LAS VEGAS — Connecticut The Sun may be one game down in the WNBA Finals after losing their first series opener in the postseason, but they won’t lose confidence thanks to a tough defensive effort in Game 1. did.
The Sun did what they wanted, putting the league’s No. 1 offense well below their season average. Top-seeded Las Vegas his ace was averaging 90.4 points per game during the regular season, and his playoff-best 92.3 points heading into the championship round.
On Sunday, the Sun held Las Vegas to a 67-64 postseason low point total loss, and Connecticut gained confidence from that performance as they prepare for Game 2 on Tuesday.
“That means we have to have a lot of confidence after this game,” said forward Alyssa Thomas. “I mean, it was a three-point game and we had a chance to draw. I think we are very confident and we know we only need one. There are some things we can clean up, of course we can make more shots, but we had a difficult game overall.”
Las Vegas shot just 39.7% of the time, 20.8% of them from the 3-point range.
In fact, 67 points was the fewest points Las Vegas scored all season, but only four times did the Aces shoot worse off the floor.
‘They play hard the whole game,’ says Ace’s coach Becky Hammon Said. “That team is so relentless you can’t take your feet off the gas.”
This is what the Aces learned after building the game’s biggest lead in the first quarter. The Aces slowly squandered his 21-for-9 advantage as Connecticut turned the pace in their favor.
The Sun forced a defensive will in the second quarter, starting the period with a 13-4 run to take a 30-29 lead, blocking the passing lane to frustrate Las Vegas and space out league MVP Aja Wilson. Limited and kept Aces away. from glass.
“As the game settled down, we found a rhythm of getting stops back-to-back,” said Connecticut coach Kurt Miller. I started getting the type of games that I felt I needed to play.”
The problem for the Sun was that they failed to convert on some possessions, missing enough chances that they would normally have shots, and instead of a 4-point lead, they were able to make some distance into halftime. It must have been. Easily double digits.
“We went out there and played hard but unfortunately they had more shots than us and we didn’t stop in time,” Thomas said. “But we have Game 2, so watch the video and get ready for the next game.”
