New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
It’s Bonner’s time to shine in postseason
Theresa Plaisance and Briann January couldn’t agree. Plaisance said it didn’t feel like the WNBA playoffs. January said, yes, it did.
As the Connecticut Sun gather for a pizza pool party during their off day on Saturday, each could have been forgiven if nothing felt normal. As the world spins on, they’ve been stuck in a bubble for 10 weeks at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Coach Curt Miller said every day is Groundhog Day.
They’ve played games every other day for two months, finishing seventh overall at 12-10, with no real practice time in six weeks. There are no fans. There is no travel. No change of venues. The faces? The same. Film, COVID-19 testing, weight-training, meals, everything is micro-managed. The monotony, the mental drain is real. And even though her 3-year-old
twins are only an hour away, DeWanna Bonner hasn’t seen Cali and Demi since July 6.
“I cannot wait to see them,” Bonner said.
Yet if the lithe 6-foot-4 forward has her way, she will wait longer. For it doesn’t matter if it feels like the playoffs. It IS the playoffs. With the one-game knockout early rounds, there is zero wiggle room for the bottom four qualifiers. And one matter remains true. The best players have to play their best when it matters most. Or else you don’t win anything.
Tuesday night, it’s Chicago.
“It doesn’t matter what happened in the regular season,” Bonner said. “It’s a different kind of basketball out there. You’ve got to use the practice time to get that mentality we’re going to go out there and kill it. You’ve got to have all the confidence in the world.”
The Sun surrendered three first-round picks to Phoenix in order to sign the 33-year-old Bonner to the super-max contract. She has been worth every penny. Bonner has been the best
player on the Sun in 2020 and one of the best halfdozen in the WNBA.
Yet this also is true. Bonner played with Diana Taurasi, the greatest player in women’s basketball history, and Brittney Griner, one of its best post players. The 2014 Mercury that won it all was one of the best teams ever assembled. It wasn’t her team.
“I think that’s why she chose to come and end her career in Connecticut,” Miller said. “She has been one of the elite players in the league for a long time, but playing along two of the best ever maybe didn’t always get her due. She is in a place now where she can really shine. We go as she goes.
“At the same time, we have really talented pieces alongside her and we’re better when we have versatility with our scoring lineup. We stood around and watched (Alyssa Thomas) and DeWanna play a lot early in the season and we got better when we had more diversity in that offense. DB is a willing facilitator, but she knows she carries a lot of weight on this team. I’m excited to see her first playoff carrying that burden, carrying that weight, and understanding there comes a lot of responsibility
when you’re asked to be the go-to player.”
In 2015, when Tauarsi took a season off, Bonner was a first-team WNBA All-Star. Her talent isn’t in doubt. She and Thomas finished fourth and fifth in the league in minutes played in 2020. At 15.5 points and nine rebounds (third in the WNBA), Thomas is, as Miller described, “as big a warrior as there is in the league.”
It is Bonner, at 19.7 points (third in the WNBA), 7.8 rebounds and nearly two steals a game, who is the explosive threat.
“I don’t think we have to do anything different than we have in the regular season,” Bonner said. “I think we’ve turned it around. We’re a really dangerous team right now. Yeah, it’s a little different role for me. I’m excited to go out there and lead my team, whether that’s scoring, defense, cheering them on, anything I need to do.”
If the Sun beat the Sky — the Sky have lost six of eight — they’ll have a singleelimination game likely against the L.A. Sparks. If they upset the Sparks, they’d likely be looking at five-game semifinal and final series against Las Vegas and Seattle.
That’s a hellacious task for a team that was within one quarter of its first WNBA title only a year ago against the Washington Mystics. When Bonner joined the Sun, they looked like they may have the pieces to finally win it all. That was before Courtney Williams played her high jinx and signed with Atlanta. That was before Jonquel Jones, who had emerged as one of the league’s best players, opted out with COVID concerns. That’s before a slew of changes.
The Sun started 0-5. Bonner urged fans back in Connecticut not to give up on the team. After the Sun went 10-7 the rest of the way, she thanked the fans Monday for sticking with the team.
“The biggest thing is chemistry,” Bonner said. “We learned (about) each other. We know where people are on the court, where people want the ball. We know what plays to run for different people, who to get the ball to at certain times. Learning what triggers everyone, what makes them feel more confident.
“I don’t think we had too much confidence at first. We started talking to each other, ‘Let’s not settle. Let’s not give in. Let’s keep pushing.’
Everyone has a confidence and swagger right now. Everything is flowing and working at the right time. Hopefully, we can translate that to a playoff mode.”
Last year, the talk centered on how young the Sun were, how little postseason experience they had. Miller hadn’t coached a 30-yearold player in the regular season until this year. Now, there’s a stat out there that the Sun are second among the eight teams in combined playoff games.
“We went from one of the youngest rosters building with that core group to multiple players over 30 and multiple players that have won championships,” Miller said. “But as experienced as the individuals are, we’re not experienced together. So two days of practice is big. There’s a focus and energy. There’s an excitement about this group that you know it is playoff time. The veterans are really locked in.”
Jasmine Thomas, who has been dogged by plantar fasciitis, practiced the past two days and looked good. Still, it’s a tricky injury. January will play through the pain of a dislocated finger. Same with Alyssa Thomas, fighting a hand injury. She wore a splint in practice for five minutes and ripped it off. She’d rather play with the pain.
Yes, the veterans are locked in.
“All the aches and pains, nicks and bruises, don’t disappear with a day or two off,” Bonner said. “You’re still bruised and beat up.
But it’s good mentally.”
As Plaisance’s dad boarded up the family house in Louisiana in anticipation of yet another hurricane, 500 miles away the rain from the outer fringes of Sally fell on Florida’s Gulf Coast the past two days.
“The weather sucks down here,” said Bonner, who admitted to being in a sleepy mood. “It’s the weather.”
Don’t worry, she said. It won’t affect her mood game day.
“I don’t think many people saw us making the playoffs when we started 0-5,” Bonner said. “It was kind of like what happened? What did we do in the offseason? But we’re there now. We’re playing really good basketball. Sit back and watch the playoffs It’s going to be fun.”
It’s the playoffs, whether it feels like it or not. We’re going to find out about DeWanna Bronner’s greatness.