The focus for many following the Toronto Tempo’s 85-68 win might be the high-octane offensive showing put on by the hometown squad. However, what stood out to me more than that was that the Tempo appeared to finally buy in on the defensive side of the ball. After giving up 97 points to the New York Liberty on Wednesday, Toronto responded well, holding the Sky to just 68 points.
It feels like 11 games into the season, the 8,000-plus fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum chanting "defense" on every defensive play for nearly the entire game have finally left their mark on the court. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, and the lapses we've seen all season did reappear at times, but for the most part, the energy and effort were there Sunday night.
Whether it was rotating around the perimeter, trapping when it made sense, or going under a screen, the Tempo D clearly hit a flow state on the defensive side of the ball. Speaking of flow state, Toronto’s offense was running like a well-oiled machine and drained any sense of confidence coming from the Sky’s sideline.
The defense may finally be breaking throughÂ
Some may point to Chicago’s poor shooting and say it was just a down night for the Sky that made the Tempo defense look so elite. But for those who were there in the building, the proof was in the pudding—something clearly clicked on the defensive end and could be the start of something big for Toronto.
For those that may just peep the box score, Toronto having seven steals and four blocks isn’t going to jump off the page or have anyone thinking there was some crazy defensive effort. The eye test doesn’t lie.Â
Everyone had a boost on Sunday. It was like they had heard the noise that this team had all the offense, but couldn’t stop a parked car. All game, bodies were flying around the perimeter, consistent switches between guards and bigs, rotations, recoveries, and passing lanes being jumped. They even held a prolific scorer in Skylar Diggins to 2-of-8 shooting and seven points, which isn't something anyone would’ve expected from this team a game ago.
Even head coach Sandy Brondello was bringing a different type of energy defensively, acting as a sixth woman a few times, getting into her stance on the sidelines, and rallying the defense.Â
For a Tempo team that has built an offense-first defense-never mentality through the start of the season, the win over Chicago was a nice change of pace.
Is there still a lot of work to be done to compete at the highest level defensively? Yes. Does the transition defense still look like a group of lost puppies? Yes. Does the communication on switches still need work? Yes. But does this group have the talent and mentality to be an elite defense? 100 percent. Throughout the early part of the first quarter and during stretches of the game, it was clear that this team has the potential to be one of the WNBA’s strongest defense-to-offense teams.
One game won't erase all the concerns that have followed Toronto on defense, but for the first time this season there's real hope on that side of the floor. The Tempo's offense is going to remain their calling card, but if they can just find a happy medium between their defense and offense, the sky's (pun intended) the limit in their inaugural season.
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