Lynx 102, Sun 63: Yeah, it's bad right now, but don't take it personally

If you thought it was hard watching Sunday night, imagine how the Connecticut Sun players felt while enduring their ninth straight loss, this one 102-63 in a game that probably wasn’t that close.


Yes, they are professional athletes and you can try to call them out for not doing better, but without their top scorer (Marina Mabrey) and playing their eighth game in 14 days against what I consider to be the favorite to win the WNBA title. Then it’s 49 to freaking 17 late in the second quarter and Tina Charles is trying her best to rally the troops, but they can read the scoreboard and confidence is about -50 right now, especially with a flight home and a week off after the game.


There will be plenty of time (and space here most likely) coming about what the Sun got wrong this season, or maybe if it was a necessary step to rebuild and try to build again starting in 2027. And there is plenty of room for improvement for a lot of people, including the coaching staff who seemed pretty lost for a lot of this road trip.


But Meziane - who looked pretty disconsolate postgame - is generally a good person according to all I have seen and heard professionally and the Sun seems to have some high character people (led by Charles) who are just in over their heads at the moment. And it’s OK to feel for them while still surmising what the future may hold without some of them in 2026 and beyond.  


Can we learn anything from Sunday night?:




 

  1. Aneesah Morrow has earned her spot  - Morrow became the first player in WNBA history to record 15 points, 10 rebounds, and five steals as a non-starter, coming off a 20-point performance (with 11 rebounds) that only Paige Bueckers and the duo from Washington have matched (Sonia Cintron and Kiki Iriafen). It does get a bit of an asterisk, much of her damage came with the game decided and Minnesota’s bench on the court, but she has to play more, full stop.

  2. The minutes have to go to the future - According to Her Hoop Stats, the only Sun players under contract for 2026 currently are: Morrow, Saniya Rivers, Jacy Sheldon, Leila Lacan (hopefully we can see her soon), Rayah Marshall, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa (restricted free agent). If the Sun are going to lose badly, they might as well put those players on the court, including Marshall - who is obviously very raw - but has shown some signs of at least being someone who can stick in the league. It’s possible Charles signs again with the Sun (who will have plenty of cap room), but without a decent first-round draft pick in 2026 and short of big name free agents coming to Connecticut (spoiler alert: it’s not happening), they need those players to get experience for the future.

  3. Take a rest -  I wrote about fatigue in the preview, and once the Sun got down double digits early, they were toast. It’s not an excuse as I said in the open, but reality is reality and Charles and crew were ready to go home, and now they finally get to. Next Sunday is a big game for the rest of the season to see if Meziane can figure something out to slow down Las Vegas.


Player of the game:  Aneesah Morrow - Morrow has now led the Sun in scoring in four of the last six games, and is starting to find a way to get rebounds like she did in college. Again, it won’t be easy from the opening tip and she probably will have her struggles, but what do we have to lose at this point?





Inside the numbers : 3 -  Number of losses by 35+ points for the Sun this season, tying an ignominious record with the 1998 Washington Mystics and the 2006 New York Liberty, with 27 games still left in the season. 


Under the radar: From the opening tip, the Sun couldn’t play basic pick-and-roll defense, with Courtney Williams’ pocket passes seemingly undefended several times in a row. Finally, Rivers got frustrated and came from the other side of the court to help when she saw that there was no resistance whatsoever. Usually Olivia Nelson-Ododa is better at that, but she looked really tired also. Minnesota was 14-for-18 on two-point shots in the first half.


Quotable:  “We missed effort, we missed solidarity, we missed communication. When you are playing a the highest level, you can’t miss basic things like that. We have to come back stronger physically and mentally, because playing at the highest level demands that and we didn’t have any of that.” - Rachid Meziane


Next up: Sunday vs. Las Vegas, 4 p.m. EDT



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