Here are six takeaways for the Sun from Sunday’s win.
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Marina (3-Point) Mabrey
The Sun acquired guard Marina Mabrey from the Chicago Sky midseason for exactly what she did on Sunday. Namely, she broke the WNBA record for most points off the bench in a postseason game, scoring 27 on 9-for-20 shooting (5-for-12 from 3-point range).
Mabrey was able to find her footing offensively by spreading the floor and looking for her 3-point shot.
“In the first half, she may have been pressing a little bit. I think she got an easy one in the second half and that kind of got her going,” head coach Stephanie White told reporters postgame. “You saw a little bit of relief the first three that she hit as well. But every time she shoots a shot, I think it’s going in, and every time she has the ball in her hand, she’s a threat. You have to make sure that you have an eye on her, and most of the time you’re guarding her with two people and sometimes three when she puts people in rotation.
“She was huge for us. She’s going to continue to be big for us. Certainly, the opportunity for us to bring her on was one that we took because we thought she would get us over the hump.”
Mabrey has made it clear since being traded to Connecticut that she is here to win a championship.
“I really just do what the team asks me to do. Whether I come off the bench or I start, I’ll still be the same player,” Mabrey told reporters postgame. “So whatever the team needs for us to get a championship is what I was going to do. So just being ready whenever they need me.”
Veteran experience and a triple-double
The Sun are very familiar with playoff games. Entering Sunday, their roster had played 222 total playoff games, which was second-most in the league behind the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces.
In contrast, Indiana’s roster had only played 19 playoff games entering Sunday.
In Game 1, Sun forward Alyssa Thomas, an 11-year WNBA veteran, and forward/guard DeWanna Bonner, playing in her 15th season, got going early. Their experience helped them be leaders and set the tone for their team.
“They understand the magnitude of where we are. They’ve been through it. They understand that it takes another level, it takes another gear, it takes another level of urgency and the margin for error is smaller,” White said. “And so … they’re leading by example. They were locked in.”
Thomas was aggressive on defense and offense and was looking to score more than she has been in previous games. She finished the game with her fourth playoff triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.
Thomas now has four of the six playoff triple-doubles in WNBA history.
“We almost take it for granted. I hope that we remind ourselves not to. It’s not normal, you guys. It’s just not normal to have this many triple-doubles,” White said. “… But she just affects the game in a lot of areas. And her ability to be big on the boards for us, especially on the defensive [boards], that was a key. … The pace she played in transition offense I thought was really good, and we need that. And she’s able to facilitate in transition a lot because of that pace.
“And I was really, really pleased that she was aggressive offensively. I think that’s got to be a difference-maker for us. She’s got to be hunting some of those shot opportunities, especially around that 8- to 10-foot range. If they’re gonna leave her open, she’s got to shoot with confidence and knock it down. And I loved how she did that today.”
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Thomas is a skilled player who has a unique vision when she is on the court.
“It’s great to have a player that can read the game the way she reads the game and see the floor the way she can see the floor,” Bonner told reporters postgame. “Because honestly, some of the stuff she sees, I don’t ever see. I just kind of go where she tells me to go. It’s an advantage having a player that can pass the ball and direct the game and also defend and literally playing 40 minutes. …
“So just credit to her. Our team doesn’t go without her, obviously, and we wouldn’t be in this position each and every year. I think she’s just getting started. … This is her time. Literally, this is her time every year.”
A consistent 40 minutes
White emphasized over the last few weeks of the regular season that she wants her team to get to a point where it’s playing consistent basketball for all 40 minutes.
During Sunday’s game, the Sun mostly got there.
“We didn’t have too many lulls on either end where we gave up big runs or we had a lot of empty possessions,” White said. “I think there was one time in the third where we had four empty possessions offensively.”
White credited the Sun’s bench, including Mabrey, guard Veronica Burton and center Olivia Nelson-Ododa, for making a positive impact. Burton finished with eight points on 3-for-4 shooting, while Nelson-Ododa had six points and six rebounds. In total, the 41 bench points were a season high for the Sun.
“Everybody was ready to go, and everybody accepted the challenge, and everybody stepped up. And that’s what it’s gonna take,” White said.
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Defensive matchups
The Sun changed things up defensively in Game 1 after losing to the Fever on Aug. 28, the last time the teams met.
White and the rest of the coaching staff put Bonner on Fever point guard Caitlin Clark and guard DiJonai Carrington on Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell. The goal was to give the Sun more versatility on offense and defense.
“It was about having length. It was about giving us versatility in our pick-and-roll situations, giving a different look. So much about this game is about comfort, it’s about rhythm, it’s about timing, it’s about all those things. And how can you make an adjustment that disrupts some of that?” White said.
Bonner shut down Clark, holding her to 0-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line in the first half.
“Kudos to DB for her willingness. She’s [played] however many years in this league. And we’re asking her to be an elite defender when most people in this point in their career are — if you’re a guard, anyway — you’re a corner 3-point shooter, then that’s about it, right? So I think credit to her for accepting this challenge. It gave us a different look at the point, and I really liked that,” White said.
Related reading: The legacy of DeWanna Bonner
Sharing their practice court
The day before their first playoff game, the Sun had to share their practice court with a community event.
“It’s normal at this point. I mean, Mohegan has to do better,” Thomas told The Next before Sunday’s game. “We’re [a] professional team. We’re competing for playoffs. And yeah, to have to share your court with a two-year-old[s] birthday party, [it’s the] ultimate disrespect. … We need more, we need better to compete at the highest level.”
That might have been a source of fuel for the Sun’s win on Sunday. They have been trying to prove people wrong all season.
Carrington and Thomas have been vocal throughout the season about how the Sun are treated. They believe that their team has been disrespected despite being one of the WNBA’s best for several years. Specifically, they’ve mentioned the Sun’s lack of national television coverage this season compared with other teams.
Harris gets injured
Connecticut guard Tyasha Harris went down in the first quarter after fouling Fever guard Lexie Hull on a 3-pointer. She suffered some kind of ankle or foot injury and had to be helped off the floor and to the locker room. She returned to the bench with her foot wrapped and using crutches.
Following the game, White had few details about Harris’ injury or timeline to return. “I saw her [with] a crutch, so that’s not a good thing. But don’t have an update yet,” White said.
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The Sun had to adjust their game plan offensively and defensively after losing Harris, but adjusting due to injury isn’t new for them.
“It’s not unfamiliar territory for us losing somebody. Of course, you don’t want to see her go down, but [it’s a] ‘next person up’ mentality, and we still got to get it done out there,” Thomas told reporters postgame.
The Sun will face the Fever in Game 2 of the best-of-three series on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. Connecticut will need to continue to put all the pieces together in order to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
