Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. Here’s what’s going on in the WNBA.
Briann January and the Connecticut Sun are closer to clinching a playoff berth.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images.)
I think what the Connecticut Sun did this season is pretty remarkable. This was a Finals team last season but the pandemic, of course, killed the early promise of the 2020 version of the Sun.
Jonquel Jones decided not to play. New acquisition Briann January along with back-up guard Natisha Hiedeman tested positive for Coronavirus and it took both for a while to come back. While they got all-world player DeWanna Bonner in the offseason, the Sun were bringing back only 6 players from last season. It’s practically a brand new team.
And while they had the talent, it showed that the blending of the squad might take a while. They lost the first 5 games and four of them were by single digits.
Then they found a bit of a groove. They’ve gone 9-5 since and are sitting pretty at #7 in the standings. It probably wasn’t ideal but better than being left out of the postseason altogether.
There’s gotta be concern, though. Not sure if they could be taken seriously when their last 5 losses were to all the top tier teams: the Sparks, Storm, Sky, and the Aces twice. And they had already lost to the Minnesota Lynx twice beforehand.
And they haven’t even faced the Phoenix Mercury yet, who are riding a 6-game winning streak. They face them in consecutive games on Monday and Wednesday. That’s gonna be rough.
Either way, the Sun may very well make the playoffs. But not sure about winning it all if they can’t beat any of the teams that have been ruling on top.
Bullet Passes
Anyway, Alyssa Thomas of the two torn labrums returned after missing a game and went for 20 points, 5 boards, and 5 steals. I still wonder how she does it.
The one showing out of late is Jackie Young. In her last three games, she’s averaging 19.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 2.0 steals. Remember that she was the #1 pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft. The Aces are just loaded with talent even without Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum.
Like I said, the Mercury have won 6 straight games. Diana Taurasi didn’t set anything on fire this time (9 points) but Skylar Diggins-Smith went for a season-high 30 points.
And good grief, poor New York Liberty can’t win a game. They’re at 2-16 right now. They might finish with the fewest wins ever in a season but it’s a shortened campaign. At least, they won’t finish with the worst percentage; Tulsa Shock in 2011 won 3 out of 34 games for an .088 winning percentage. Woof.
Double U Scoreboard
CON 96 (9-10) vs IND 77 (5-14)
LV 89 (14-4) vs ATL 79 (5-14)
NY 67 (2-16) vs PHX 83 (12-7)
Watch This Play
Chennedy Carter is so good. Watch her split the defense.
.@ChennedyCarter splits the defense and scores the bucket 🔥
The @LVAces lead the @AtlantaDream 45-44 at halftime.
💻 https://t.co/D2ucCla2rd | #BradentonArea pic.twitter.com/SwkjBRj8gR
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 5, 2020
The playoffs are getting closer! Y’all stay safe in the Wubble!
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
TNLP on FaceBook.