Sun are rested and ready for playoffs

UNCASVILLE — The goal was to avoid the unpredictably of a single-elimination playoff by securing a top-two seed and a double bye into the WNBA semifinals.

Once the Connecticut Sun did that, routing the Dallas Wings 102-72 on Sept. 4, Curt Miller quickly shifted his attention toward the future. More specifically, with the team’s first playoff game still 13 days out, Miller began crafting a plan to buy his players some rest.

Except, rather than just draw up a schedule on his own, he reached out to college and fellow WNBA coaches for advice.

“It’s not easy being off eight or nine days then starting to play again. We’ve got to put ourselves in some opportunities that feel like actual game situations,” Miller said Thursday from the team’s practice facility at Mohegan Tribe Community Center. “It’s that tug and pull of rest and keeping them healthy, but trying to keep them sharp.”

To Miller’s satisfaction, his players are rested and relatively healthy. However, he’ll need to wait until

Tuesday — when the Sun host the Los Angeles Sparks in game one of the WNBA semifinals — to determine whether they’re still sharp.

“We’ve had sustained success, which is ultimately the goal of a coach or a general manager,” Miller said. “Ultimately in the pro game, you’re judged on playoff success, so we’ve got to continue to take the next step. Getting to the semifinals for us was the next step. Now, can we be greedy and go for it?”

The Sun are the only team in the league to finish in the top four each of the last three seasons. They’ve won 65 games over that span, but have no titles to show for it, only heartbreak.

Last season, just like the one before, ended in the second round at the hands of an all-time great player, Diana Taurasi, and the Phoenix Mercury.

Yet the Sun (23-11) remain undeterred in their pursuit of their first championship.

“We expect to win it all, that’s our expectation,” forward Jonquel Jones said. “Everything else is, I don’t even know the word. It doesn’t matter. We just want to win.”

Jones has gotten the sense that Connecticut’s expectations don’t match those of people outside the organization. She isn’t sure why, but her teammates have some suspicions.

“I guess it’s because we don’t got a superstar, superstar,” guard Courtney Williams said. “I feel like every team got like that superstar, superstar or that person that the media wants to push to the forefront. It is what it is. Our whole team can score. We’re out here, we’re going to show people what’s up with us.”

The Sun may not have a transcendent player like Taurasi or own three championships like Los Angeles, but they’re certainly not lacking talent. Jones and forward Alyssa Thomas were both all-stars, and their lineup as a whole is the league’s most durable. No other team started the same five players all season.

Still, the Sun haven’t bothered to hide their feelings. Not the players, not the coaches, not even the social media staff, which recently tweeted a video with a one-word caption: “disrespeCT.” It featured various headlines that questioned the team’s title chances.

The Sun haven’t bothered to hide their feelings. Not the players, not the coaches, not even the social media staff, which recently tweeted a video with a one-word caption: “disrespeCT.” It featured various headlines that questioned the team’s title chances.

“Honestly, it’s always been that way,” guard Jasmine Thomas said of feeling counted out. “I don’t expect anybody to give us credit because they never have. I’m not afraid to say they don’t want to, and that’s fine. It’s not going to stop what we believe and what we’re able to accomplish. It’s really always been that way with us.”