WNBA 2019 Semifinals: Connecticut and Washington Go Up 2-0

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgu

UNCASVILLE, Conn – Even with one win already in the hopper from his Connecticut Sun here that came Tuesday night in the opener of the WNBA best-of-five semifinals playoff series, coach Curt Miller continued to caution that the Los Angeles Sparks’ goal to achieve a split on the road was still very much alive.

And the third-seeded Sparks seemed well on the way achieving their mission Thursday night when they jumped from the opening tap to an 11-point lead early in the second quarter.

But that became the highlight for the visitors as the second-seeded Sun with some fierce rebounding to get second shots crept back into contention to head to the break with a 41-40 lead followed by their on-going second-half thunder.

This edition featured the Sun outscoring the Sparks 29-17. in the third quarter and 24-11 in the fourth for a lopsided 94-68 finish to send Los Angeles to the brink of elimination.

That could happen Sunday night (7 p.m., ESPN2) when the series resumes at Long Beach State’s Pyramid, due to the Staples Center being used for another event, though Los Angeles has been equally dominant at home.

If the Sparks extend to a Game 4, that happens back in Staples on Tuesday night, but in the worse case scenario for Connecticut, the Sun would get to return here to the Mohegan Sun Arena for a decisive Game 5 next Thursday night.

“I’m so proud of the energy and the effort,” Miller said. “We weren’t perfect at the offensive end but we got so many second-chance opportunity that we had a lead when it didn’t feel like a great first half offensively, and it was all because of rebounding.

“And that continued as we shored up some things.

“ To L.A’s credit, they came out and threw the first punch and I’m not sure we were ready for L.A.’s physicality. I thought the game finally settled in, we got a chance to relax and realized we had to match that physicality, we had to match that aggressiveness that they came out with and when we started to do that, the game settled in and we were able to do that and we kept our turnovers under control.

“I just felt our players played with a lot of energy in that second half and when we started to  lose our legs we were just better to play through the dfatigue than  they were.”

Meanwhile, down in the nation’s capital where the other semifinals series is being held, the top-seeded Washington Mystics, who won their opener by just a field goal, had more distance at th,e finish this time, beating the Las Vegas Aces 103-91 at their new Entertainment and Sports Arena in Congress Heights, just South of the District.

Earlier, prior to the tip Mystics star Elena Delle Donne of Wilmington and the University of Delaware was named the WNBA regular season Most Valuable Player, collecting all but two votes from a nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

It’s her second MVP honor, the first coming when she played for the Chicago Sky, making her the first in league history to win multiple awards with two different teams.

She was also the first in WNBA history to shoot 50/40/90 – 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point range and at least 90 percent at the line, though she actually shot 97.4 percent, a feat performed by only a small group of players on the NBA side.

After reaching the finals last season for the first time before swept 3-0 by the Seattle Storm, the Mystics are now trying to take that last step to a title, though either Connecticut or Los Angeles would be formidable from this side of the semifinals.

In the game in Washington, Emma Meesseman had 27 points, Latoya Sanders scored 20, Saint Joseph’s grad Natasha Cloud had 18 points and 11 assists while Delle Donne had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Liz Cambage had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Aces, Kelsey Plum had 19 points and 10 assists, rookie Jackie Young out of Notre Dame scored 13, and Tamera Young scored 10 points.

Like Connecticut, Washington can also close things out on Sunday when that series shifts to Las Vegas, but if it extends, it will be on the same calendar as this one with Game 4 Tuesday and a potential decisive Game 5 back in the District of Columbia next Thursday.

The best of five finals opens a week from Sunday, Sept. 29 in the city of the highest seed, which depending on the match would be Washington on the first option, Connecticut on the second, and Los Angeles on the third.

That the Sun ruled the boards over a team with the likes of Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike surprised many with a WNBA playoff record 29 rebounds in the first half and an eventual 46-24 advantage, including 16-4 on the offensive glass.

Jonquel Jones, the former George Washington University star, had a career playoff record of 27 points to go with 13 rebounds of which seven were on the offensive boards for Connecticut.

 Maryland grad Alyssa Thomas continued to be a non-stop workhorse, scoring 12 points shooting 5-for-8 from the field and grabbing 13 rebounds while Courtney Williams out of South Florida continued to be electric with 25 points, including hitting more timely threes, 3-of-5 in this one.

Rachel Banham off the bench had 11 points, fueled by nailing 3-of-4 long-range attempts from beyond the arc.

On the Sparks’ side, while the guards shook off a non-productive opener with Chelsea Gray scoring 10 points and Riquana Williams scoring 14, Parker had but three points, making one of just three attempts from the field, though Nneka had 18 and her younger sister Chiney off the bench scored 10.

As for Gray’s performance, Miller noticed “she could turn around and go for 30 out in L.A., she’s that good.

Sparks first-year coach and former NBA star Derek Fisher said as the game went on his team started to lose his energy while the Sun had begun to increase theirs.

“It is Important that Game 2 is just Game 3,” he said looking to Sunday and compared to what had happened here. “The results in Game 1 and 2 have no relevance to how you play in Game 3.”

The Sparks, like the Sun were prior to the playoffs are 15-2 at home.

The Connecticut points in the playoffs as well as the winning differential are franchise records.