Sun rise

When the Connecticut Sun last saw the New York Liberty, the defending champs were undefeated and appeared on their way to one of the most dominant seasons in WNBA history, beating the Sun so badly that all kinds of +/- records were set by most of the Liberty starters (and some ignominious ones for the Sun starters). But, despite Ellie’s efforts, the Liberty have head-scratchingly gone just 10-9 since and will come in to Mohegan Sun Arena on a three-game losing streak. Some of that is down to injuries, Jonquel Jones (we know her) missed a good deal of time, and now Breanna Stewart is out with a bone bruise and is not likely to play this weekend in Connecticut. However, there are other warning signs that New York may not be ready to defend its title, despite adding Natasha Cloud, and its mostly on the defensive end. The Liberty still stand third in defensive efficiency, but have been slowly dropping since that massacre of the Sun, below average at forcing turnovers (8th, 14.6%), and dow...

You can evaluate what the Connecticut Sun will have to do to eventually return to the WNBA playoffs, whether it be 2026, 2027, or (gulp) 2028, but no matter how you slice or crunch the numbers, it’s going to come from defending at a high level. Unless you can recruit a superteam (see: New York Liberty), an elite defense is the way back to WNBA prominence, and even the Liberty were third in defensive efficiency last season (behind Connecticut and Minnesota) on the way to the title last season. While it’s not solely that way, a lot of defense is effort, which is what makes efforts like Monday’s 101-85 loss to Seattle (and it wasn’t nearly that close) so frustrating as a Sun fan, the sixth time Connecticut has given up 100 points in a game this season (and fourth at home) against a team that was struggling mightily on the offensive end. And if Seattle had come out and just went lights out from three-point range (as the Liberty did in that infamous 100-52 rout last month ), you might be ab...

You may think Golden State looked pretty bad Sunday afternoon against the Sun, but Seattle took that effort and raised it the night before in Washington, at least on the offensive end. The Storm continues its inconsistency by putting up just 58 points, 23 in the second half, in a 69-58 loss to the Mystics. The Storm still sit at 15-11 and are battling for home-court advantage in the playoffs, but this has not been their best stretch of the campaign, 3-4 in their last seven and most concerning to those in Seattle is who they were to: Washington twice, Dallas, and (of course) Connecticut.  While its defense has remained consistent, the offense has been putrid, to be kind. In addition to the 58 against Washington (who does have a good defense, to be fair), they scored 63 in the home loss to Dallas. They have dropped all the way to eighth in offensive efficiency and are dead last in the WNBA in offensive rebounding (20.3%) and free throw rate (.183), somewhat bizarre for a team that ha...

It may end up being just an aberration in a 44-game regular season, but as I’ve said the other three times the Sun were victorious, don’t forget to sing when you win , especially when you come in as six-point underdogs and win by 31 as Connecticut did Sunday, thumping Golden State 95-64 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Obviously it’s a different level of opponent on offense than Los Angeles, who hung 101 on them Thursday (and, to be fair, did the same in New York on Friday ), but everything the Sun wanted to do on the defensive end but hadn’t come to fruition Sunday, with the Valkyries turning the ball over 22 times, 14 of them coming from Connecticut steals. They also did not allow Golden State many second chances, just 25% of their misses, and that’s the recipe that can make the Sun competitive the rest of the way if they can pull it off. Yes, there were a lot of mitigating factors that won’t be there Monday night when Seattle visits: Golden State had played Friday night on the west coast, and...

There was plenty going on last winter with the Connecticut Sun, especially with personnel moves, so it was easy to miss December’s expansion draft, which saw the Golden State Valkyries grab Veronica Burton from the Sun . There was little fanfare for Burton’s departure, but her stats don’t show how valuable she was to Connecticut last season (3.1 points per game), particularly on the defensive end, where she was - along with DiJonai Carrington - counted on to shut down opposing guards. And with everything getting out of Uncasville, why couldn’t Connecticut protect Burton, who is from and has plenty of ties to Boston? The WNBA does not make its protected lists public, which is a bit annoying, but most have extrapolated the six players they kept were: Alyssa Thomas (to trade), Carrington (to unfortunately trade), Ty Harris, Marina Mabrey, Leila Lacan, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. If they had to do it again, they might leave Harris or even Mabrey available and dare Golden State to take them, b...