What a big difference a year makes
Mohegan Thirty minutes in Tuesday night and the Connecticut Sun were dead. Doornail. Jimmy Hoffa. This would finally be the one. The injury they just couldn't sustain, the one to their conscience, all-star guard Jasmine Thomas, whose pain in the left ankle was sure looking like a real pain in the ascot to the rest of her teammates.
Sure, they'd survived all the other wounds. Even before the season to Chiney Ogwumike, their leading scorer. Morgan Tuck during the year. Lynetta Kizer. But this one? Thomas' absence left a scoring disorder, not to mention an 11-point deficit to Seattle after three periods.
And then they went somewhere between Houdini and Lazarus, outscoring the Storm 33-9 in the last quarter. Suddenly, the crowd just shy of 8,000 was believing again in what's becoming a magical Sun summer. Connecticut — first-place Connecticut — rallied for an 84-71 win, proving once again that if the dream's big enough, the facts don't count.
It's hard to draw a straight line between intangibles. But the Sun's greatest intangible — team unity —
sure looks like the reason for the 16-9 record. They were lousy for alarming stretches Tuesday night. Didn't matter. They just kept playing. Together. Because that's how they do everything. Together.
“We're all so goofy and weird and outgoing, we just click together,” said guard Rachel Banham, often part of a vocal bench that coaches as much as Curt Miller and cheers as much as the fans. “I don't know. We hang out outside the court. I think it helps when you can click off the court and understand each other that way, too. I don't know how to really explain it.”
That's because it's hard to explain. And so often in sports, the “chemistry” storyline is either overblown or a bunch of baloney. Not here. And to think it wasn't long ago when the locker room was toxic. Put it this way: The locker room had its own MCL issue: Miserable Camille Little. Among others. Now it's the Brady Bunch. And Ogwumike and her 50,000-watt personality isn't even here.
“They believe so much in each other. Like family,” Miller said. “If a family member is sick or ill (or in this case injured) someone else has to step up. They almost treat it like that. They just really believe in each other and care for each other.
“To their credit, the (Sun) players are really coachable. I'm blessed that way. They believe in the staff and the game plan. We ask them what they think at times. I think there's a real respect in that they believe in what we do and appreciate that we ask. We have something special brewing in that locker room.”
Bench jockeys
The bench Tuesday night: Thomas was offering her wisdom to anyone who would listen. So was Kizer. Danielle Adams. Even when the deficit was 13, the faith never wavered. Just keep playing. Together.
Miller said, “We had individually some great people (when he arrived two years ago), but team chemistry wise I don't think it's too heavy of a word to say it was in disarray at times. We tried to get that fixed first. We may not always win every game, but we have the locker room right and we're going to work hard to keep it that way.”
Sun fans will get a chance later this week to see the chemistry in action. Four players will help attempt to set a Guinness World Record for most types of cheese on a pizza at Crown Pizza in Waterford. Courtney Williams, Shekinna Stricklen, Adams and Banham will channel their inner Giada De Laurentiis at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, making pizzas for the public and interacting with fans.
“I've never made pizza before,” Banham said. “That'll be new to me.” And fun, no doubt. Like everything else right now in Neon Uncasville. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro