Chicago Sky coach Pokey Chatman cited turnovers as a "glaring" problem in her opening statement about her team's 77-70 loss to the Indiana Fever in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, according to a Sky release.
It was easy to look at the stat sheet and see a glaring area that we needed to correct to give ourselves a fighting chance. It’s the turnovers. We had 14 turnovers, they had 23 points. You can look at the lack of shot attempts that we had. That’s one area that we need to clean up. But I told the team in the locker room, I like their fight.
Her related point about the turnovers contributing to a major disparity in field goal attempts is also important: on a night when the Fever shot just 35.2% from the field, they greatly benefited from having 71 field goal attempts compared to the Sky's 56. Not surprisingly, when the Sky came back in the fourth quarter while the Fever shot just 17.6% from the field, the field goal attempts were even at 17.
For more on the game, check out our Fever vs. Sky storystream.