Miller back in element preparing for playoffs

Curt Miller is a coach by profession and by heart.

No wonder he was so giddy about getting to run a full practice Sunday for the first time in what felt like forever.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am. I’m the happiest

I’ve been in weeks,” Miller said on Zoom. “We finally got to practice. I can’t remember the last time we got to practice. It was probably July.”

The Connecticut Sun have been going non-stop since July when they reported to the bubble in Bradenton, Fla., and while this weekend undoubtedly provided a time for players to unwind and break out of their normal routine, it also allowed the 51-year old Miller to do what he loves most.

“It feels more like the first part of my career in the WNBA and obviously college with multiple days of prep, how you want to attack that and break it up,” said Miller, now in the homestretch of his fifth season with Connecticut. “For me, this is what my career has been about, multiple days of preparation.”

Once the regular season

ended Friday with an 82-75 loss to Atlanta, Miller shifted his attention to Connecticut’s first-round playoff opponent, the Chicago Sky. The teams — who split a pair of games last month — will meet Tuesday (7 p.m.) in a single-elimination game down at IMG Academy.

The Sun (10-12) won’t be fully healthy. Point guard Jasmine Thomas is playing through plantar fasciitis,

and New Haven’s Bria Holmes, a valuable role player, tore her right meniscus and is done for the season. But the hope is that this respite from games will do the Sun good.

“We’ve had some people bruised up, but we’ve also had healthy people that have just played a lot of minutes this season,” said Thomas, one of four players on the Sun (DeWanna Bonner, Alyssa Thomas and Brionna Jones) averaging over 25 minutes per game. “I think having these days

have been great for us.”

Miller took it as a good sign that his players had a little extra pep in their step during Sunday’s practice.

“There was a focus, there was a sharpness, there was an energy and tempo,” he said. “You can tell it’s the playoffs. There’s a real focus.”

If anyone knows just how fortunate Connecticut is to be in this position, it’s Miller. He was an assistant on the 2015 Los Angeles Sparks, the last team to start 0-5 (0-7, in their case)

and make the playoffs before these Sun.

“There was never a panic by the veterans,” Miller said. “They knew that we had given up some halftime leads, they knew we had given up some fourth-quarter leads, and we were struggling to get to the finish line. But there were stretches that we were playing good basketball.”

MILLER ‘OPTIMISTIC’ ABOUT HOLMES’ FUTURE

Miller believes Holmes may avoid surgery on her

torn right meniscus, an injury suffered in the third quarter of Wednesday’s loss to Phoenix.

“She may have caught a break. It’s not as serious an injury as it could’ve been,” Miller said. “While we’ll miss her, and it’s hard not having an extra player here, I’m optimistic for the long run for Bria.”

The 26-year old Holmes revealed the severity of her injury in an Instagram post, and vowed to “come back better and stronger.” She will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason after averaging 4.9 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 18 games (four starts) in 2020.

“As much as I wanted to finish this season out because we made the playoffs and then head overseas right after,” Holmes wrote, “God had other plans for me. … Now time to go home and rehab!!! Thanks for all the love and prayers. I will be back!!!”