Five things to know about the Connecticut Sun ahead of WNBA playoffs

The WNBA playoffs are nearly underway for the Connecticut Sun as they look to capture their first championship in franchise history.

“We feel like we’re clicking. We’re having fun out there,” Brionna Jones said after the last game of the regular season on Sunday. “I think we’re going to bring that momentum and that energy into the playoffs, and we’re looking forward to getting started and getting back out there.”

The Sun earned the No. 3 seed in the postseason after finishing the regular season with a 25-11 record. They will face the No. 6 Dallas Wings (18-18) in the first round in a best-of-three series — a new format for the league that moves away from byes and single elimination games in the first two rounds.

Connecticut will host the first two contests, starting with an 8 p.m. tipoff on Thursday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The second game will be played on Sunday at noon, and if a third game is necessary it will be played in Texas on Aug. 24.

Here are five things to know about the Connecticut Sun ahead of the playoffs:

1. Dominant post play leads the way

The Sun have been led by their All-Star post trio of Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones and Brionna Jones all season. The three players combined for 41.8 points and 21.9 rebounds per game, accounting for 48.7% and 59% of Connecticut’s total production in those respective categories.

Thomas averaged 13.4 points, 8.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game in the regular season, the latter three of which all rank top five in the WNBA. Jonquel Jones recorded 14.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, while Brionna Jones averaged 13.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

Brionna Jones has come off the bench for most of the season, often as the first substitution for Jonquel Jones, who starts alongside Thomas. But the Sun are at their best when the two Joneses play together. Connecticut has outscored opponents by 19.7 points per 100 possessions when they’re on the court together, which is the best of any duo in the WNBA this season, according to Her Hoop Stats. The Sun are almost always better with Thomas and her competitive energy in the game, too. As such, limiting foul trouble and getting the post trio on the floor together as much as possible will be key throughout the playoffs.

2. Pivot to win it

If there’s one word Sun head coach and general manager Curt Miller has turned to time and time again this season, it’s “pivot.” A season filled with unexpected obstacles has Connecticut feeling confident and battle-tested entering the playoffs.

Miller knew finding the right combination of lineups to best utilize his talented roster would be a challenge entering the season, especially since four of his best players — Thomas, Jonquel Jones, Brionna Jones and DeWanna Bonner — are 6 feet 2 or taller. Players missing large chunks of training camp due to overseas commitments, which also had Bonner out for the first two games of the season, meant finding that rhythm would take time and tinkering.

But then everything changed when starting veteran point guard and team leader Jasmine Thomas tore an ACL six games into the season on May 22. Fourth-year pro Natisha Hiedeman stepped in as the starter from there. Miller tried experimenting with Alyssa Thomas handling the ball in a jumbo lineup alongside the Joneses, Bonner and Courtney Williams, but ultimately went away from it. It seemed as if the team had found the key veteran point guard presence it needed when it signed former UConn guard Bria Hartley on July 18, but she tore an ACL a little over a week later. The Sun have found a fit they like with guard Odyssey Sims since then.

This season has also featured issues with COVID-19. Jonquel Jones missed three games in July, and Miller and his longtime assistant Brandi Poole were also out multiple games. Miller has also had to miss time to support his family through his mother’s death. All in a condensed 36-game season.

“Just a whole bunch of stuff got thrown at us, and we handled it,” Hiedeman said. “And I think that’s the difference from any other year that I’ve been here is sometimes when adversity would come we wouldn’t know how to handle it. And now we’ve got all the right pieces. We’re all in it together, and I think we have really good momentum going into the playoffs. The energy is great, the confidence with everybody is amazing, and that’s what you need come playoff time.”

3. The development of Natisha Hiedeman has been key

The emergence of Hiedeman has been huge for the Sun this season. Since stepping into the starting point guard spot unexpectedly, she’s learned to lead the offense and manage getting everyone the touches they need.

In the process, Hiedeman averaged career bests in points (9.1 per game), assists (3.3 per game) and minutes (25 per game) this regular season. She’s proved to be the team’s most reliable 3-point shooter, making 41.1% of her attempts from deep, which ranks fifth in the WNBA. The 5-foot-8 guard has made at least three 3-pointers in 10 games this season as well. The Sun are 9-1 in in those contests, with the sole loss coming to the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces on July 17.

“The key for us is guard efficiency in the playoffs, and Natisha’s ability to make 3s is huge for us,” Miller said after the last game of the regular season. “If she plays well, that bodes well for us. She can really shoot it. She helps stretch the floor. That gets bigger gaps for our dominant post game.”

4. Here’s what awaits in first round vs. Dallas

The Sun will have to defeat the Dallas Wings in a best-of-three series to advance past the first round. The Wings have a 2-1 edge in the regular season series, but there’s a lot more to that than meets the eye.

. Connecticut lost its first matchup with the Wings at home on May 24, 85-77. But the Sun would have likely lost that day regardless of the opponent; it was the first game following Jasmine Thomas’ injury, and the team didn’t have any practice time to prepare to play without its veteran leader. The Sun often looked lost on offense without her presence and shot just 39.7% from the field — their second-worst shooting mark of the season. However, in a rematch less than two days later on May 26, Connecticut stormed past Dallas for a 99-68 blowout victory. The last matchup between the two teams came over a month ago on July 5. In the midst of a slump that saw them lack their normal energy and intensity as they lost four of their last six games entering the All-Star break, the Sun dropped a 82-71 result on the road.

Those circumstances are important to keep in mind when previewing this first-round series. Also of note: Wings star guard Arike Ogunbowale will miss the first round of the playoffs with a hip injury. She underwent an iliac crest core muscle avulsion repair earlier this month. She averaged 17.3 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds against the Sun this season. But a tough matchup awaits regardless, and the Wings are sure to be motivated to earn their first playoff win since the franchise moved to Texas.

5. The path to the Finals likely means getting past the team that’s given the Sun the most trouble

If Connecticut gets past the first round, it’ll face the winner of the series between the No. 2 Chicago Sky (26-10) and No. 7 New York Liberty (16-20) in the semifinals. That’s likely to be the Sky, given they are 3-1 in regular-season matchups against the Liberty and have been dominant all season. They’re even better against the Sun, defeating them in all four meetings this year. In fact, Connecticut has dropped its last six games against Chicago, dating back to the 2021 semifinals, when the Sky took the series 3-1 and went on to win the championship.

Each of the four games between the two teams this season has been decided by eight points or less, with three decided by four points or less. The Sun led or tied in the fourth quarter or overtime of those three games, but couldn’t put the Sky away when it mattered most. The same was true in two of the semifinal losses last year, as Connecticut was up two points with the shot clock off in the fourth quarter of Game 1 and missed a layup in the final seconds of Game 3, which Miller has mentioned several times this year. If the Sun want a shot at a championship this time around, they’ll need to find a way to get past Chicago in late-game situations.

“Last year was a disappointment,” Miller said. “Everything in this league is so razor thin. … We look forward to putting ourselves back in that position. And we have a lot of experience in the playoffs over the last six years that we feel like this team is ready for the challenges ahead.”