The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Connecticut Sun will return to the WNBA Finals for the first time in 14 years as Jonquel Jones and the current core brought the front office’s plan to fruition.

“It’s amazing, this is where we wanted to be coming into the season so it feels good to be here. We understand we have work to do but we just want to enjoy this moment because it is a big deal,” Jones said on the floor during the post-game celebration following the Sun’s series-clinching win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday night. “There were no more excuses this year, we had everything we needed to be successful.”

With the series sweep, the Sun have nearly a week off before the WNBA Finals begin on September 29. They await the winner of the Washington Mystics and Las Vegas Aces series.

“[The rest] Very important. We value it, we understand how important it is just from us having the advantage of being one of the people that had a bye in the playoffs so we want to cherish it, we want to take advantage of it,” she added.

Sun head coach Curt Miller said the balance of the roster and commitment to defence propelled them to a berth in the finals.

“The story of this series was our defensive effort. A lot of talk was about our balance, but ultimately if you drilled it down, I’m really proud of the maturation of a young team’s defence and you can see what happens when a core group of players together for four years. This was our vision when we took over in 2016 to build with a core group and allow them the highs and lows.

“We circled this year on the calendar back in 2016 and it’s just amazing that this group has allowed the vision that we had to come together,” Miller said in the post-game press conference.

Connecticut finished 23-11 in the regular season but several WNBA pundits did not consider them as a legitimate WNBA title contender because of a perceived lack of superstars.

Connecticut has used the predictions of pundits as motivation for the postseason, making promos using the tweets of ‘‘experts’’ saying they don’t have a superstar and picking against them in the series. The team sold t-shirts in the arena Tuesday that read DisrespeCT, with the CT highlighted.

“They have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. This group has truly taken that chip that we have been called a team without mega superstars. A team that has great balance and can win in different ways. We’ve won a game in this series because our post-game was dominant, tonight it was our backcourt and it was fun to see it all come together. It is a team that fits together and I think you are seeing stars blossom in this playoff. The lights are shining on these guys that probably don’t get enough credit but it’s a very versatile team and we can win in different ways and that’s what’s been fun to watch,” Miller said.

“We just had a swagger in this series and as physical and intense as it got, I thought we were more aggressive. Ultimately, we continued to keep moving them. We looked like the energy team.”

While the Sun roster is young in age, the core group of Jones, Jasmine Thomas, Alyssa Thomas and Courtney Williams has started more games together than any lineup in the WNBA.

“I joined the league and we had so many 30-year-olds. I still have yet to coach a 30-year-old in my time with the Sun, not one. I’m very analytically driven, the last four champions have averaged a minimum of five 30-year-olds on the championship team and I have yet to coach one in a game. We are young, thankfully getting to the finals, Jasmine will turn 30 in the finals,” Miller said. “Staying the course with this decision included the growing pains of being young together. They are young on paper, in age we are not young anymore in playing together, that chemistry, that family in that locker room is just really, really tight. We have played a lot of games together, we’ve been together for a long time. We know each other well, we understand what we’re capable of, regardless of what everyone in the league says, what everyone in the league thinks and I think that’s been pushing us sometimes.”

The Sun will play a best-of-five series in the WNBA Finals. The series is a 2-2-1 format. If the Sun face the Washington Mystics, the Sun will host games three and four (if necessary).

The Mystics would host games one, two and five (if necessary). If the Sun face the Las Vegas Aces, the Sun will host games one, two and five (if necessary).

The Aces would host games three and four (if necessary).