Sun bracing to do without injured Thomas
Connecticut’s road to the WNBA Finals just became a bit more dauting.
The Sun are still awaiting the status of forward Alyssa Thomas, who hurt her right shoulder during the first quarter of their Game 2 loss to Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Thomas, a two-time All-Star, underwent an MRI on Wednesday to determine the severity of her injury. Head coach Curt Miller didn’t have the results as of his afternoon Zoom call, but said the Sun are “planning on moving ahead without her.”
“We’re planning to not have
her. If we have her, that would be an absolute bonus,” Miller said.
Thomas was battling for position in the paint with Aces MVP forward A’ja Wilson when she collapsed to the floor in pain. The seventh-year vet remained down for a brief period before walking off favoring her right arm. Following an evaluation by medical personnel, Thomas returned to the Sun bench in the fourth quarter wearing a sling. Miller said afterward that Thomas may have dislocated her shoulder, but he couldn’t confirm it.
She’s already been ruled out for Thursday’s pivotal Game 3 (9:30 p.m., ESPN2) at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. The best-offive series is tied at one game apiece.
“We have to move ahead with the game plan without her,” Miller said. “If she’s able to play — we’ve played with her, and she plays so many minutes on the floor — it’s easy to go back and establish what we want to do with her.”
The 28-year-old Thomas has been one of the WNBA’s most durable players. Despite playing with a torn labrum in each shoulder, she appeared in all but one game during the regular season. She was fifth in the league in average minutes (32.8), living up to her nickname, “The Engine.”
On top of that, Thomas was 16th in the league in scoring (15.5), third in rebounding (9.0) and first in steals (2.0).
Thomas’ injury figures to test the depth of the Sun’s frontcourt, which was already missing one of its best players in Jonquel Jones. Miller called for players to step up in Thomas’ absence, especially Beatrice Mompremier. The rookie
played 20 minutes off the bench in Game 2, more than double her season average.
“Right now, we’re in a great place,” Miller said. “But when we get punched on Thursday, when we take a punch from Vegas, we’re going to need that leadership of everybody playing hard and not hanging their heads. We’ll take a couple punches, and we’ve got to
punch back. That’s where everybody’s got to step up because that’s where AT was such a big, big leader for us with her competitiveness on the court and with her energy on the court. Everybody fed off of that.”
If nothing else, the Sun have proved resilient under Miller. This season, they became just the third team in league history to rally from an 0-5 start and make the postseason.