The Dallas Wings (11-8) and the Connecticut Sun (4-15) will meet for the first time this season on Thursday at 7pm at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, CT, in a game with historical significance for several participants. Last-place Connecticut will attempt to run its first win streak of the year to three games after victories against the Chicago Sky and Washington Mystics ended a seven-game skid, while the Wings will try to get back on track after losing 85-77 to the first-place Minnesota Lynx on Monday.
Monday’s loss extended the Wings’ slide to two after losing last Friday to another contender, falling 99-84 at the Las Vegas Aces. Prior to that, Dallas had won a pair against the Sky and Storm, upstairs neighbors to the Sun in the WNBA’s cellar, by a combined three points.
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Large and in charge
The Sun have struggled most of the year but are coming off arguably their best two performances of the season. Connecticut controlled the entire game against the Sky by dominating the paint against one of the league’s premier centers in Kamilla Cardoso, with guards Leila Lacan and Charlisse Leger-Walker slashing to the basket and center Brittney Griner holding court on both ends.
Against the Mystics, it was center Olivia Nelson-Ododa’s turn to shine, as her energy keyed a hot start for the Sun. With Griner in early foul trouble and forward Aneesah Morrow out with a foot injury, Nelson-Ododa’s blocks helped to set the tone early and seal it late. In the wins, Connecticut has maximized its roster by leveraging its size advantage and aggressive play from its guards. Lacan, whose steal in the final minute ended any hope of a Washington comeback, has scored in double figures in six straight contests.
With honors
The Sun will honor Wings general manager Curt Miller, the Sun’s head coach from 2016-2022, and Wings vice president and assistant general manager Jasmine Thomas, a point guard for the Sun from 2015-2022, by naming them Sun Legends, the team’s highest honor. For the Sun, a franchise in transition on and off the court in recent years, the pregame ceremony marks a chance to look back at the franchise’s second long run of deep playoff success, in which the team advanced to the semifinals every year from 2019-2024, and to the WNBA Finals twice.
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Since that last playoff appearance, the roster has turned over drastically, the team hasn’t won, and a new ownership group has announced plans to relocate to Houston. It’s a marked change for a franchise whose chapter in Connecticut began in 2003 as the first WNBA club independent of being paired with an NBA counterpart, and whose two near decade-long pursuits of a title set a bar for sustained contention. The game will also be a homecoming of sorts for Wings guards Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, who played some University of Connecticut home games in Hartford at PeoplesBank Arena.
Lock it down
One of the Wings’ biggest challenges in this difficult stretch has been getting stops consistently when it matters, as the Lynx were able to hold off Dallas’ comeback attempts by making the extra pass and even Chicago and Seattle were able to grind out points to stay in it. The Sun present a chance for the Wings to sharpen their chops against the league’s lowest scoring offense at 79.3 points per game, but on the other end, one of the few teams that steals the ball more often than Dallas.
The Wings played their best ball Monday when they got pesky, with no fear of going to the floor combined with active hands, frustrating Minnesota guard Olivia Miles into a technical at a critical time, and when they attacked the rim with drives and passes inside, with center Li Yeuru on the floor for much of a 13-2 run late in the third quarter. That strategy on offense could meet some resistance against the Sun, who start one of the game’s all time great rim protectors in BG and who are tied for fourth in team blocks, but it set up the Wings’ later comeback attempt as their shooters took advantage of a collapsed Lynx defense.
How to watch
The Wings and the Sun tip off on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Amazon Prime.
