Sun get back to work on Friday night
Mohegan — It wasn’t long ago that tossing the word “playoffs” around even the most ardent loyalist of the Connecticut Sun would have elicited the echoes of Jim Mora.
Playoffs? Playoffs? You kiddin’ me?
Ah, but after a productive trade and five wins in their eight games before the Olympic break, the Sun (8-16) are one little old game out of the last playoff spot in the WNBA, trailing Washington (9-15), Seattle (9-15) and Dallas (9-16).
And they can further thrust themselves into newfound relevance with a victory Friday night over one of the WNBA Rockefellers, the defending champion Minnesota Lynx and their four Olympians (7 p.m., Mohegan Sun Arena).
“Everyone is tired of not being in the playoffs,” Sun forward Chiney Ogwumike said. “But we’ll know a lot more after (tonight). We can’t slack off coming out of the break against a team this good. A win puts us in a position to make it fun. So ask us after (tonight).”
The Sun defeated Minnesota in overtime at Mohegan Sun Arena last month, after which the Lynx (21-4) won six straight.
“We don’t talk about the playoffs a lot, but we put the standings up in our locker room and practice facility,” Sun coach Curt Miller said. “We want them to be aware of it, but we don’t specifically talk about it on a day to day basis.
“The one discussion we had, we believe we have to be 6-4 or better these last 10 games to make the playoffs because we don’t have tiebreakers against some of the teams in front of us. Tall task. In the one discussion we had about it, that figure (a 6-4 record) was thrown out there. We’ve got to steal some and win the games we potentially should win.”
The Sun play at Atlanta on Sunday before home games next week against San Antonio and Phoenix. Only Atlanta (13-12) has a winning record among the three. Now Connecticut will see whether the break came at a beneficial time.
“The bittersweet part of the break was that certainly with the youngest team in the league and a new coaching staff, we used it as a second training camp working on fundamentals,” Miller said. “All beneficial. At the same time, momentum plays a big part in this league because the season's so scrunched together. Coming off a 5-3 month, there’s a fear we lost the momentum or other teams got a chance to regroup.''
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