Angel answered Aces’ prayers

The Sun were 20 minutes away from advancing to the WNBA Finals. Then, McCoughtry happened

Entering Sunday’ s semi finals match up with a 2-1 series lead, the Connecticut Sun were within reach of punching their ticket to the WNBA Finals for the second-straight year. And based on how the first three games of the series went, particularly with Alyssa Thomas on the floor, it looked like the once 0-5 Sun could pull it off.

Then, Angel McCoughtry happened. After the Sun went into the break withaone-pointlead, thefutureHall-ofFamerrattled off16third-quarter points (29 overall), helping the Aces outscore the Sun by 12 in the third to take the lead for good. The Sun, who had dominated most of the series, couldn’t cut the deficit to fewer than nine the rest of the way before ultimately dropping the game, 84-75.

Here’s a closer look at how McCoughtry and Aces did it, and the biggest key going into a winner-take-all Game 5 that’ll decide who advances to the Finals:

McCoughtry’s outburst: The first 20 minutes of Game 4 were back-and-forth, with the Sun taking a 38-37 lead into the break off of an Alyssa Thomas layup. But McCoughtry — the Aces’ offseason acquisition who is searching for her first WNBA title after three runner-up finishes in Atlanta — took over for Vegas with elimination on the line.

McCoughtry sank each of her seven shots, including a 3, in the first eight minutes of the second half, while also dishing out three assists. Twice she madethe Sun pay for turnovers, turning steals into fastbreak layups on the other end. Herscoring production in the third matched that of the entire Sun team as Vegas outscored them, 28-16. Witheach of the other three frames decided byone or two points, that madethe difference.

“Disappointing start for us in the third quarter, really kind of set the tone for the rest of the game in trying to claw back. [McCoughtry] single-handedly took over,” Sun coach Curt Miller said. “It wasn’t one action. She refused some screens. She got some shots off the catch. She bullied her way to the rim like she does.”

“When she got in a rhythm, it was hard for us to really slow [McCoughtry] down ,” Jasmine Thomas added .“And her teammates fed off of that. You could see the energy and the momentum kind of shift.”

For most of the series, the Sun had shut down Vegas’ other offensive weapons, beckoning A’ja Wilson to try to beat them. Sunday’s performance, though, was by far the most productive stretch of the postseason for McCoughtry, who entered the game shooting a combined 10-for-33 (31 points) from the field. She shot 13-for-22 Sunday.

M cC ought ry played 33 minutes, about 13 over her regular-season and series average, a product of Dearica Hamby’s absence (Hamby suffered a right knee injury that’ll likely keep her out for the rest ofthepostseason) andtheAcesbeing on the brink of elimination.

Key to the series — Win the battle in the paint: Looking beyond M cC ought ry’ s third-quarter burst, the Aces won the Game 4 chess match by taking the Sun out of their game: By congesting the paint and doubling Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas, the Aces dared Connecticut to shoot open 3s. And early on, the Sun hit some of those shots, making four of their first nine attempts.

But the Sun haven’t been a consistent perimeter threat all season, and as Miller said after the game, they’re not built to win by settling for outside shots. So it was going to be really difficult for them to come out with a Game 4 victory by shooting 38 percent of their field goals from beyond the arc.

Connecticut ultimately went 9-for-24 on3s,withJ as mine Thomas responsible for six of those makes. But most importantly, they were outscored in the paint 46-20 (with only eight of those points coming after halftime).

“It’s kind of the story of the series for both of us,” Miller said, andindeed it has been: The team that has won the battle in the paint each meeting this series has wonthat game:

Game1: Connecticut40-36, Connecticut wins

Game 2: Las Vegas 52-20, Las Vegas wins

Game3: Connecticut52-26, Connecticut wins

Game 4: Las Vegas 46-20, Las Vegas wins