Former Husky Taurasi, 38, continues to defy Father Time

Who’s the team to beat? Which players are can’t-miss TV? What gives for the Sun?

As the 2020 WNBA regular season gives way to the playoffs, starting Tuesday in Bradenton, Fla., we answer those questions and more.

SUN HASN’T SET

The Sun overcame long odds, becoming just the third team

(2015 Los Angeles Sparks, 2012 New York Liberty) in the league’s 24 years to make the playoffs after starting 0-5. Now, Connecticut will attempt to do what those other teams couldn’t: make a deep run.

Both the Sparks and Liberty were eliminated in the first round under the old format (best-of-3 series). The Sun can top that with a win Tuesday against Chicago in a winner-take-all first-round game.

Injuries are mounting, but as long as DeWanna Bonner is able to stay on the floor and keep producing, the Sun have a chance to make some noise and win a game or two.

STEEPER ROAD

The Washington Mystics are back. Well, not Mystics.

Outside of Emma Meesseman and Ariel Atkins, the Mystics are barely recognizable from the team that won the 2019 title. Reigning MVP Elena Delle Donne isn’t playing. Neither is Natasha Cloud, or LaToya Sanders, or just about anyone else who logged major minutes for the champs. And that doesn’t even factor in Tina Charles, who was acquired in the offseason but opted out.

The Mystics (9-13) deserve credit for even making the playoffs. Whatever happens from here is gravy.

TIME DAWNING ON DT? NOT SO FAST

Father Time is undefeated.

But Diana Taurasi’s giving him a run for his money.

Taurasi, who turned 38 in June, is in her 16th WNBA season. The injuries have started to creep up, and yet she just keeps going and going. Taurasi continues to defy logic, averaging the fifth-most points (18.7) in the league despite all the mileage she’s accrued in her legendary career.

She’s also 13-1 in do-or-die playoff games. So … good luck, Washington.

ROOKIE ROYALTY

No second-round pick has ever won Rookie of the Year. Odds are that’ll end soon.

Dallas’ Satou Sabally is in the conversation, but no one has had a better first season than Minnesota’s Crystal Dangerfield. The 5-foot-5 point guard is 11th in the league in scoring at 16.2 points per game, and she’s shooting the ball with more efficiency (47.1 percent) than she ever did at UConn.

Dangerfield is in line to be the second straight Husky to win the honor — following Lynx teammate Napheesa Collier — and sixth overall.

DID WE SAY UCONN?

The aforementioned Taurasi, Collier and Dangerfield aren’t the only Huskies left in the WNBA bubble. Don’t forget, of course, Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, and Morgan Tuck, who have a real shot to land Seattle its second championship in three years. There’s also Chicago’s Stefanie Dolson and Gabby Williams, who will try to get past Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and the Sun.