For fans late to the party, here’s how the Sun rose to the occasion
Just now starting to pay attention to the Connecticut Sun’s season? Or considering joining the team’s bandwagon? Look no further — we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know about this year’s team, its season, and how the Sun advanced to the WNBA Finals for the franchise’s first time since 2005.
Personnel
The Connecticut Sun have started the same five players in all 37 games this year: Jasmine Thomas, Courtney Williams,
Shekinna Stricklen, Alyssa Thomas, and Jonquel Jones. Since the 2017 season, this core group has played more minutes together than any other lineup in the league, and by a wide margin. While each player stands out in her own right, the group’s familiarity and chemistry on both ends of the court helps explain the franchise’s sustained success over the last three years.
Scoring is relatively balanced, with Jones leading the way averaging 14.6 points and Williams following at 13.2. In addition to boasting great individual defenders (including WNBA All-Defensive Team picks Jasmine Thomas, Jones, and Alyssa Thomas), the team’s defense as a whole has improved from last year.
While the Sun tend to use their reserves less than other teams, Bria Holmes has provided valuable minutes off the bench, including in the Sun’s recent semifinal series against L.A. Rachel Banham, Morgan Tuck, Brionna Jones, rookie Natisha Hiedeman, and Theresa Plaisance also have their postseason footing under them after seeing a good amount of playing time in the semifinals. Backup point guard Layshia Clarendon has been out with an ankle injury for the last three months but is finally back practicing at fullspeed/contact and may be healthy enough to play in the Finals.
How they got here: the regular season
The Sun went 9-1 to start the 2019 WNBA season, and setting aside a five-game losing skid at the end of June/early July, have otherwise been fairly consistent, ending the regular season with a 23-11 record. Only Washington, who the Sun will play for the WNBA crown, had a better record at 26-8.
Though they dealt with some trouble on the road (8-9 during the regular season), the Sun were outstanding at home, going 15-2 at Mohegan Sun Arena, tied with L.A. for best in the league as well as matching a franchise record.
Connecticut eventually secured the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, automatically advancing the team past the first two rounds of single-elimination games and into the semifinals. Earning a top-two seed was the team’s main goal in the offseason, as the Sun had fallen to the Phoenix Mercury in singleelimination games during the previous two postseasons. Still, the Sun are the only team over the last three years to end the regular season with a top-four record in the league.
How they got here: semifinals and ‘disrespeCT’
Though the Sun were feeling for awhile that their success was being overlooked and their players were being undervalued, things came to a head during the weekend before the semifinals. The star-studded L.A. Sparks had just advanced to the semifinals, where they’d eventually play the Sun, and in previewing the matchup, an ESPN analyst stated that the Sun was composed of “role players”… while Jasmine Thomas herself was sitting two seats down on the live broadcast.
Not only did the franchise launch a marketing/social media campaign around the Sun being “disrespeCT[ed]”, but the team itself used that chip on their shoulder to fuel their postseason play.
And there were T-shirts involved.
Luckily for the Sun, they actually put their money where their mouth was.
Behind intense defense, superior physicality, and an offense in which different players stepped up each game, the Sun swept the Sparks in commanding fashion, winning by an average margin of victory of 19 points. While Game 1 was a two-possession game in the final minute, the Sun comfortably pulled ahead relatively early in the latter two semifinal games – shocking much of the WNBA world.
The Sun’s victory in Game 1 also marked the franchise’s first playoff win since 2012, and the first in Curt Miller’s tenure.
What’s next, and what’s at stake
The Sun now face their largest challenge yet: Taking down the No. 1 Washington Mystics, which earned home-court advantage for the Finals and will host Games 1, 2, and, if necessary, 5.
Like the semifinals, the Finals will be a best-of-five series. Connecticut hosts Game 3 and, if necessary, 4.
The Sun won the season series over the Mystics (2-1), but, with their last meeting having been at the end of June, the results of those games likely won’t have much bearing on how the upcoming series will pan out.
The Mystics boast a historically efficient offense and what Curt Miller believes is an underrated defense. Moreover, Washington will be seeking redemption after falling to the Seattle Storm in the 2018 WNBA Finals. The Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne, who won her second Most Valuable Player award last week, did not play in that series after suffering a knee injury during the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Connecticut will appear in its first WNBA Finals since 2005. Then led by current Mystics coach Mike Thibault, the Sun were back-to-back runnersup in 2004 and 2005.
Only Jasmine Thomas and Layshia Clarendon boast experience playing in the Finals, with the Atlanta Dream in 2013 and Indiana Fever in 2015, respectively. Not only could the Sun earn a franchise-first title, but a championship would also mark the first a major professional sports team has won in the entire state.