What do the Chicago Sky need to do to shake a 4-game skid and win in the clutch? 'Grow up'

CHICAGO - You can take Diamond DeShields' word for it: winning is not easy in the WNBA.

The Chicago Sky have lost four-straight. They fell to the Washington Mystics 74-70 on Wednesday night in a game where the offense disappeared and the team turned the ball over 21 times.

This is on the heels of a 77-75 loss to Las Vegas and 82-80 to Connecticut, too.

What do the Sky have to do to shake the loss?

"Grow up," DeShield said.

It really is that simple.

"You either find ways to win those games," DeShields said. "Or you don't."

DeShields knows. She was a rookie on the 2018 Sky that missed the playoffs only to make the playoffs a year later.

Back then, the Sky didn't have a chance. They were out of it in the final games of the season. That's not the case here. The Sky are in the final playoff spot, even after falling to 11-19 on the year.

DeShields does not want history to repeat itself.

"I've been there," DeShields said. "It sucks getting to the last few games of the season and knowing you don't have a chance at all."

This Sky team is young.

They don't have a choice. They need to take their bruises.

"We're learning a lot of hard lessons right now," DeShields said. "Some of that is learned through experience."

Still, there's a delicate balance. The team is running out of opportunities nearing the end of the regular season.

"We have to figure it out now," DeShield said.

Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said all lovers of basketball hate losing. It stings, no matter what the outcome looks like.

"When you love the game, it hurts," Weatherspoon said. "We're not down and out."

There are ways the Sky can help themselves. Turnovers are one. They cannot turn the ball over 21 times and expect to win.

They need to be better at communication, which is difficult as the team is under the weather.

"You cannot turn the ball over," Weatherspoon said. "Value every freaking possession."

But, Wednesday is a moment the team can learn from. Weatherspoon said there are so many lessons that lie in a crunch-time loss.

The pain hurts.

There's no avoiding it sometimes.

"Sometimes you got to go through it to understand," DeShields said. "We're feeling that right now."