“They just punched us in the mouth in the first quarter,” Sun forward/guard DeWanna Bonner told reporters postgame. “When you get down like that against the team at home that’s playing really, really well and trying to make it to the finals, it’s hard to dig yourself out of that hole… I think they just kind of punched us in the face, and it was like we got shell-shocked and couldn’t fight back.”
The Sun came out in the second half with more urgency and aggressiveness but it wasn’t enough to advance to the WNBA Finals.
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Mabrey’s absence felt
Connecticut guard Marina Mabrey went down with an ankle injury with just over eight minutes remaining in the second quarter after landing on a photographer’s foot and twisting it.
Mabrey is a tough player and often resilient when it comes to almost anything including injury. She was taken to the locker room and returned to the game with nearly four minutes left in the half. Despite making another three-point shot in the half it was clear that she was in a lot of pain as she limped from possession to possession.
“There’s no question about her [Mabrey] toughness,” head coach Stephanie White told reporters postgame. “She’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever been around.”
She tried her best to play through the injury but the Sun coaching and medical staff didn’t want to risk any further injury.
“She tried to give it a go, and just didn’t have it. And we’re not going to put her out there risk for further injury, certainly, but we missed having her on the floor tonight. You missed not just what she does from a scoring standpoint, but her energy or toughness, her communication, her ability to just face the floor with her presence. We certainly missed her,” White said.
Without Mabrey on the floor, it hurt the Sun immensely as they count on her for three-point shooting with a team-high average of 42% from beyond the arc. After falling behind in the first half they would have needed her presence to complete a comeback and put themselves in a position to win.
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The Aces had a .383 eFG% in their Game 4 defeat. That’s the second worst they’ve shot in any game this year, regular season or playoffs.
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Carrington’s second-half lift
Sun guard/forward DiJonai Carrington started the second half energized as she put on a defensive clinic and drove to the basket more aggressively. She recorded a postseason career high of 17 points all of which she scored in the second half of game action.
“She struggled a little bit in the first half, but I was so proud of the way that she came out and attacked the rim in the second half, got to the free throw line, she was making things happen,” White said.
Carrington has played all season long with passion and dedication winning the league’s Most Improved Player award and her performance in Game 5 shows that with a healthy offseason, she has the opportunity to become a key piece of the Sun’s roster next season.
“I’m really proud of Nai,” White said. “Nai is a player who I’m not sure she’s had a healthy offseason to really work and grow. She had a little bit of time this year, but, but you can just see she’s got a lot of great gifts, and she works incredibly hard, and she plays incredibly hard, and she does so many things that you can’t teach.”
White always speaks very highly of Carrington and told reporters postgame about the protentional she has for growth.
“I really can’t wait for her to have a healthy offseason so she can just be in the gym and take another step. Her development’s been incredible. Obviously, she’s reaped the benefits of that development, but the ceiling is really high for her. She’s got a lot of growth in her still, and I can’t wait to watch it,” White said.
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No answers for Collier
Defensively the Sun have struggled to keep Lynx forward Napheesa Collier from getting to the rim. Collier scored 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
“She’s skilled, she’s got incredible footwork, her pace, her poise, she doesn’t get rushed. You think about how she played in college, and just the development to become a guard, essentially. She shoots the three, she attacks off the bounce. She’s got great post moves, she’s got great touch around the rim. She’s just the combination of everything you want in a player,” White said.
The Lynx continue to build their team around the superstar as they hope to bring home a fifth championship for the franchise.
The X-factors
Minnesota guard Courtney Williams was the X factor for them as Mabrey was for the Sun. She finished the game with a near double-double after recording 24 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
The game was going to be decided based on the performance of both players but Mabrey’s injury caused her to play only 14 minutes and finish the game with eight points.
Even without their X factor the Sun came out in the second half with intense defense that frustrated Minnesota on offense as they struggled to score until about five minutes into the third quarter.
“I think it was just, who do we want to be going into that second half? Do we want to come out and fight? We’re not a team that’s going to just lay down and die,” Sun forward Brionna Jones told reporters. “Coming into the second half, we knew that we didn’t give the effort that we needed to in the first half, and we definitely wanted to come out stronger, and be aggressive in the second half. So that’s what we did, just make everything tough for them.”
Although the Sun fell short and weren’t able to advance to the Finals for two consecutive years they have accomplished a lot as a team this season. The team chemistry that they have built is strong and it will be interesting to see what happens during the offseason during the free agency period.
They have dealt with a lot of challenges, from postseason injuries to sharing their practice court with a 2-year-old’s birthday party during the playoffs.
“This year, I think this group, I would say, is resilient. I think there’s a lot of things, a lot of adversity this season, and we stuck together through it all. And I think tonight, we didn’t get it done. We fell short. But I know for a fact that this group was gonna stay together and see what happens,” Jones said.
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