Sun’s Season Sets for 2017; Miller Incredibly Excited for Next Year

A 5-seed beating a 4 is certainly not Harvard topping Stanford, but at the end of the second-round playoff contest between the Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury, the fans that packed Mohegan Sun arena still seemed as stunned.  The single-game elimination format creates high drama but also brings great seasons to a screeching halt (just ask the New York Liberty).

In their final six regular season games, the Sun went 3-3 including a win and a loss to the Mercury.  Yet they got off to blistering start yesterday showcasing their athleticism and youthful vigor.  Everywhere you looked Jonquel Jones and Courtney Williams were flying over the court getting rebounds they had no business getting. However, as a team, they could not sustain that pace.

In the second half, Diana Taurasi started doing Diana Taurasi things, and we have all seen that movie before. A trio of consecutive three-point plays by three different Mercury players in the fourth quarter effectively ended the Sun’s season.

Following the game, Sun Head Coach Curt Miller talked about having a solid game plan and that the loss did not overshadow a season filled with terrific growth.

“We’ve had better nights at the foul line, we can have better nights in the mid-range game but when you look at the stats and you feel like you outscored them in the paint by well over 20, you outrebound them by double figures, you hold them to less than 20 shots in the paint the whole night, man the game plan, we thought, was right,” Miller said.

Miller, who earlier in the day was named 2017 WNBA Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year, said he is incredibly excited about the team moving forward.  He singled out Jones and Alyssa Thomas for praise and noted the number of players he will have entering their third year next season.  “As we infuse Chiney [Ogwumike] back into our post depth, as we continue to build for the future, you can’t be more pleased with our core group,” he added.