Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Marina Mabrey changes the complexion of the offense. Alyssa Thomas is peaking at the right time. The Sun have the best defense in the league. Is it enough?
All year long, the Connecticut Sun were overlooked, the national dialogue primarily centering around last year’s Finals team (the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty) and an exciting rookie class headlined by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
The Sun occupy one of the country’s smallest media market: Uncasville, Connecticut. They’ve never won a championship. They have no rookies on the roster, so they didn’t benefit quite as much from the WNBA’s influx of college basketball fans. And, once in a while, they even have to share their practice court with a two-year-old’s birthday party.
Still, they’re one of just two undefeated teams in the 2024 playoffs, currently holding a 1-0 series lead over the Minnesota Lynx in the semi-finals. Two more wins and the Sun would head to the WNBA Finals, where they’d face the winner of the other semi-finals series between the Aces and the Liberty (New York currently holds a 1-0 lead on the other side of the bracket).
They’re overlooked — but they’re not fazed. They’re used to it.
“It’s not unfamiliar to us. It happens to us each and every season,” Alyssa Thomas said. “But honestly, we don’t care. We know what we’ve done all season. We know what we’re capable of.”
In discussions around who might come away with the WNBA championship, the Sun have often been brushed aside, in part because while they’ve won a lot of games, but have never been able to get over the hump. In 2019, they lost in the Finals to the Washington Mystics. In 2020, they fell to the Aces on the verge of another Finals appearance. In 2021, they lost to the Chicago Sky in the semi-finals, and in 2022, to the Aces again in the Finals. Last year, they succumbed at the hands of the New York Liberty in the semi-finals.
It always feels like they’re right at the precipice of a title, but each time, they fall just short.
But, this year, the Sun just might have all the pieces. Here’s why.
Defense wins championships, and Connecticut has the best in the game
The Sun have had the league’s best defense all year, and two of the WNBA’s best defenders in DiJonai Carrington (First Team All-Defense) and Thomas (Second Team All-Defense).
It starts with Alyssa Thomas, one of the strongest players in the sport. On Sunday, Aces head coach Becky named Thomas one of three players she fears defensively (alongside Brittney Sykes and Natasha Cloud).
“I don’t want them near the play when I’m drawing,” Hammon said.
Then, there’s Carrington, who typically matches up with opposing team’s top guards and was awarded Most Improved Player for those efforts. Brionna Jones remains an elite rim protector, and Veronica Burton and Olivia Nelson-Ododa have been critical off the bench. In Ty Harris’s absence, Burton in particular has been crucial.
“She’s an outstanding defender — she’s small in stature, but her physicality, her ability to play bigger, to give us different looks is important,” White said of Burton, who was acquired mid-season after being waived by the Dallas Wings.
This year, entering the semi-finals, the Sun were slated to face the red-hot Minnesota Lynx, led by Napheesa Collier who was playing at an otherworldly level. In the first round, Collier put on a show against the Phoenix Mercury, scoring 38 points on 11-19 shooting in Game 1, only to outdo herself with a 42-point performance (on 14-20 FG) in Game 2.
Another Collier offensive explosion felt inevitable to begin the semi-finals, but the Sun did what they do best: they defended. They limited Collier to just 19 points on 7-16 shooting. In the fourth quarter of the Sun’s 73-70 Game 1 win, the Lynx were held to just 8 points.
“This is what our group does,” Stephanie White said. “This is a team — and a franchise, certainly since AT got here — that has hung our hats on defense.”
Considering how well she was playing, the fact that Connecticut was able to contain Collier is pretty remarkable. Holding Minnesota to 8 points — and icing them out on the final possession, was textbook Sun basketball.
Marina Mabrey’s volume three-point shooting changes everything
Connecticut’s one achilles heal was three-point shooting — so they went ahead and traded for Marina Mabrey, one of the best volume shooters in the game. With Mabrey in the lineup, they have accrued a 13-6 record (including a 3-0 playoff record). Through the postseason, Mabrey has averaged 21.3 points per game, hitting clutch and timely daggers. She’s hit 4.7 threes per game on 42.4% shooting so far these playoffs.
“I’ve been trying to get Marina to come here for a while,” Thomas said after Sunday’s win. “She’s a competitor, and that’s what we are here. She wants to win, and she’s going to do whatever it takes for the team. She’s something different that we haven’t seen in Connecticut in a while.”
Prior to the trade, the Sun ranked 10th in the league in 3-pointers made (5.5 per game) and 10th in 3-point percentage (31.4%).
“We needed three point shooting desperately this season,” Thomas said.
Alyssa Thomas is reaching playoff form
Through three playoff games, Thomas is averaging 16 points on 52.3% shooting, 11.7 assists, and 8.3 rebounds. In Sunday’s 73-70 win over the Lynx, she scored two baskets in the final minute in order to secure the win.
She’s anchoring the defense, while also facilitating on offense. She’s been with Connecticut for 11 seasons, and early on here in these playoffs, that experience and pride shows every time she takes the court. There’s a reason they call Alyssa Thomas ‘The Engine’ and it’s because she orchestrates everything, on both ends.
“I’m one of the leaders of this team, I’ve been here my whole career,” Thomas said in an interview on SportsCenter postgame. “Nothing changes. We’re in the pursuit of a championship. Game 1 is important, especially on the road. It started with me today.”
It’s only been one semi-finals game so far, and these are familiar waters for the Sun. Right now, it looks likely that the Sun would have to defeat the Liberty to win the championship, and while they’ve lost four of their last five games against New York, they were all been single-digit games.
The Liberty’s offense is high-flying, but if there’s a defense that can mitigate the damage, it might just be Connecticut’s.
Marina Mabrey will have to continue hitting threes at the rate she has, and Alyssa Thomas will have to continue serving as a triple-double machine. DiJonai Carrington will need to be productive on both ends, and DeWanna Bonner will need to find her shooting touch — and hit the big ones when they’re not falling.
They have all the pieces. Thomas, Jones, and Bonner will all be free agents this summer, and who’s to say if they’ll have another chance.
But, if everything comes together as it should, this might just be the year they get it done.
