Sun face elimination yet again in Game 5 at Minnesota

Oct. 7—The Connecticut Sun lost Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals at home to the Minnesota Lynx, meaning the Sun would face elimination in Game 4.

Things in the Sun locker room following the loss were mostly silent.

“Just like, ‘It’s not over,'” Sun veteran DeWanna Bonner said. “‘We’ve got 40 minutes or it’s done.’ Just kind of challenged ourselves and took a deep breath and relaxed because the playoffs is high intensity and you got to breath a little bit. You can really overdo it and overcomplicate things.”

The Sun won Game 4 Sunday night at Mohegan Sun Arena 92-82. Now comes another elimination game, the deciding game of the best-of-five series which will take place at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Target Center in Minneapolis (ESPN2).

Connecticut has won playoff games before in Minneapolis, victorious in an elimination game last year in the first-round series and also taking Game 1 of this season’s semifinal series against the Lynx.

Tuesday’s winner will move on to face the top-seeded New York Liberty in the WNBA Finals starting Thursday. The third-seeded Sun are in search of their first championship, while the No. 2 Lynx are looking for their first Finals berth since 2017, when they won their fourth title in seven years behind All-Stars Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus and Rebekkah Brunson.

“The atmosphere when we were there the first two games was absolutely insane, so I can only imagine what it would be like in a Game 5,” Bonner said of what to expect from the Lynx.

“I wouldn’t tell my team anything different. We just got to focus and lock in on each other. We have each other. We know they’re going to come crazy. They have great fans. They’re championship fans where they’ve won multiple championships, so they’re hungry for another one. We know it’s going to be crazy. We’ve been there, thank goodness, for the first two games, so we know what it feels like and we’ll be prepared to handle that.”

Sun head coach Stephanie White, however, isn’t focused as much on the location.

She attributes the Sun’s success in previous elimination games, such as the one Sunday night at Mohegan Sun Arena, to Connecticut’s leadership.

Bonner, 37, is in her 15th year in the league, having won two championships as a member of the Phoenix Mercury. She is a six-time All-Star. All-Star forward Alyssa Thomas, meanwhile, second in last year’s MVP voting, is in her 11th season.

In Sunday’s win, the Sun got 18 points and eight rebounds each from Bonner and Thomas and a game-high 20 points from point guard Ty Harris, coming off a right ankle injury which had rendered her scoreless in the playoffs thus far.

“Certainly it’s always an outstanding environment so we expect that,” White said. “So I think the thing that helps us most is we have a veteran team. They’ve been there, they’ve been in tough environments. We’ve won in tough environments. So I think that, more than anything, is a benefit.”

Bonner calls herself “old” — “I just want to win. My timeline is very slim,” she said.

“I don’t think anybody in that locker room is ready to kind of go their separate ways,” Bonner said. “We enjoy being around each other. We’ve been around each other for a long time. We added some pieces but the majority of our core have been around each other for years. We just kind of buckled down.”

All five Sun starters are averaging double figures, led by Bonner with 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Bri Jones is averaging 13.7 points and 5.5 rebounds, while Thomas is at 10.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game. Marina Mabrey, acquired by the Sun in July, has averaged 17.2 points in the playoffs, with 19 3-point field goals.

The Lynx are led by Napheesa Collier, who has averaged 27.2 points and 9.3 rebounds in the postseason.

“Tonight’s effort’s not going to be good enough in a Game 5,” White said following Sunday’s game. “We expect them to make adjustments. We’ll make some tweaks and adjustments, as well. At this point you know each other inside and out, it’s about players making plays, it’s about the extra effort, the hustle plays.

“It’s about not being denied and finding something deep inside of you that allows you to come out on top.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com