First they qualified for the playoffs. Then they secured at least one home game.
On Sunday, the Connecticut Sun could secure a first-round bye when they host the
Los Angeles Sparks in the regular-season finale at the Mohegan Sun Casino in
Uncasville, Conn.
The Sun (20-13) made it eight wins in their last nine games and guaranteed at
least a sixth-place finish and a first-round home game with Friday’s victory
over the Minnesota Lynx.
Connecticut ended the night in fourth place, with no chance to go higher but
with the peril of slipping to sixth without a win over the Sparks for the third
time in as many tries Sunday.
The top two seeds (Seattle, plus Atlanta or Washington) in the standings get
byes to the semifinals. The third and fourth seeds (Washington or Atlanta)
automatically advance to the second round, where they will meet the winners of
the 5/8 and 6/7 games.
The Sparks can’t catch the Sun, but can catch the sixth-place Phoenix Mercury,
who host the floundering New York Liberty on Finale Sunday.
A Sun win, though, over the Sparks would lock up the fourth seed for Curt
Miller’s team.
In short, Phoenix is the 5, the winner of the Sparks-Sun the 4 and the loser the
6.
“Obviously, it goes without talking a lot about. (It was a) huge win for us,”
Miller said after the Sun won without Chiney Ogwumike (knee). “It secures, at
worst case, a home game in the playoffs. A huge win against a true champion, and
(I’m) really, really proud. It sets us up for an opportunity to stay home at
least for a round.”
Jonquel Jones had her third straight big offensive game and also valiantly
fought Sylvia Fowles while Ogwumike was on the bench out of uniform after
tweaking a knee in practice. She is day-to-day.
Fowles was 8 of 8 from the field for 16 points in the first half and scored nine
in the second for the defending WNBA champions.
“(It’s) underrated, what she did on Sylvia in the second half,” Miller said.
“Very underrated. Now, Sylvia missed a couple of shots that she’ll normally
make, but JJ’s length hopefully contributed to that.
“She didn’t get discouraged on Sylvia going 8-for-8 by halftime and just
dominating us. JJ came back out and kept fighting with her, so I’m really proud
of her for that and keeping fighting.”
The Sun have posted back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since
2011-12.
The Sparks (19-14) lost Friday night in Washington on a buzzer-beater.
Los Angeles jumped to a 13-2 lead and got 13 points, eight rebounds and seven
assists from Candace Parker on Friday.
The Sparks scored only nine points in the fourth quarter of their third loss in
the last four games.
The Sparks would need a win Sunday and for the Mercury to win to nail down the
four seed. LA would win a three-way tiebreaker with the Sun and Mercury by
having the best record against .500-or-better teams.
Before the game in Washington, L.A.’s Nneka Ogwumike, who could face her sister
if Chiney Ogwumike returns, said, “The mood of the season right now is that
everybody is fighting to the death, really. We’re just trying to be as poised as
we can be. What’s important now is travel and rest, and we’ll see what we’ve got
to do to beat Washington.”
The Sparks will fly back across the country for what is a guaranteed home
playoff game.
