If missing the playoff berth wasn’t bad enough for the Chicago Sky, Sunday night brought out another off-court incident that urged HC Tyler Marsh to speak up.

"If you come to a game, you should probably come to enjoy the basketball. That seems pretty simple to me,” Marsh said during the postgame availability posted by Sky’s official YouTube channel. “I think these players deserve that and have earned that.”

Losing 90-113 to the Indiana Fever officially ended the Sky’s last hope to clinch a playoff spot. To top that, former NBA player Enes Freedom’s presence at the Wintrust Arena sparked a verbal altercation between him and Sky guard Natasha Cloud, with 1:22 remaining in the third quarter.

This comes after Freedom declared himself a WNBA prospect, talked about joining the Fever and playing alongside Caitlin Clark earlier this month. This Sunday, he showed up in a black T-Shirt that read, “WOMAN noun. adult human female.”

But Marsh believed players deserve respect, not these distractions.

"There's so much good things about this league and so many good things about the play of these players," the Sky HC added to the same segment. "Being a former basketball player, you should probably understand and feel that, too."

That angsty verbal exchange with Cloud ultimately led to Freedom’s ejection from the arena. But the Sky player needed some assurance afterwards.

Tyler Marsh Backs Natasha Cloud

Some of the Sky players had to drag Cloud away from the incident. The Fever were already leading 33-26 in the 3rd quarter and would eventually carve out a 23-point lead in the 4^th. The whole incident left Cloud concerned about being a distraction, but the Sky got her back.

"I told her she wasn't (a distraction)," Marsh added during the same sitting. "I told her that we all embrace her as someone that protects our team and protects people that need to be protected. So, Tash is always going to stand on that, and we stand for Tash."

Although Cloud didn't sit in on the postgame talks, Marsh's remarks will hopefully make her feel better emotionally by the time Sky takes the floor.

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.

Follow Her Sports Nation for more.

Written by

Deblina Roy