The Chicago Sky’s tough season goes from bad to worse. At the time of writing, the Phoenix Mercury are on the verge of handing the Sky their ninth loss of the season. 9 losses in 12 games? No one saw this coming, especially after the Sky traded away their first-round pick to become a “win now team.” Angel Reese, who’s seen as a key piece of the franchise, had finally started to find her rhythm over the last two games. But the Mercury game? It slammed the brakes on that momentum.

Angel Reese has faced plenty of criticism since the start of the season, especially with the rise of the “Mebounds” trend poking fun at her for so-called stat padding. But ever since the word got viral, Reese’s performance took a turn for the better. She 28 points, 23 rebounds, and 16 assists in her last two games. She did not stop there! She also announced her plans to trademark the word. But those good times didn’t last long!

Reese had zero shot attempts in the first half against the Phoenix Mercury. She finished the game with 9 points and took just one field goal attempt. A shocker!  When asked about it during the game, Coach Tyler Marsh completely ignored it. Instead, he said, “Yeah, I think we gotta continue to be aggressive, offensively. You know what a defensive team Phoenix is. Defensively, we just gotta guard.” 

While it was certainly interesting to see the coach avoid the Reese question, what he said was also true. The backcourt has depleted severely since the departure of Courtney Vandersloot, but even in her presence, the perimeter defense has always been an issue. In fact, for the third time this season, the Sky allowed an opponent to drain 16 or more three-pointers in a game. To put that into perspective, the rest of the league combined has only done that three times all season. That’s a major red flag.

Can things be fixed? For sure! A few trades and improvements in coaching can definitely change the current scenario of the team. But will that happen? It remains to be seen. A team that is known for its rebounding abilities got outrebounded by the Mercury 34-22. There are a lot of problems in the Sky team, and Coach Tyler Marsh is slowly running out of time.

Fans were particularly upset with Marsh’s decision to go away from Reese as a play initiator amid what has been a strong stretch for her. So why change something that was working? Coach Marsh will have some big questions to answer soon.

Fans are unhappy with the way Tyler Marsh used Angel Reese

The way Coach Marsh utilized Angel Reese during the game didn’t sit well with a lot of fans. Social media was filled with criticism of the Chicago Sky head coach. And, to be fair, many of the points raised were completely valid.

“Sky fans don’t be shocked if the team completely go away from running the ball through angel. thats tyler marsh coaching for you and i know its coming” one fan said. And that was exactly the case. In the previous two games where Reese operated as a primary playmaker, she managed to get 16 assists.

Tonight, we saw Hailey Van Lith and Ariel Atkins take on the role of primary ball handlers, but the duo combined for just 7 assists. Clearly, Coach Tyler Marsh believed they could run the offense more effectively than Angel Reese. But that wasn’t to be. But what’s more surprising is that it was Marsh who wanted Reese to be more versatile. And just when she started to thrive in that role, the system shifted again. One frustrated fan didn’t hold back, posting, “Tyler Marsh has to be fired by midseason. There’s no other way around it 😭✌️.”

This call for Marsh’s firing reflects growing fan impatience, amplified by the Sky’s 3-9 record and Marsh’s questionable tactics, like prioritizing guards over Reese despite her recent assist surge and the team’s need for her rebounding dominance.

If things keep heading in this direction, the Sky’s playoff hopes will take a serious hit with every game that slips away. Head coach Tyler Marsh has some big decisions to make. If he doesn’t get things back on track soon, his time with the Windy City franchise might be at risk. What do you think? Is Marsh’s job in jeopardy after the loss to the Mercury? Let us know in the comments!