky quickly learned in the first round when they forced 33 turnovers in their two wins over the Liberty. The addition of two-way players such as Rebekah Gardner has fortified the Sky’s ability to change games through turnovers.

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Defense wasn’t the main concern in the Game 1 loss to the Sun. The Sky held them to fewer than 70 points but shot only 35.3% from the field.

But Sky players know defensive pressure is the fuel needed to reignite their offense in the rest of the series.

“Last year, that’s what changed for us in the playoffs,” Vandersloot said. “We were 16-16 going in, we were a No. 6 seed. When we turned it up defensively, we became a different team. … When we are good defensively, we just take things to a whole other level.”